Hello,
Here's the next blog in my series of the greatest CD's of all-time. Today it's the Def Leppard classic "Hysteria". Recently it had it's 26th anniversary since being released, it's hard to believe it has already been that long. I'm listening to "Hysteria" as I write this blog, this CD sounds just as fresh as it did when it was first released. Also in 2013, just a few weeks ago, "Viva Hysteria" was released. It was taken from their residency in Las Vegas where they performed "Hysteria" in it's entirety every night. Here's a bit more about that:
Def Leppard first received mainstream notice when "Pyromania" had been out for awhile. Def Leppard was one of many bands that took advantage of the emerging MTV. Who can forget their video for "Photograph"? If you are about my age you probably saw that video at least dozens of times, many times on lazy summer afternoons.
The early and mid-80's was also the time the music industry was moving away from cassette tapes and gravitating to CDs. CDs were a tremendous upgrade in quality, although it took awhile for car companies to have CD players as a standard feature in their cars. CDs were a great upgrade and the music companies took full advantage of that by charging exorbitant prices for them. Pure greed is one of the many things that killed the music companies.
"Hysteria" was released on August 3rd, 1987. It's Def Leppard's 4th CD, after the release of this CD is when Def Leppard hit their peak. Previous to "Hysteria" Def Leppard released the decent 1980 CD "On Through The Night", it was followed by 1981's "High 'n' Dry" which was followed by 1983's "Pyromania". "Pyromania" went on to be their first classic CD. "Pyromania" set the stage and got the world ready for "Hysteria". Indeed Def Leppard went through many years of hysteria after it's release. For those keeping track at home, Def Leppard's follow up CD was 1992's "Adrenalize". Sadly "Adrenalize" didn't live up to the greatness of Def Leppard's previous two CDs. (Thanks to Wikipedia for reminding me some of the details about this CD.)
At the release of the CD Def Leppard was singer Joe Elliot, guitarist's Phil Collen, Steve Clark, Rick Savage and drummer Rick Allen. Also please remember the quickest way to piss off Elliot is to call Def Leppard "a heavy metal band. He will tell you in not a such nice way that "Def Leppard isn't a heavy metal band."
You can't mention "Hysteria" without mentioning two important names. The first is Robert "Mutt" Lange whose excellent production work helped make this CD what it is. Not only a great music man but he later went on to marry the gorgeous Shania Twain. While working on "Hysteria", the Lep's drummer Allen lost his arm in a car accident. Allen losing his arm and how the entire band dealt with it is one of the most notable facts surrounding the making of the amazing "Hysteria". Some of the featured videos show how Allen continued to perform with Def Leppard even after his injury.
One of the best tours I've ever attended was the Def Leppard "Hysteria" tour. On the "Hysteria" tour the band performed in the round. During this concert I was only several rows away from the band who was near or at their peak. On that night Def Leppard lived up to the hype and they delivered a fantastic set. Also Joe Elliot was very personable and engaging. I remember him talking about the World Cup, which was coming to America just a year or two later. I also saw Def Leppard several years later at the Utah State Fairgrounds. Although the mighty Lep was on the downside of their career at that time, you wouldn't know it by their performance that night. They were on that night and delivered an amazing set.
Here's the full version of "Hysteria" thanks to our friends at Youtube.
1) "Women": This is a great, great song and I think it sometimes gets lost amongst the many other great songs on the CD.
2) "Rocket": Youtube user BamKlaus calls this the best live version of "Rocket" he has ever heard:
This performance is from 2013, sadly Joe has lost a bit on his vocals. The band still sounds pretty good, although they aren't as tight as they use to be.
3) "Animal" Here's the original video:
4) "Love Bites":
5) "Pour Some Sugar On Me": Now for the best track on the entire CD and one of Def Leppard's 2 or 3 best songs:
With Taylor Swift:
Live at Mountain View:
6) "Armegeddon It" (from 1993 with a "Black Betty" tag):
7) "Gods of War" (Ronald Reagan will not tolerate "outlaw states no more"):
With some help from "Top Gun", here's an official video for "Gods of War":
8) "Don't Shoot Shotgun":
9) "Run Riot":
10) "Hysteria":
11) "Excitable":
12) "Love And Affection":
themusicaddict
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