Def Leppard 'Hysteria': C/D?

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Maybe the firepower thing is key - if they didn't hit with the first single, they'd be sure to with the third. Hysteria took about a year or so to actually top the US album charts, I seem to recall.

― LC (Damian), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 20:51 (nineteen years ago)

I remember "Women" as the fourth single after "Animal", "Hysteria" and "Armageddon It".

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 20:53 (nineteen years ago)

I don't remember "Women" as a single at all ... I'm pretty sure "Hysteria" was released first, followed by "Animal", "Pour Some Sugar On Me" (at which point the album broke big", "Armageddon It", and "Love Bites".

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 20:59 (nineteen years ago)

... and then "Rocket", and wasn't "Hysteria" re-released as a single at some point?

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 21:00 (nineteen years ago)

Oh god no, "Women" was DEFINITELY the first single. Thing got played to death in the summer of 1987.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 21:02 (nineteen years ago)

"Women" might be my second-favourite song on the album after "Rocket". Great intro and outro.

― Sundar (sundar), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 21:49 (nineteen years ago)

It was "Women", "Animal", "Hysteria" , "Pour Some Sugar On Me", "Love Bites", "Armageddon It", and "Rocket".

― LeRooLeRoo (Seb), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 21:52 (nineteen years ago)

It's remarkable to think that it took a fourth single to make a pop breakthrough.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 21:53 (nineteen years ago)

You're right, I was way off.

Incidentally, why did they release the singles in that order? It makes sense to release two rockers first and then a power ballad, but why "Hysteria" over (at the time) "Love Bites"? Isn't "Love Bites" *clearly* the better/shmaltzier choice for a band seeking a radio hit? Or is this my hindsight talking?

I was a big fan of the album at the time, but didn't get on board (along with millions of others) until "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and didn't even realize that it was the fourth single until months later. So I don't have any firsthand recollection of how the first three singles were received.

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 22:54 (nineteen years ago)

"Animal" is my favorite.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 23:05 (nineteen years ago)

i remember being a little metal dude, i was real excited for def leppard to be back, cuz my cousin's older bro had turned us on to pyromania....i remember seeing "women" debut on headbanger's ball and being all excited. i went out an got it...i was real dissapointed, cuz i thought they had "sold out" or something (not like pyromania was total pop, but i dunno that was my mentality)...anyway, so yeah i bet it was to appease the faithful type thing, it's def. the most old school def lep jam on the record.

― M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 23:11 (nineteen years ago)

Releasing a ballad as the first single off an album is generally considered a bad move in the biz unless you want to establish yourself as a balladeer. "Love Bites" is obviously a strong song, but Def Leppard were mainly for "rock" audiences, and "Love Bites" might have put way too many of them off the album.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 23:42 (nineteen years ago)

Sure, but there were more memeorable rockers on the lp than "Women."

― ramon fernandez (ramon fernandez), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 23:50 (nineteen years ago)

xpost

No, I meant that if the #3 single was going to be a ballad, why release "Hysteria" instead of "Love Bites"?

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 23:55 (nineteen years ago)

Hysteria's the best song on the album, and Love Bites is one of the more grating power ballads ever

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 5 October 2006 00:07 (nineteen years ago)

Today I saw a video for "Pour Some Sugar On Me" that I'd never seen before. The band is playing in what looks like somebody's living room. As they play, a wrecking ball begins destroying the building, and the room starts crumbling around them presumably due to a combination of the demolition crew and the strength of the band's own rocking.

I'd never seen this vid before -- the one that always used to air featured the band playing on a huge concert stage (IIRC, the same one as the video for "Armageddon It"). The "living room" video looks a bit amateurish, so did they simply film a new one once the album went mega?

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 20:59 (nineteen years ago)

Probably. That does sound interesting/weird.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 21:25 (nineteen years ago)

Good ol' Youtube

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 21:46 (nineteen years ago)

"Animal" is my favorite.

Animal>Hysteria>everything else on Hysteria

― hearditonthexico (rogermexico), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 22:28 (nineteen years ago)

dud. dud.

dud. dud. dud.

dud. dud. dud. dud. dud. dud. dud. dud.

god, no. def leppard? you've got to be kidding me...potentially the worst band of all time. and I speak from a position of assumed hometown loyalty.

― mister the guanoman (mister the guanoman), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 22:54 (nineteen years ago)

Have I mentioned how great they are recently? Let me say so again.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 23:03 (nineteen years ago)

mister the guanoman (if that is your real name), you, sir, are bringing on the heartbreak.

― hearditonthexico (rogermexico), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 23:07 (nineteen years ago)

xpost: sure, if you pay no attention to the words ;-)

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 23:12 (nineteen years ago)

TS: Listening to music for the words vs watching porn for the dialog

― hearditonthexico (rogermexico), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 23:22 (nineteen years ago)

Whenever I listen to "Hysteria" I'm shocked at the sheer drop-off beyond the singles.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 23:53 (nineteen years ago)

mister the guanoman (if that is your real name), you, sir, are bringing on the heartbreak.

it is my birth name, yes. and although I was brain-baffled by an excess of red wine last night, which led to some overly vicuperative spouting off, I stand by my statement. horrible band. the kenny G of rock.

― mister the guanoman (mister the guanoman), Thursday, 12 October 2006 06:57 (nineteen years ago)

hysteria is pure ear candy

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Thursday, 12 October 2006 11:07 (nineteen years ago)

this was a great thread! cut n pasted emails from the angry samoans!

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 12 October 2006 11:23 (nineteen years ago)

I've been listening to the title track on repeat for weeks--I can't think of a more perfect song.

― ramon fernandez (ramon fernandez), Thursday, 12 October 2006 11:48 (nineteen years ago)

i actually made a little def leppard playlist the other day

1. photograph
2. animal
3. now
4. armageddon it
5. hysteria

all of those songs are catchy, melodic, and even get me nostalgic

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Thursday, 12 October 2006 11:58 (nineteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

can't stop listening to deluxe edition.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 19:22 (nineteen years ago)

How are the extra tracks on it?

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 19:25 (nineteen years ago)

I had never heard any of the b-sides so I'm still getting into them. Of the live tracks, there's a cool Alice Cooper cover and there's a bit on Rock of Ages where Joe starts singing lyrics to all kinds of shit - Not Fade Away, My Generation, Radar Love, Come Together, Whole Lotta Love...
The remixes are weird - mostly dicking around with the vocals - but fun to listen to.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, and "Release Me" is completely insane.

Stumpus Maximus is, in fact, the band's tour manager Malvin Mortimer, and "The Good Ol' Boys" are Def Leppard. It's not a regular version of the old Engelbert Humperdinck song. With every verse, Stumpus is singing higher, until the end when he does nothing but screaming. It was meant as a joke, and was released as the B-side of the "Rocket" single and other singles.

Malvin became somewhat of a celebrity in '88 when some DJ's in Greece began playing the b-side instead of the usual A-side.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 20:24 (nineteen years ago)

Beautiful. I need to get this, keep forgetting it's out now! Maybe this weekend...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 21:46 (nineteen years ago)

funny... i just listened to this the other night (the original not the re-issue).
the only thing I could think of was how much they sounded like New Kids on the Block (esp. the background vox).

― tk (tk), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 22:57 (nineteen years ago)

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Tuesday, 7 November 2006 23:27 (nineteen years ago)

two months pass...

can't stop listening to deluxe edition.

Yes. (Now that I finally have it too.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 04:38 (nineteen years ago)

And "Gods of War" still remains unnervingly prescient.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 05:02 (nineteen years ago)

It's still crap, peoples. LIFT YOUR HEADS OUT OF THE SOMA-TROUGH YOU'VE BEEN CHAINED TO AND SMELL THE BURNING FLESH OF YOUR FORMER OPPRESSORS!! IT'S OKAY NOT TO ADMIT THAT YOU WERE WRONG! HYSTERIA DOES NOT ROCK!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:56 (nineteen years ago)

Hahahahaah....in my ridiculous rush to reclaim my title as needlessly hostile hyperbole-spewer, I managed to completely fuck that up. It's okay not to admit?

I'm an idiot.

Whatever. Hysteria doesn't hold a candle to Pyromania. That is all.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:57 (nineteen years ago)

I still like High 'N' Dry best, though I would agree with Alex that Pyromania is a better album. There is something about the sound of High 'N' Dry - Mutt Lange hadn't quite nailed the glossy formula for the guitars, and it is much more reminiscent of the Highway To Hell production style than the boomy processing that overwhelms the songs on Hysteria. Plus it sounds like actual drums dammit! The horrible drums on Pyromania and Hysteria still grate on me, twenty years on.

So Hysteria: dud for production, classic for the actual songs, and doesn't vaguely measure up to the preceding two albums.

― EZ Snappin (EZSnappin), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:38 (nineteen years ago)

Alex in NYC OTM. I have never understood the appeal of this record. I was as much into heavy and lite metal as any teenaged boy in the late 1980's, but I even knew then how soapy Hysteria was. With all respect due to Dan Perry, who knows more about the intricacies of music and voice than I, but when someone says something like "This is one of the few albums from the hair-metal era that I like," that should tell you something about how tepid this rock record is.

And all these weird CoolEdited, Pro-Tooled, compressed rock records from Nickelback and P.O.D. that get released these days can all trace their family tree back to this record. God bless Rick Allen for having heart in the face of adversity, but a one-armed man does not belong on the drummer's stool for a rock record. I've got factory preset drumtracks on my cheap four-track at home that have more soul than Rick Allen's drumming.

And keep in mind that I LIKE Def Leppard.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:16 (nineteen years ago)

EMBRACE THE CYBORG.

The fact that, as is noted above, the design theme of the album appears to have been Tron just makes it all the cooler.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:32 (nineteen years ago)

Shoulda been called Hysterical.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:45 (nineteen years ago)

Whatever. Hysteria doesn't hold a candle to Pyromania. That is all.

alex totes OTM....pyromania is a better pop record AND a better hard rock record than hysteria. better singles, mo' rockin' jointz.

high n' dry is hella underrated too.

i've never heard on thru the night, but i'm afraid it can't live up to that huge guitar haulin' big rig cover.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:58 (nineteen years ago)

Matt, PP, Alex OTM.

Pyromania is the only good reason to love Def Leppard. Maybe High 'n' Dry. I can see the kitsch/horror appeal of Hysteria (and the appeal is VAST, don't get me wrong), but I'm perfectly happy to let other people enjoy those terrible laffs.

Plus the associations are bad. When people who annoy me sober get drunk, they seem to LOVE THE SHIT out of Hysteria. Bro slapping, titty-shaking purgatory. Makes it hard to join the hug circle.

― Adam Beales (Pye Poudre), Monday, 15 January 2007 18:11 (nineteen years ago)

You people.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 18:12 (nineteen years ago)

you not?

― mister the guanoman (mister the guanoman), Monday, 15 January 2007 18:17 (nineteen years ago)

Me cyborg, as noted.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 18:18 (nineteen years ago)

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