Def Leppard's "HYSTERIA"-- Its Place In Rock Music History--Just Sayin'

HIGH AND DRY gets a 100% yes influential, but not hysteria.

 

hysteria vinyl Archives | Def Leppard

 

Also if you look at the band interviews through the years and how they "promote" themselves the one thing that is always there at the top of the list is " Def Leppard with 2 Diamond Albums to their name". That's their biggest accomplishment.

But back to the original question I would agree that Pyromania was probably more influential for a period of time.

 

"Hysteria" never did anything for me. The title track is the only song of it I sometimes listen to.
"Pyromania" is much better.

 

An overrated bombastic Pop album..... Pyromania is the last good Def Leppard album IMO

 

Eh...I've got a copy. Not terribly influential, no.

 

It seems to me that Def Leppard was one of the bands that influenced the portrayal of Steel Dragon in the movie "Rockstar." Maybe one can make a claim along those lines of visible British pop metal bands (and this includes Hysteria and arena rock). The earlier stuff is way better--I know no Def Leppard fan who doesn't agree with that.

 

The general listening public will only know of Hysteria!
An influential masterpiece.
Earlier albums are a bit patchy, not many songs from them have remained in the set lists over the years. Can only think of Rock of Ages & Let it Go, even Bringing on the Heartache has got dropped. Lep fans want to hear Hysteria tracks and the band know it otherwise they drop them songs too!

 

That's completely false. Just look at the selists since the Adrenalize tour and even during the Hysteria tour. They often play 4-5 songs from Pyromania and just on the last tour 3 from High N Dry and sometimes 5-6 from High N Dry. Coming from a longtime fan that went to a lot of shows and has been on a lot of Def Leppard forums through the years I can say that fans love HND Pyro Hysteria almost equally. Those 3 are always at the top of polls and most time Hysteria comes at #3.

One funny thing is recently Joe Elliott for an interview on the recent release said that Hysteria isn't his favorite Leppard album and would probably be 3rd or maybe 2nd. I'd be willing to bet from what I've read that High N Dry is #1 for him and Pyromania #2. Maybe switch them but it says a lot. On The Rock Of Ages compilation there was 7 songs from Hysteria 7 from Pyromania and 6 from High N Dry Adrenalize "only" 4.

 

I have to go with Martin Popoff on Hysteria the pop sensibilities drag the metal down it just does not work well! A lightweight record in my opinion also.

 

It's not a metal album. It's simply a musical masterpiece!

 

In a similar way but not as spineless as Hysteria.

And yeah, it's my opinion. I might even be in the minority overall, but I really think YOU in terms of being a metal guy and still being a fan of it. The album was made to appeal to fans of Duran Duran and Whitney Houston etc. less so than the prior 3 albums which appealed to fans of acts like AC/DC, Judas Priest or Ozzy.

 

Def Leppard & the rest of the hair-metal posers only influenced the Underground rockers to try that much harder to wipe them off the face of the Earth. Which they did 5 years later in 1992 with the Grunge explosion & subsequent disappearance of said hair-farmers & their pathetic ilk. No offence.

 

I don't know about that; see below.


It was a total eclipse of the charts, and Jim Steinman, the hotshot hitmaker reborn, was chosen to produce Def Leppard's follow-up to their multi-platinum 'Mutt' Lange-produced
monster 'Pyromania.'

"It was a weird time," says Steinman. "Mutt Lange is totally insane. He has nervous
breakdowns as part of his process of making records! He mixes, remixes and has a nervous
breakdown. That's why they're always finished up by his engineers, Nigel Green or Mike
Shipley.

"I went to Dublin to meet the band, where they were living in tax exile. They're great kids,
but they were like little boys lost."

"While I was talking to them, Rick Allen came up behind me and said, 'I really want to be on
this record.'

"I said, 'Hey! You're the drummer, you'll be on the record!' And then I found out he isn't
even on 'Pyromania', it's all machines. He isn't on 'Hysteria' either.

"So we get the drum machine out, like Mutt says, and program it. Rick starts to play along,
and he's really good! He was as good as any rock 'n' roll drummer I've ever worked with.
So we use all live drums.

"Mutt comes down two weeks into recording, (He had helped the band during
pre-production but originally opted out of producing. - Ed.) listens to a little of the drums,
which sound perfect to me. And he goes, 'What are you doing? You're gonna throw these
poor kids careers' in the toilet!' This was with the drummer right there! So we had to erase them and do the drums his way....With drum machines.

"Joe Elliot was the hardest to get along with. He's got a great really low voice, and a great
high voice, but he has a real problem in the middle registers. So we start on a verse, and it's
in the middle registers and he's having trouble."

"So I said, 'Let's skip onto the chorus to get you going,' because that was higher. It was
good, so I say, 'Lets do another track,' and after a while he comes storming in the control
room and says 'What the f**k are you doing?'

"It turns out that when Mutt does vocals, he uses one track and he won't let him go on to the second line of the song until he has the first line right! And he keeps erasing the first line till it's right! Joe was going, 'How am I supposed to feel the song if I'm jumping to the chorus!'

"It's a very bizarre set-up there. I got sick of it after about four months. Mutt did almost
everything. He created them, and they were lost without him."

 

1992? The year Adrenalize spent five weeks at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 selling triple Platinum, with four Top 40 singles and a 240 date arena tour? That 1992?

 

Yup

 

I think the forums' majority consensus of Def Leppard and their popular albums reminds me of the general consensus of Cheap Trick in the 90's. Def Leppard might take another decade to sink into their legacy and be recognized for their contributions to rock and the music landscape of their hayday. They seem like a shoe-in, to me, for the RNRHOF, but I guess others are going to need more time........that's a shame, they deserve it.

 

None at all it's great to hear everyone's opinion negative or positive. That's how I learn more.

 

Great point. I hope your right.

 

I like Def Leppard and this album for who/what they are. It's straightforward and sounds good. Count me as a fan. But is Hysteria influential on other musicians? Making that case is an uphill battle.

 

Grunge was harder early 90's but Hysteria might have influenced some of the grunge genre and bands. Definitely Leppards first 3 offerings OTTN, HAD & Pyromania. IMHO

 

It was definitely influential, along with other hairband albums, in helping to induce the Grunge backlash.

 

I did realize that point at one time. You probably are correct. Good point.

 

I don't consider Def Leppard to be a hair band. Sure they had long hair, but a hair band I associate with teased out hair and silly clothing. Def Leppard was more a throwback, at least in terms of image, to classic rock bands, in their image.

 

Kind a like Sabbath Zeppelin combined. Looks wise.