Hysteria

There's something about the '80s that tends to scream '80s, whether it's hair, architecture, or music. Not a lot from that era stands out as particularly timeless. That isn't a bad thing at all, because the '80s were a truly awesome decade. However, some things came out of the '80s that stand on their own as really quite exceptional. I give you Exhibit A: Def Leppard's Hysteria album.This is as much a masterpiece today as it was when it first hit stores back in 1987. Some might associate many of the singles with the Class of '88, or with the heyday of the enclosed shopping mall, or with blasting the radio in a shiny new Trans Am, but the music sounds fresh 25 years later and, frankly, fresher than almost any rock music to come along at any time since then. Yes, Def Leppard is a hair band. Yes, they rocked arenas in the '80s. But they set themselves apart from the rest of the genre, upping the ante with tight harmonies, deep chord progressions, and hooks that could catch three blue whales at once. Today we can listen to a song like "Cherry Pie" by Warrant or "Talk Dirty to Me" by Poison, or any number of hair metal songs, and yuk it up at how totally '80s they sound, but listen to something like "Love Bites" by Def Leppard and one doesn't think of it as an '80s song: instead it's this beautiful anthem for anguish, and it transcends time.From a technical standpoint Def Leppard was and is superior to probably any band of its ilk, but it goes beyond their musicianship. Rick Allen is one of the best drummers in the world, and he makes all that noise with one arm. It takes a lot of heart and determination to overcome losing an arm and still be part of one of the greatest bands of all time. Subsequent to Hysteria, they lost Steve Clarke, one of their guitarists who was such a significant part of their sound. Through adversity Def Leppard has continued to tour and record.Then there is the songwriting. Def Leppard's bread 'n' butter was never the cookie-cutter verse/chorus/verse/chorus baby food that so many bands at the time spooned out to their fans. The Lep sliced, diced, sauteed, and flambeed, and then set the table with linens and fine china. An examination of the construction of their songs shows that there were typically three separate melody lines and three separate sets of chords within a song, transitioning through the cycle a couple of times before taking it for a spin across the bridge, eventually coming back to at least two of the three melodies. It's a formula that works because musical themes within a song recur just enough to be catchy and memorable without being repetitive. It's like a tease that leaves the listener wishing it was. This was a tactic that Def Leppard hit us with back on Pyromania with "Photograph," a song which foretold of what to expect on Hysteria.In several ways Hysteria was unprecedented. Def Leppard and "Mutt" Lange took advantage of the fact that one year earlier CDs outsold vinyl and cassettes for the first time, and decided to give Hysteria more than an hour's length. Two of the tracks are over 6:30 long, including the non-radio edit of "Rocket." The shortest track is "Animal," clocking in at a robust 4:02. Seven of the twelve tracks were released as singles, six of which went on to become major hits. To release literally more than half of the tracks to radio is practically unheard of. This was also the band's first album since Rick Allen's accident, and by far their most successful. It was three years in the making, with much of the initial recording scrapped due to band members' creative frustration and overall dissatisfaction. Following their intuition proved to be a wise move, because what they ultimately came up with was one of the great landmarks in rock history.This was the album that spawned their biggest hit, "Pour Some Sugar on Me," a song that lead singer Joe Elliott refers to in the liner notes of the Vault compilation as "pure sex." Few songs from the '80s continue to get the airplay today that "Sugar" does. Hysteria opens with its lead single, "Women," putting the listener right into a groove that remains largely consistent throughout the album. "Women" was never the hit it sounds like it should have been, with its driving grind and sense of mystery. It did set the tone for what followed, and that is perhaps more important than chart position."Animal" is one of those songs that propels itself along on the strength of a chugging bass line, soaring guitars and calculatedly placed rhythm guitar. No better soundtrack to freeway driving has ever been composed. ("Armageddon It" and Pyromania's "Photograph" do have that same effect of making one want to blow past the other cars on the freeway, though.) One of the all-time great songs of any era is "Hysteria." This goes into that wonderful eighth-note bass line category with "Animal" and "Photograph," with a melody as satisfying as a sweet-and-salty snack. It has the added benefit of being the least sappy love song ever written. It's a perfect marriage of lyric and music.Probably the album's best non-single cut is "Gods of War," the second-longest track on Hysteria. Naturally bands don't want to tip their entire hand and release all their best stuff as singles, but "Gods of War" is a long song and too good in its entirety to edit. It's actually more melodically and lyrically compelling than the two-seconds-longer "Rocket" which did just fine with much of the bridge edited out. Sometimes it's tempting to say, "That should've been a single; it's an awesome song!" but people are always disappointed when an album is nothing but singles and filler. "Gods of War" scratches that itch. To a lesser degree "Don't Shoot Shotgun" and "Love and Affection" serve the same purpose.All the great songs aside, Hysteria isn't without its blemishes. Despite Def Leppard having their inimitable sound, they fall into the trap of recording a couple of generic hair-metal songs. "Run Riot" gets away with it a little easier thanks to an instrumental bridge and the way the song is arranged technically, but Elliott's vocals on the verses in particular come across as standard-issue arena rock. It helps soften the blow that the title track wastes no time in following "Run Riot." The song that gets a little less love here is "Excitable," not only because it is interchangeable with any run-of-the-mill sex-themed hair-metal song of the day, with almost a New Wave sound to the guitars that Def Leppard doesn't usually make, but because of its placement immediately after "Hysteria." It's like being sound asleep and having someone suddenly turn a light on. Or like having the best tiramisu for dessert, and then being offered yesterday's bread with no olive oil to go with it. Not so much anticlimactic, but certainly it makes you go, "What the hell?!"Still, even with a pair of songs that elicit a "meh," the majority of Hysteria is so brilliant, the album gets five stars. Most Def Leppard fans already own it and consider it to be the band's best work. It is on lists of greatest albums of all time. People who appreciate music in general agree that this album belongs in the collection of any true music fan. Those who haven't listened to a lot of Def Leppard often become fans after hearing Hysteria. It may have taken Elliott and company three years to record this one, but the result makes you wish, If only everyone took the time necessary to make a work of art like Hysteria.

"Hysteria" was huge. Three long years after exploding into the pop culture arena with their album "Pyromania" and the phenomenal single, "Photograph", Def Leppard came roaring back, determined to take their music all the way to the top of the charts (where a little album called "Thriller" had previously kept them at number two).Yes, their drummer lost an arm. Yes, they went through three producers...the trials and tribulations of the making of this album are well-described in a lovely liner note essay.They came up with a monster album filled with classic songs, killer riffs, exquisite sonics...this album is the best example of the marriage of pop music to metal that exists. Period.First, the remastering of the record sounds spectacular. Given the density of the tracks here, you can spend hours listening to songs over and over again, finding new little details, or appreciating more subtle touches."Subtle"? Did I say "subtle"? On an album whose first four songs are, in order, "Women", "Rocket", "Animal" and "Love Bites"?Well, yes. Robert John "Mutt" Lange's productions are famous for layer upon layer of vocals, instruments, percussion, noise, samples...and you can dissect each and every one for days. Elegant little synth lines hidden in bludgeoning anthems, or operatic harmonies that seem to fit together like puzzle pieces...Def Leppard also have a healthy sense of humor and wit. This is a fun record. Again, look at the names of the first four songs...The record starts off weak, as I have always felt "Women" to be one of the least interesting things on the platter. "Rocket" gets things moving; it's an homage to the poppy, glam-rock heroes of their youth."Animal" is where the "Hysteria" sound clarifies and crystallizes. It's a catchy pop-metal anthem, in an era where metal was dark or hidden behind epic explosions of hair and spandex, and pop was often mall-bound and limp. The soaring vocals of Joe Elliott at the end of the song NEVER gets old."Love Bites" is a rare hard-rock ballad that works, so much so it reached Number One. In fact, rock bands were never considered "singles" band (for really no good reason), but Def Leppard gleefully slung tunes, one after another, into American Top 40 radio (and MTV) until they themselves were competing with people like Michael Jackson.The album went to Number One, stayed for a month and half, and sold, like, sixteen million copies.Back to the record, we now come to the most totally awesome single. Ever. Dude. Seriously."Pour Some Sugar On Me" is a perfect amalgam of power-pop hooks, crunching guitar chords, elephants-on-steroids drums, peerless sonic production...and a chorus a three-year-old can sing. A song both critics and fans love to love. One listen, and it's back to 1987."Armageddon It" is yet another crisp, thundering rocker, which sounded sweet coming from car radios back then...and still does now. The lyric wordplay confirms the idea that these guys have a lot of fun with themselves."Gods of War" and "Don't Shoot Shotgun" are lesser effors; ambitious yes...just not as successful as the preceding tracks.The blinding "Run Riot" gives those thundering "elephantine" drums a dose of crack, and the result is a happy thrill ride of a pop song.The title song "Hysteria" is a justly celebrated, slow rock anthem, composed of seemingly a thousand parts, making another singular epic tune. Crisp guitars, layers upon layers of vocals, great melodies, interesting production effects...I think the album ends a little weak with the dance-rock of "Excitable" (which is still at least fun to listen to) and the ponderous "Love and Affection" (which is not).All in all, clearly one of the best of that era. One of the best of that genre. One of the best pretty much ever if you care at all about modern popular music.Now for the extras: The B-sides are terrific, and almost worth the price of admission in and of themselves. In particular, "Tear It Down" should have been on the album. It's better than four or five of those that made it. The live versions are interesting...Alice Cooper's "Elected" sounds terrific, but the only "Hysteria" songs are "Women" and "Love and Affection". I hope they are saving the other ones for a subsequent live release.The remixes are "extended" versions, but I think the proper word is "prolonged." By inserting long, lyric-less gaps into a song does not make it any more interesting. These are all examples where "more" is definitely "less".The capper is an absolutely bonkers version of 'Release Me'...yes, the Englebert Humperdinck song...with truly unhinged vocals from the bands' Welsh crew master, Malvin Mortimer. Strange beyond belief, but riotously funny.So there you have it. I honestly wish ALL classic albums would come out this way. This was really a treat.

Double album, great vinyl. Fast ship, great price.