Women to the left - women to the right - the only time I’ve ever had that is when I’ve been sitting on a bus. This was an absolutely fantastic show. I laughed so much throughout the whole episode. Pyromania - I cannot rank the songs in an order. I love this album in it’s entirety and have since it came out. The opening track may be my least favourite but other wise I just love it. Love the sound - Rick Allen’s drumming is fantastic. There’s rock, mood, cool singing…love it. Even saw them live on this tour in a small club in Sydney. We even bought Union Jack shirts to wear to it. Brilliant night. Hysteria - I’m with uncle Simon. I’ve never made it to the end of this record and didn’t even know the last songs. I actually like more songs on this album than I thought. But the crap cheese titles like Pour some sugar on me ( one lump or two ) Armageddon it….Jesus - stop it. Rocket is great but yes the Adam and the ant bit ( great observation ) kinda fucks up what could be a corker. But I still like it. The rest I like or love. I love the title track. Think it’s a great ballad and Gods of war is my favourite - I fucking love it….and the rest of the album I like to love. I know the production is so sheeny and slick but I just kinda like it. Thanks for this show - I had a great time gentlemen
I'd love to see you back on SoT Steve! I reckon you'd fight right in with Steven and Simon for a special episode. Maybe call it 'The UK & Aussie Connection'! Got to make it happen! 😂😂
@@MofosOfMetal Cheers mate. I’d love to go on another episode. I think I may have pissed some people off with my “ how can you hate Hold your fire - Rush rants 😂😂😂😂 maybe I’m just being paranoid. But thanks for the comment. This episode was a corker….so funny.
@@SteveHughesOfficial Your passion for music is off the charts, those shows you were on were big highlights for me. Actually I'm not surprised the UK Connection is your cup of tea - all the humour and expression of strong opinions with zero fear of pissing people off, that's part of the fun and no one takes it personally (I'd hope). There's definitely a different dynamic on the Hudson Valley Squares compared to the UK Connection - the humour on both is great but pretty illustrative of the difference in senses of humour in the UK vs US. Not saying either is better or worse, but there's definitely a different flavour to it. Aussie humour is it's own thing but closer to the UK. C*nt is a terrible insult in the US, a cheeky jibe in the UK, and a term of endearment in Aus! I think of Aussie humour like British humour on roids. 😂😂
Pyromania ranked: 1. Photograph (This was the hit quite deservingly; it has a great riff and chorus with a feel-good vibe that translates well live, great energy every time. A slight resemblance to Whitesnake's Love Ain't No Stranger- which I've always liked. Since this is older, I have to give it credit. There's a small build-up right before Phil Collen's solo which is one of those elevations that separates a good classic from an ok one. The solo itself is really pleasing to hear, I think it's one of those that are so memorable that it will absolutely suck if improvised.) 2. Foolin' (Great riffing and melody. A lot of the best tracks will check out the same boxes. This one is funny because it has an embarrassing chorus that I'll occasionally find myself singing, but the trojan horse was the beautiful bridge, with its underlying melody.) 3. Billy's Got a Gun (Not only do I like the metal edge this song has, there's a genuine guitar hero moment I geek out over which is the "impossible" long bends repeated throughout. I don't know if there are any guitar buffs out there that will agree with me, but trying to reproduce this recording is tougher than many solos.) 4. Stagefright (More of what I said earlier, and I think the riffing here is closest to the nwobhm sound. Phil does some more cool alternate picking runs here that are sort of the template to his sound. This track might be the most metal since Wasted.) 5. Action Not Words (This one has a little more of that High n Dry feel to it and I love the intro/chorus riff with slide guitar, which is always welcome in anything I like to hear.) 6. Rock of Ages (The goofiness used to always make me cringe, but underneath all that is a solid hard rock anthem with an apocalyptic sounding chorus. The solo has a hammer-on/pull-off with a bar lick that I've heard guys like Dimebag Darrell do on several occasions and always gave me chills. The more I'm writing this the more I realize there's tons of little guitar moments on Pyromania to savor. One curious little fact about this track is backmasking. There's a video up on youtube where you guys can hear Joe Elliot yelling "Brezhnev's got Herpes" and "F**k the Russians", hidden deep within the mix when played backwards. I love the fact that Def Leppard decided to roast the Soviet Union rather than praise satan!) 7. Too Late for Love (From here on I like the songs about equally, but this chorus really sticks to your head.) 8. Rock Rock Til You Drop (Probably interchangeable with #7, this is a lot like Foolin' where the chorus sways attention from the musical substance it has on other bits.) 9. Die Hard the Hunter (Good riffing, but I always have to hear the album to remember exactly what it sounds like.) 10. Comin' Under Fire (Not a bad song by any means, but like #9 I always forget about this one when I'm done.) *Production-wise I really like this one. I'm not particularly into stadium rock- but some of the mixing techniques, drum sounds, etc. make for a good listen, especially when it's metal or hard rock with substance being involved. Defenders of the Faith, which is my favorite from Judas Priest, arguably has very similar production elements. So Mutt Lange was on to something cool at the time. Hysteria ranked: 1. Animal (I like everything about this- the intro rhythm & lead, the clean guitars on the relaxed verses, the chorus... It really makes good use of the tasteful guitar tones and little whammy-bar embellishments- which are also some of the cool features on the rest of album.) 2. Armageddon It (This was a tough call for #2 because I think it resembles High n' Dry the most out of every track that came later. Beefy riffs and the best chorus on the album. The lyrics to it are terrible but it sounds SO good.) 3. Run Riot (Kind of a feel-good vibe here with some upbeat riffing, an exciting bridge. Also one of the tracks with aggressive soloing. I feel like a massively underrated moment is when Phil and Steve harmonize two staccato arpeggiations in different keys. I feel like one guitar constantly doing this is one of the secrets to getting a Def Leppard sound. When BOTH did it on this bit, I feel like it was epic.) 4. Gods of War (I think this could've been the best song. I hate the way it transitions and resolves, though. A lot of other tracks have a similar problem. One thing that always pissed me off is that it sets you up for a solo, but then it only lasts ONE single bar before making its way back around. I felt trolled. After great stuff from Phil Collen and Steve Clark on previous records, I expected 4 full bars of at least half decent soloing. Still, buried underneath is a great song that could have been one of the best.) 5. Pour Some Sugar on Me (It's stadium rock, I don't overthink it anymore. I always see wasted opportunity for a great solo and outro here too, but where I live this isn't overplayed enough to be annoying, and there is a charming catchiness to it that sways it away from cringe. Stuff like Warrant's Cherry Pie try to do the same and fails horribly, so something was done right here.) 6. Women (After the countless times I gave the songs I didn't like a second chance, this is the one that actually really grew on me. I think the intro riff and melody are cool, they catch on.) 7. Love an Affection (This is a decent ballad, in my opinion. Not great, but it's the last ok song I'm gonna talk about, as I think everything else is awful.) 8. Hysteria (So- this isn't as bad as the others, but man that chorus annoys me. It's also a little sleeper agent as well, until the chorus scares you awake.) 9. Love Bites (Def Leppard has great ballads, but I don't think this is one of them. Really over the top on sappiness, and I wish it were more bland and discrete, because at this point the bad songs pile up.) 10. Don't Shoot Shot Gun (Interchangeable with the worst three. There's a difference between "fun" silly like Sugar and "bury your head in shame" silly like this one.) 11. Rocket (Same reasons as the previous, except this one's worse because it's longer and kills momentum in the album.) 12. Excitable ("She's so dangerous" kills me every time. It's barely even a song, the lyrics are torturous and the way they're delivered is even worse.) * This had great Mutt Lange production- even when I don't like the songs, the mixing and sound engineering is top-notch. Rick Allen's comeback was also commendable. If I have to be honest though, the rest of the band are out of their element. Leaving out the songs I nitpicked (at least the worst four) they could have shaved off 21 minutes (yes, I did the math) and then you would have a 41 minute record that's much better for repeated listens. Giving stuff like Excitable "another chance" killed me 3-4 times. I won't get those minutes back. Even with this in mind I still don't think it'd be perfect, for things I mentioned like clunky transitions and resolutions, or one-bar solos, if none at all. It's 4 &1/4 guitar breaks from the same fine gentleman that gave us Pyromania, spread out between an hour's worth of music AND whatever else isn't. If I sound aggressive it's because of those 21 minutes...
I have issues with songs, but I think the production is great... Mixing and sound engineering on it are quite spectacular... I wouldn't mind other 80's hard rock albums having this sound, but they'd have to be young and hungry bands playing at their best and doing songs that aren't as cringe as some of these...
Another great UK Connection. I found it interesting that some of my choices where simpatico with Simon and Steven. So here's my picks. Pyromania : 10. Action! Not Words 9. Stagefright 8. Photograph 7. Rock! Rock! Till You Drop 6. Die Hard the Hunter 5. Too Late for Love 4. Rock of Ages 3. Comin' Under Fire 2. Billy's Got a Gun (this was no.1 until this afternoon) 1. Foolin' Hysteria: 12. Love And Affection 11. Excitable (not great for Leppard. But, would Mr. Simmons be proud to have written this, possibly. ) 10. Animal 9. Armageddon It 8. Hysteria 7. Pour Some Sugar on Me 6. Love Bites 5. God's of War 4. Don't Shoot Shotgun 3. Rocket 2. Women 1. Run Riot But, really the top 5 on both lists have moved up and down over the last week.&
Todays beverage: 'Dawn of the Red' Red IPA by Ninkasi Brewing 7%. Pyromania 1. Too Late for Love 2. Rock of Ages 3. Foolin' 4. Photograph 5. Rock Rock (Till You Drop) 6. Dir Hard the Hunter 7. Stage Fright 8. Action! Not Words 9. Comin' Under Fire 10. Billy's Got a Gun There's very little daylight between #1 and #10 for me. I've got Billy's Got a Gun at #10 because that's the end of the album and it seems unnatural to list a song after it. It's so hard wired in my brain. ************************** Hysteria 1. Hysteria 2. Women 3. God's of War 4. Animal 5. Armageddon It 6. Rock It 7. Pour Some Sugar... 8. Don't Shot Shootgun 9. Love & Affection 10. Love Bites 11. Run Riot 12. Excitable Whew, this may be the first time I've completed an assignment. Usually just list a beverage, mention Bigfoot and listen to the fella's riff for an hour. ✌&🎵 everybody.
Congratulations, guys, you got done in under two hours! Yeah👍👍 Before I begin, I'll give a few shoutouts. Steven, thanks for giving Faith its props. George Michael isn't a SOT artist, but Faith is one of my favorite 80s albums along w/Hysteria and Kick. And I salute you for your love of Lionel Richie and Terence Trent D'Arby👍👍 Extra cool!😎😎 And Simon, your rant on Love Bites is spot on! I hate that song for pretty much the same reasons. The MIF line was particularly hilarious!🤣🤣 I was literally in tears. Again, great idea for a show guys! I'm totally prepared to rank the songs on both albums but, I'm starting w/Hysteria because I can recite it in my sleep. Hysteria: The top six I absolutely love. The lower half I either like, tolerate or absolutely can't stand! 1.) Pour Some Sugar on Me- It's my favorite Def Leppard song and I'm sticking to it. It's also the reason Hysteria sold 500K a week so, I'm not the only one who likes it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2.) Love and Affection - It's my favorite of the three ballads. It's also 10xs better than Love Bites! 3.) Animal - I agree w/whoever said the delay at the end is brilliant and, the chorus is catchy. 4.) Gods of War - I agree w/Steven about the baseline, which is killer. It also lyrically has depth. 5.) Hysteria - I agree w/whoever said the song has atmosphere and the lyrics are better than Love Bites. 6.) Women - A good album opener and a decent, hard-rocking song. 7.) Excitable - My mom likes this song🤣🤣It's not their best but it's fun. 8.) Don't Shoot Shotgun - A mid-range tune w/a good tempo. 9.) Armageddon It - If it weren't for the guitar work and the chorus, I'd put it at the bottom. 10.) Run Riot - A pointless song. 11.) Rocket - I would say it's too much of a good thing, but I don't think it's that good. Four minutes or less would've worked just fine! 12.) Love Bites - The lyrics are like WTF?! When you make love, do you look in the mirror?! Really?! Joe Elliott constant wailing gets on my nerves! It's way too long and has nothing interesting to say. For me, it's absolute garbage! Oh,did I say how much I hate this song?! Pyromania: I bought this album after Hysteria. I like it but not as much as Hysteria. Don't laugh!!!!!!!!! 1.) Too Late for Love - It's mellow but not so mellow that it doesn't rock. And I love the chorus.) 2.) Rock Rock (Till You Drop) - A memorable, high-energy opener. 3.) Rock of Ages - What do you want? What do you want? I want to rock and roll. You batcha. I love everything about this song. 4.) Photograph - It's more about nostalgia for me. It's a good tune but I'll always remember the video. It was also my first introduction to Def Leppard. 5.) Stagefright - All night, stagefright, get on with the show. . . Again, the chorus and lyrics drive this song for me. 6.) Foolin' - It's my least favorite of their hits but I don't hate it. 7.) Comin' Under Fire - I like it but it's not as much of a standout as Too Late, Rock Rock or Stagefright. 8.) Die Hard the Hunter - It's alright, but not a favorite. 9.) Billy's Got a Gun - Filler, not bad filler, but filler none the less. 10.) Action! Not Words! - Absolute filler, does nothing for me.
Cheers gents, another excellent dissection of a huge part of my youth, accompanied in my case by a rather splendid Innis & Gunn "The Original" ... Pyromania: 1.Rock Rock (Till You Drop) 2. Photograph 3. Die Hard The Hunter 4. Billy's Got A Gun 5. Rock Of Ages 6. Foolin' 7. Stagefright 8. Comin' Under Fire 9. Action! Not Words 10. Too Late For Love Hysteria: 1. "Animal" 2. "Rocket" 3. "Hysteria" 4. "Armageddon It" 5. "Pour Some Sugar on Me" 6. "Women" 7. "Gods of War" 8. "Don't Shoot Shotgun" 9. "Run Riot" 10. "Love Bites" 11. "Excitable" 12. "Love and Affection"
I'm a big Pyromania and Hysteria fan, but that's probably because they were what I listened to first and the most as a kid. I do love High and Dry though.
@@trickofthetrail @A Trick of the Trail I had hysteria myself as the first record I had from them. I do like it a lot particularly the Live in The Round Hysteria Tour 1987 show they did. Phenomenal. When I went backwards and heard Pyro followed by High and Dry etc though I thought 'wow, even better!' One of my favourite Leppard tracks is Paper Sun ☀ from Euphoria. A true classic Leppard track. Probably considered a hidden gem by many.
I have a 2-cd German bootleg called Retromania from 2010 that's got covers of Jeff Beck's "Cause We Ended As Lovers" & "Led Boots", really good. It's mostly covers - Hendrix, Stones, Tom Petty, Bowie, Alice Cooper, Faces. Also some nice acoustic versions of their hits. If boots count then I think this might be my single fave DL album, I think unlike a lot of bands they do a really good job with covers. Their Rarities box series is pretty good too (especially their "10538 Overture" ELO & Lizzy's "Don't Believe A Word" covers). I also liked their new one Diamond Star Halos with guest Vivian Campbell
Black lager contains roasted malted barley giving the lager a dark colour. Usually characterised by toasty, chocolate taste. Quite common in Germany , Czech Republic. Budvar is worth a try, as is Asahi from Japan.
This album was my journey to school in Sheffield on my walkman. An absolute classic. I remember Spitting Image taking the piss out of Def Leppard, about there American sound and Sheffield roots.
After much deliberation my choices for both albums are Pyromania 01 Stagefright 02 Photograph 03 Die Hard the Hunter 04 Billy's Got a Gun 05Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop) 06 Comin' Under Fire 07 Too Late for Love 08 Foolin' 09 Action! Not Words 10 Rock of Ages Hysteria 01 Run Riot 02 Animal 03 Gods of War 04 Women 05 Don't Shoot Shotgun 06 Love and Affection 07 Love Bites 08 Armageddon It 09 Excitable 10 Rocket 11 Pour Some Sugar on Me 12 Hysteria Pyromania will always rank above Hysteria, though I did rate it highly when it first came out, but even then I was concerned about the lack of uptempo and - to borrow Simon's term for Marco's vocals from last week - 'manly' guitars. To me the balls have been produced out of Hysteria, so whereas at least half the songs on Pyromania have that NWOBHM feel and attitude, thats completely gone on Hysteria. Yes there are some nice songs and theres some fine playing on it. I even shelled out for the deluxe version - which has 4 bonus tracks that I prefer to any of the songs on he album itself. Financially and maybe artistically it was the right thing for them to go along with Mutt and produce an album on which any track could be a single, however I just wish they'd have included a few more out and out rockers. My Pyromania choices were made on the basis of what I felt sounded closer to High and Dry and their NWOBHM heritage dropping down to a more Glam/Hair metal approach until the cheese of Rock of Ages. Mabe that one woulld be overtaken by my top 4 on Hysteria - so I suppose if Hysteria had been those 4 and the 4 bonus tracks it'd be a great album.
Commercially speaking, with Mutt they definitely struck gold but for me personally I was never a big fan even though I quite like Pyromania, I'll alwyas prefer the debut to anything else they ever did.
My beer today was Amber Bock, which has been my favorite for a long time. Now, onto my personal rankings of the songs from these two albums... Pyromania: 10. Rock of Ages 9. Rock Rock Til You Drop 8. Action! Not Worse 7. Stagefright 6. Photograph 5. Comin' Under Fire 4. Billy's Got a Gun 3. Too Late for Love 2. Foolin' 1. Die Hard the Hunter Hysteria: 12. Excitable 11. Pour Some Sugar on Me 10. Animal 9. Love and Affection 8. Don't Shoot Shotgun 7. Run Riot 6. Armageddon It 5. Women 4. Love Bites 3. Rocket 2. Hysteria 1. Gods of War And yes, I did attend the Stadium Tour in Orlando, June 19!
Looking back at the full catalog, I think the exit of Pete Willis had a larger impact on the sound than I initially appreciated. I find High N Dry and Pyromania the best releases due to the edge and grit that you don't find afterward (and it was there on On Through the Night, the songwriting wasn't quite as strong as on the next two). As always, such a blast to see the UK Connection with the legendary Steven and indomitable Simon!
I think that's a good point that might be up for discussion... I don't know if people will agree, but the counter-argument is that to me High n' Dry seems dominated by Steve Clark and Pyromania seems dominated by Phil Collen... Pete Willis is crucial to the first one which has really good lead guitar but is maybe not quite there yet on the songwriting, like you mentioned... It's interesting how there can be three different guitar protagonists on consecutive albums to explain why each record is such a massive departure from the previous... Sure, they function as a team- but for example- you can see how a song on Pyromania that features a Steve Clark solo also ends up having a High n Dry vibe... So it does seem like three guys were on a roll, playing and writing at their absolute best at different times...
A great UK Connection - The UK charts were full of very strange and diverse albums at that time . Steven and Simon along with Pete have so much fun debating the merits of these albums . The reactions are brilliant and thank you all for the great entertainment again today.
I found out recently that Pyromania has sold ten times as many copies in CANADA than in the UK. I love the album but have no idea why so many fellow Brits overlook it.
Nice one as always! I agree that a bunch of B-sides were great, Retroactive is among my favorite Leppard albums, it really shows how Hysteria could've sounded if they hadn't gone so commercial. Pyromania 10. Action! Not Words 9. Rock Of Ages 8. Foolin' 7. Rock! Rock! Till You Drop 6. Billy's Got a Gun 5. Photograph 4. Too Late For Love 3. Comin' Under Fire 2. Stagefright 1. Die Hard The Hunter Hysteria 12. Excitable 11. Love And Affection 10. Sugar 9. Armageddon It 8. Hysteria 7. Rocket 6. Animal 5. Love Bites 4. Run Riot 3. Don't Shoot Shotgun 2. Women 1. Gods of War
Yeah Pete👍 - finally someone who appreciates "Comin' Under Fire" - a great deep cut. Both albums are great and I like both of them, personally I prefer Hysteria because I got into Def Leppard around that time. Pyromania 1-10: Foolin', Comin' Under Fire, Photograph, Die Hard the Hunter, Stagefright, Too Late For Love, Billy's Got a Gun, Rock of Ages, Rock Rock ..., Action! Not Words - the only song that could be left out tmho. Hysteria 1-12: Women, Hysteria, Armaggedon It, Gods Of War, Animal, Run Riot, Rocket, Love And Affection, Pour Some..., Love Bites, Don't Shoot Shotgun, Excitable. Great episode again guys! Enjoyed it a lot.
My beverage of the night: I live in Indianapolis, but picked up a great Chocolate Hazlenut Porter beer called "Heretic" from Heretic Brewing in Fairfield, CA. Pyromania: 10. Action! Not Words 09. Rock of Ages 08. Rock! Rock! (Til You Drop) 07. Billy's Got A Gun 06. Too Late for Love 05. Photograph 04. Die Hard the Hunter 03. Foolin' 02. Comin' Under Fire 01. Stagefright Hysteria: 12. Pour Some Sugar On Me 11. Love Bites 10. Excitable 09. Armageddon It 08. Animal 07. Love and Affection 06. Run Riot 05. Don't Shoot Shotgun 04. Hysteria 03. Rocket 02. Women 01. Gods of War
Hi guys Thanks for another great show. I am a fan of the beer chat as I also enjoy a god real ale. Re the black lager ,I have tried this , last time was in Bavaria Bauhaus in Glasgow pre gig. On to Def Leppard ,I came in right at the start and have very first single the ep featuring Getcha Rocks off. Whilst I agree that High n dry best album it was Hysteria that was the big one. As for Pyromania, I think Uncle Simon has got it more or less spot on. For Hysteria my favourite is title track..I do prefer the early stuff. Not sure about liking every album . Do you still like/listen to X Steven ?. Ps went Uria Heep on Friday They ere amazing. Also looks forward to Angel discussion. Gutted they cancelled UK show
PYROMANIA 10. Action! Not Words 9. Stagefright 8. Comin' Under Fire 7. Photograph 6. Billy's Got a Gun 5. Rock, Rock (Till You Drop) 4. Foolin' 3. Die Hard the Hunter 2. Rock of Ages 1. Too Late for Love HYSTERIA 12. Excitable 11. Don't Shoot Shotgun 10. Gods of War 9. Women 8. Run Riot 7. Love & Affection 6. Armageddon It 5. Love Bites 4. Rocket 3. Animal 2. Hysteria 1. Pour Some Sugar on Me
Another fantastic piece of entertainment from you all. PYROMANIA 1- Comin’ under fire 2- Rock rock (till you drop) 3- Too late for love 4- Billy's got a gun 5- Rock of ages 6- Stagefright 7- Foolin’ 8- Photograph 9- Die hard the hunter 10- Action! not words HYSTERIA - 1- Gods of war the rest all joint 11th.
Appetite for Destruction was mentioned a couple times in the charts for Hysteria and it made me think that album would be a brilliant show idea to do a song ranking on! I personally think it's a phenomenal album, every song is great, however I know that Pete isn't a fan at all, and Steven seems to dislike it. Which leads me to think a song ranking would be even MORE fun! 😂
I really enjoy the three of you talking about classic rock music! I LOVE `Pyromania`...I don`t like `Hysteria`, not from the first listen. So disappointed after rushing out on release day to buy it and played it the moment I got home. I do like `Animal` which you could imagine could have been on `Pyromania` and `Love Bites` is a decent rock ballad but don`t like any of the other tracks. I loathe Armaggedon, Excitable and Pour Some Sugar. My 1-10 is - 1.Stagefright - this is so bombastic I think it`s great and it would have been a good album opener if they didn`t have `Rock, Rock..`on the same record. 2.Comin` Under Fire - with you here Pete I always loved this one! 3.Photograph 4.Foolin` 5.Too Late For Love 6.Rock of Ages 7.Rock!Rock!Til You Drop 8.Die Hard The Hunter 9.Billy`s Got a Gun 10.Action! Not Words Numbers 8 and 9 are very good songs but what I love about `Pyromania` is the Friday night rock/jukebox tracks type and they are my favourites.
I never understood why my favourite song on Hysteria is never mentioned nor played live. EXCITABLE is the real straightforward rocker I had hoped for when I bought the album. I could play this song everyday and sing along, too. My no. 1. Well, if three decent guys slag it off, it dawns on me why it is never mentioned.
So interesting to hear the charts and the musical context behind the times of the album releases by #Defleppard - keep this up Gents! I was a bit too young to be aware of music at all really when #pyromania was released but say what you want about the band's descent into mass produced 'meh' territory - they went directly at the idea of becoming the Michael Jackson of Heavy Rock and succeeded. I do enjoy their early records. And unlike a few panellists, I really get along with the production and the gloss and the work and technical achievements of #MuttLange and the band. It was an incredible achievement for the time and still is really. But Mutt Lange was the 'Bob Rock' for this band. For me, post Hysteria is like post #Metallica black album - shit.
One of my all time favorite bands. I took celebrate the entire catalog, I really dig basically everything that the band has put out... Which I know can be an unpopular opinion haha. Anyway here's my ranking Pyromania Ranked: 10. Rock Rock Til You Drop 9. Rock of Ages 8. Action Not Words 7. Foolin 6. Photograph 5. Stagefright 4.Too Late For Love 3. Comin Under Fire 2. Die Hard The Hunter 1. Billy's Got A Gun Hysteria Ranked: 12. Run Riot 11. Armageddon It 10. Women 9. Rocket 8. Excitable 7. Animal 6. Pour Some Sugar On Me 5. Love Bites 4. Love and Affection 3. Don't Shoot Shotgun 2. Hysteria 1. Gods of War
Both superb albums as is High N Dry and I will wage endless wars with anyone who says otherwise. Pyromania ~ 10. Action not words 9. Billy's got a gun 8. Comin' under fire🔥 7. Rock Rock (Till you drop) 6. Too Late for Love 5. Rock of ages 4. Die hard the hunter 3. Foolin' 2. Stagefright 1. 📸 Photograph Hysteria - 12. Excitable 11. Love and affection 10. Love bites 9. Don't shot shotgun 8. Women 7. Armageddon it 6. 🚀 Rocket 5. Animal 🐅 4. Hysteria 3. Pour some sugar on me 2. Run riot 1. Gods of War
Lots of homework this week. So here's my ranking of Pyromania, which BTW is still sounding as fresh and exciting as it did back in 1983. 1 Action! Not words. 2 Foolin' 3 Rock Rock till you drop 4 Billy's got a gun 5 Rock of Ages 6 Photograph 7 Die Hard the Hunter 8 Too Late for Love 9 Coming under Fire 10 Stagefright I really enjoyed revisiting one of my favourite albums of all time.
Yeah sorry I can't really join you this week. I listened to each album once (almost). I honestly kinda tuned out during Pyromania so I would need to do another go through, and I got 3 songs into Hysteria before turning it off. Fun show though! Angel is actually a band I know and like again! wahee. Guess I'll knock out some Giuffria and House of Lords albums till then.
Pyromania 10. Action! Not Words 09. Comin' Under Fire 08. Rock of Ages 07. Die Hard the Hunter 06. Stagefright 05. Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop) 04. Too Late for Love 03. Foolin' 02. Photograph 01. Billy's Got a Gun Hysteria 12. Love and Affection 11. Excitable 10. Rocket 09. Armageddon It 08. Don't Shoot Shotgun 07. Pour Some Sugar on Me 06. Love Bites 05. Run Riot 04. Gods of War 03. Women 02. Hysteria 01. Animal
I love UK connection! The best show on the Sea of Tranquility channel. I like Pyromania a lot more than Hysteria. PYROMANIA: 10. Too Late for love 9. Stagefright 8. Rock! Rock! Till you drop 7. Action! not words 6. Rock of Ages 5. Photograph 4. Comin' Under Fire 3. Die Hard The Hunter 2. Foolin' 1. Billy's Got a Gun HYSTERIA: 12. Excitable 11. Love and Affection 10. Love Bites 9. Armageddon It 8. Don't Shoot Shotgun 7. Rocket 6. Women 5. Pour some sugar on me 4. Animal 3. Run Riot 2. Hysteria 1. God's of War
Check out Bell's Light-Hearted Ale. It's a 3.7% version of their popular Two-Hearted Ale (7%). It's almost as good and half the alcohol. It's become my go-to beer when I plan on a long day/night.
My theory on why Hysteria was so popular with the ladies is due to Rick's accident and the fact he couldn’t do the hard and heavy style of drumming with lots of fills on previous albums he had to resort to a more bass heavy low end sound which made the album more danceable??
Simon - Both your hair, beard and humor remind me of Rick Wakeman. Steven - Your expressions are priceless! Like many, I came to know Def Leppard after the release of Pyromania. It is my favorite album. Though I like a number of songs from Hysteria and commend the band as well as Rick Allen for both waiting for Rick and for him continuing to play, they kind of lost me after that. The production was too shiny and the songs were way more commercial than Pyromania. I'm a bit contrarian on the first two albums. I actually like On Through the Night more than High And Dry. Kind of funny that they put the would be title track to the debut album on High And Dry. Oh, and, like Steven, I saw Def Leppard the first and only time on during the Hysteria tour. I don't know what the average setlist was, but the show at the Coliseum in Hampton, VA was short. Less than 90 minutes I think. It was cool that they played in the round though.
I think you hit on something with the Hysteria bought on multiple formats thing, giving it a false sales boost. 87 was one of the few years where 3 formats were available and all were close sales-wise, cassette being most popular. I was a vinyl guy, but I was on vacation August 87, and bought the tape for my walkman. When I got home, I bought the vinyl. A few months later, I got a CD player, and bought the CD lol
Great show, I will say now, if you ask me like 10 years ago I would say I love Pyromania and Hysteria, now I can still listen to pyromania but I never need to hear Photograph or rock of ages more than twice a year, I can still listen to foolin, but when I listen to Pyromania I listen to deep cuts. Favorite song on that album is comin under fire. Hysteria the album I never need to hear poor some sugar on me, rocket, and love bites. I can still listen to women, Animal and title track. My favorite is gods of war
For Me: Pyromania: 1.Too Late for Love 2. Photograph 3. Billy's Got A Gun 4. Coming Under Fire 5. Die Hard The Hunter 6. Foolin' 7. Stage fright 8 Rock of Ages 9. Action( Not Words) 10. Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop) Hysteria: 1. Animal 2. God's of War 3. Armageddon It 4.Pour Some Sugar on Me 5. Hysteria 6. Love Bites 7. Love and Affection 8. Women 9. Run Riot 10. Rocket 11. Don't Shoot Shotgun 12. Excitable
Interesting discussion, guys. In his history of NWBHM, "Denim and Leather" Michael Hann says that Def Leppard ultimately destroyed NWBHM through their commercial success. Not sure whether he refers to Pyromania or Hysteria but given the former's lack of UK chart success he probably sees Hysteria as the album that dealt the death blow to the movement. If you haven't read this book it is weel worth a read, lots of good stuff on Saxon, Diamond Head and others.
My ranking for Pyromania is difficult because I love every song. It also happens to be my personal favorite Def Leppard album. That being said: 1. Billy’s Got A Gun 2. Too Late For Love 3. Foolin’ 4. Die Hard The Hunter 5. Comin’ Under Fire 6. Stagefright 7. Rock Rock (Till You Drop) 8. Photograph 9. Rock Of Ages 10. Action! Not Words And for Hysteria: 1. Gods Of War 2. Women 3. Hysteria 4. Pour Some Sugar On Me (I prefer the video intro to the album version) 5. Armageddon It 6. Animal 7. Run Riot 8. Rocket (I much prefer the edited single/video version) 9. Love Bites 10. Love And Affection 11. Don’t Shoot Shotgun 12. Excitable I will say that the backing vocals (all the band members sang as did Mutt Lange) sound way better on Pyromania than on Hysteria.
Steven, I’m not sure if they still do it but back in my student days, which admittedly was 35+ years ago, Furstenberg used to do a black lager that you could get quite readily, even on draught, in Scotland. Might have been seasonal though. And Too Late For Love is a stone cold classic for me. It was hearing that on Tom Russell‘s rock show on Radio Clyde that turned me on to Def Leppard. I was all-in for a while……then they released Hysteria. I did see them on that tour but it was very much the beginning of the end for me. The songs they didn’t release as singles off that album, and there’s not many of them, are the best songs on the album, well the first three songs on side two at least
Köstritzer ! Pete has won the Beer Battle! Btw: The letter "i" is pronounced like "ee" in English, but a short vowel! For the "ö" ...check Motörhead! ;)
We need a show about those Def Lep albums nobody talks about (Slang, Euphoria, X)! If Pete and Simon are not interested, I’d be more than happy to discuss these with Steven 😎
If you have the original vinyl, "billy's got a gun" is a locked groove, meaning the last few seconds play infinitely, until you pick up the tonearm. This is assuming your turntable is manual, and doesn't pick up automatically, before this
Love. PYROMANIA but it’s actually. No 3 with me. My favorite is super close but On through the night / 8️⃣0️⃣ by a hair over High n DRY/8️⃣1️⃣. F00LIN is a tremendous song. IMO. Thx to the trio for another bang up job . Did not get to watch this on Saturday afternoon, but watched it at night. Thx. SIMON/ STEVEN/ PETE 👍💯
Great show gentlemen, this was fun. I did the homework and then kept score to see how I faired with your selections. Started out well on Hysteria matching with Simon & Steven. Seems I had more in common with Steven than the rest of the panel. Doing this with these albums, as well as Boston it got me to thinking. What if the song order was different. Would we like albums more, if that is possible. Like start Pyromania with Stagefright, Rock Rock, Coming Under Fire, Foolin' end that side with Billy's Got a Gun. Side B lead off with Rock of Ages, Photograph, Action! Not Words, Too Late For Love and end the album with Die Hard the Hunter. Just a thought to get people thinking. Here are my selections. Hysteria - I like this album quite a bit, not as much as Pyromania or High & Dry, it is enjoyable 12) Excitable 11) Love & Affection 10) Pour Some Sugar on Me 9) Women 8) Hysteria 7) Armageddon It 6) Love Bites 5) Animal 4) Run Riot 3) Don't Shoot, Shotgun 2) Rocket 1) Gods of War Pyromania- I still love this album, probably the nostalgia thing. 10) Rock Rock (Til You drop) 9) Coming Under Fire 8) Action! Not Words 7) Rock of Ages 6) Photograph 5) Stagefright 4) Billy's Got a Gun 3) Too Late For Love 2) Die Hard The Hunter 1) Foolin'
🔥PYROMANIA 🔥 Life-changing for me in third grade when I turned to Channel 22 MTV rock of ages changed my life but hysteria is their finest work. Pyromania took me from nickelodeon to MTV realizing there’s something out there other than you can’t do that on television which was genius as well.
Pyromania - easily the better of two albums here imho. 10) Action not words 9) Billy Got a gun 8) Photograph - I heard way too many times and kind of in the same category as shook me all not long. 7) Coming under fire 6) Too late for love 5) Stagefright 4) Rock of ages 3) Rock Rock till you drop. 2) Die hard the hunter 1) Foolin. It came at perfect time when I girl I had crush totally destroyed me lol. Hysteria - This album actually made me not a big DL anymore. It is good album but their was corporate feel to this album that just rubbed me the wrong way over the years. 12) Pour some sugar on me - if I never hear this song again, it will be completely fine. I get why people like it but it is the most pandering song of all time. 11) Animal 10) Love Bites. This song aged really badly over the years. When you talk about over done power ballad, this is picture of it. 9) Women 8) Excitable. 7) Love and affection. 6) Rocket 5) Don’t shoot shotgun 4) Hysteria 3) Armageddon it 2) Run Riot 1) Gods of war
Hello gentlemen. I’m getting a late start again. It’s 12:45am est here. I’m having a Session IPA called Trail Slayer from Spearfish South Dakota. 🍺 So since it’s late or real early, depending on how you look at it I’m just gonna get right to it. I must say I like everything on this album. PYROMANIA #10- Action Not Words #9 - Photograph #8 - Rock of Ages #7 - Stagefright #6 - Foolin #5 - Comin Under Fire #4 - Too Late For Love #3 - Billy’s Got A Gun #2 - Die Hard the Hunter #1 - Rock! Rock! (til you drop) HYSTERIA #12- Love Bites #11- Pour Some Sugar On Me #10- Don’t Shoot Shotgun #9 - Excitable #8- Love and Affection #7- Rocket #6- Armageddon It #5- Run Riot #4- Animal #3- Gods of War #2- Hysteria #1- Women Great show guys. Simon telling it like it is and Steven about choking on his beer. Good thing Pete wasn’t drinking at the time. Hilarious! Always a pleasure.
Finished watching this last night on our return from Yorkshire (we use to live in Sheffield)…though never really been a fan of the DL that I would have heard on radio (Hysteria era singles and beyond)…anyway, I get in the car today, and what are Sunshine Radio playing? Only LETS GET FOOKIN ROCKED!! 😂😂
As often happens SoT prompts me to listen to albums that I haven’t heard in decades. Pyromania is a solid album with clever touches and some good guitar solos, every song is about 7.5 out of 10 in my book. But no song on it has the excitement of songs on High’n’Dry or On Through the Night. The only time I saw Def Leppard live was on the Pyromania tour, the crowd at Birmingham Odeon definitely reacted better to the older music but that’s not that unusual. I tried to like Hysteria at the time and I still bought Adrenalize but that’s when I finally gave up with this band 🇬🇧
1. Foolin’ 2. Stagefright 3. Too Late For Love 4. Die Hard The Hunter 5. Photograph 6. Billy’s Got A Gun 7. Comin’ Under Fire 8. Rock of Ages 9. Rock Rock (Till You Drop) 10. Action! Not Words 1. Gods of War 2. Hysteria 3. Women 4. Love Bites 5. Run Riot 6-12 all the rest tied for meh
I grew up with Def Leppard and by grew up I mean a band my age that I saw in tiny venues around the Went Lancashire / Manchester area, before they were signed,so I have an attachment to them and I still enjoy both these albums, and apart from a spell late 90s, Slang mainly fell off the train. I do like the new album. Anyway I still like Hysteria a lot and if it were a 10 song album and lost Excitable,Love and affection it wouldn’t be far behind Pyromania.
I would imagine that due to various deadlines and lack of coordination, album packaging was sometimes finished before track listings were finalised, hence the random order of songs.
Pyromania: 10. Action Not Words 9. Rock Of Ages 8. Rock Rock Til You Drop 7. Stagefright 6. Comin' Under Fire 5. Die Hard The Hunter 4. Photograph 3. Too Late For Love 2. Foolin' 1. Billy's Got A Gun Hysteria: 12. Love And Affection 11. Hysteria 10. Pour Some Sugar On Me 9. Excitable 8. Don't Shoot Shotgun 7. Run Riot 6. Women 5. Love Bites 4. Gods Of War 3. Animal 2. Rocket 1. Armageddon It
@steven reid wasn't it the 12" singles that formed the album cover when you had to buy the special edition box set of love bites to get the extra panels to get the full album cover
Spandau ballet was mentioned. Damn I was disappointed no one on the show liked them. Love Tony Hadleys supreme vocals & fantastic songs as well, starting as synthpop early on with songs like ‘Cut a Long story short’ then moving into the soul, Jazz with songs like ‘True’.
@@simonbrayfromsot1375 Through the Barricades is absolutely beautiful! Probably that song & Round & Round are my favourites by them. To be frank I'm not a big metal fan but love Petes reviews on music & do love prog rock. We've all got our different tastes.
The first three albums are the best in my opinion, especially High N Dry and On Through The Night. Pete Willis in my opinion was very important to the Def Leppard sound with Steve Clark.
How can you rank almost perfect songs in their genres? Here we are: Pyromania 1. Too late for love 2. Photograph 3. Foolin' 4. Die the hunter 5. Rock of ages 6. Billy's got a gun 7. Comin' under fire 8. Stagefright 9. Rock rock (till you drop) 10. Action! Not words Hysteria 1. Armageddon it 2. Rocket 3. Women 4. Gods of war 5. Animal 6. Hysteria 7. Love and affection 8. Run riot 9. Don't shoot shotgun 10. Love bites 11. Excitable 12. Pour some sugar on me
Great show as always lads very funny and informative 👏 very entertaining show. The report when you guys get together every week is hilarious and very interesting subject matter . Well done boys , great show 👏 👍 👌 🙌.
Here's my non Def Leppard fan list from both albums: Photograph (the only 10/10 perfect song of the lot) Die hard Animal Armageddon it Action not words Foolin Love bites Woman Comin under fire Rock rock Billy's got a gun Rock of ages Too late for love Gods of war (he's saying I am Robert deniro, isn't he?) Stagefright Hysteria Pour some sugar Don't shoot shotgun Love and affection Runriot Rocket Excitable A few points (probably not established wisdom but my own genuine thoughts): - I wasn't a Def Leppard fan before this and I'm not sure I'd call myself one now, but I have softened on them a little. You really need to crank these up to hear past the production and get to the rock (it makes sense in my head) - Pyromania songs suffer from the Lange production whilst the Hysteria songs are elevated by it - I really don't like Pour Some Sugar much at all - I'm a softie for a ballad, doesn't matter if it's cheesy this band does them well. Love bites? Yes please - The live versions of these tracks on the Deluxe Editions are soooo much better
I laughed out loud when he said " it's a concept album with no concept". Great take
Women to the left - women to the right - the only time I’ve ever had that is when I’ve been sitting on a bus. This was an absolutely fantastic show. I laughed so much throughout the whole episode.
Pyromania - I cannot rank the songs in an order. I love this album in it’s entirety and have since it came out. The opening track may be my least favourite but other wise I just love it. Love the sound - Rick Allen’s drumming is fantastic. There’s rock, mood, cool singing…love it. Even saw them live on this tour in a small club in Sydney. We even bought Union Jack shirts to wear to it. Brilliant night.
Hysteria - I’m with uncle Simon. I’ve never made it to the end of this record and didn’t even know the last songs.
I actually like more songs on this album than I thought. But the crap cheese titles like Pour some sugar on me ( one lump or two ) Armageddon it….Jesus - stop it. Rocket is great but yes the Adam and the ant bit ( great observation ) kinda fucks up what could be a corker. But I still like it.
The rest I like or love. I love the title track. Think it’s a great ballad and Gods of war is my favourite - I fucking love it….and the rest of the album I like to love. I know the production is so sheeny and slick but I just kinda like it.
Thanks for this show - I had a great time gentlemen
I'd love to see you back on SoT Steve! I reckon you'd fight right in with Steven and Simon for a special episode. Maybe call it 'The UK & Aussie Connection'!
Got to make it happen! 😂😂
@@MofosOfMetal Cheers mate. I’d love to go on another episode. I think I may have pissed some people off with my “ how can you hate Hold your fire - Rush rants 😂😂😂😂 maybe I’m just being paranoid. But thanks for the comment. This episode was a corker….so funny.
@@SteveHughesOfficial Your passion for music is off the charts, those shows you were on were big highlights for me. Actually I'm not surprised the UK Connection is your cup of tea - all the humour and expression of strong opinions with zero fear of pissing people off, that's part of the fun and no one takes it personally (I'd hope).
There's definitely a different dynamic on the Hudson Valley Squares compared to the UK Connection - the humour on both is great but pretty illustrative of the difference in senses of humour in the UK vs US. Not saying either is better or worse, but there's definitely a different flavour to it. Aussie humour is it's own thing but closer to the UK. C*nt is a terrible insult in the US, a cheeky jibe in the UK, and a term of endearment in Aus! I think of Aussie humour like British humour on roids. 😂😂
Pyromania ranked:
1. Photograph (This was the hit quite deservingly; it has a great riff and chorus with a feel-good vibe that translates well live, great energy every time. A slight resemblance to Whitesnake's Love Ain't No Stranger- which I've always liked. Since this is older, I have to give it credit. There's a small build-up right before Phil Collen's solo which is one of those elevations that separates a good classic from an ok one. The solo itself is really pleasing to hear, I think it's one of those that are so memorable that it will absolutely suck if improvised.)
2. Foolin' (Great riffing and melody. A lot of the best tracks will check out the same boxes. This one is funny because it has an embarrassing chorus that I'll occasionally find myself singing, but the trojan horse was the beautiful bridge, with its underlying melody.)
3. Billy's Got a Gun (Not only do I like the metal edge this song has, there's a genuine guitar hero moment I geek out over which is the "impossible" long bends repeated throughout. I don't know if there are any guitar buffs out there that will agree with me, but trying to reproduce this recording is tougher than many solos.)
4. Stagefright (More of what I said earlier, and I think the riffing here is closest to the nwobhm sound. Phil does some more cool alternate picking runs here that are sort of the template to his sound. This track might be the most metal since Wasted.)
5. Action Not Words (This one has a little more of that High n Dry feel to it and I love the intro/chorus riff with slide guitar, which is always welcome in anything I like to hear.)
6. Rock of Ages (The goofiness used to always make me cringe, but underneath all that is a solid hard rock anthem with an apocalyptic sounding chorus. The solo has a hammer-on/pull-off with a bar lick that I've heard guys like Dimebag Darrell do on several occasions and always gave me chills. The more I'm writing this the more I realize there's tons of little guitar moments on Pyromania to savor. One curious little fact about this track is backmasking. There's a video up on youtube where you guys can hear Joe Elliot yelling "Brezhnev's got Herpes" and "F**k the Russians", hidden deep within the mix when played backwards. I love the fact that Def Leppard decided to roast the Soviet Union rather than praise satan!)
7. Too Late for Love (From here on I like the songs about equally, but this chorus really sticks to your head.)
8. Rock Rock Til You Drop (Probably interchangeable with #7, this is a lot like Foolin' where the chorus sways attention from the musical substance it has on other bits.)
9. Die Hard the Hunter (Good riffing, but I always have to hear the album to remember exactly what it sounds like.)
10. Comin' Under Fire (Not a bad song by any means, but like #9 I always forget about this one when I'm done.)
*Production-wise I really like this one. I'm not particularly into stadium rock- but some of the mixing techniques, drum sounds, etc. make for a good listen, especially when it's metal or hard rock with substance being involved. Defenders of the Faith, which is my favorite from Judas Priest, arguably has very similar production elements. So Mutt Lange was on to something cool at the time.
Hysteria ranked:
1. Animal (I like everything about this- the intro rhythm & lead, the clean guitars on the relaxed verses, the chorus... It really makes good use of the tasteful guitar tones and little whammy-bar embellishments- which are also some of the cool features on the rest of album.)
2. Armageddon It (This was a tough call for #2 because I think it resembles High n' Dry the most out of every track that came later. Beefy riffs and the best chorus on the album. The lyrics to it are terrible but it sounds SO good.)
3. Run Riot (Kind of a feel-good vibe here with some upbeat riffing, an exciting bridge. Also one of the tracks with aggressive soloing. I feel like a massively underrated moment is when Phil and Steve harmonize two staccato arpeggiations in different keys. I feel like one guitar constantly doing this is one of the secrets to getting a Def Leppard sound. When BOTH did it on this bit, I feel like it was epic.)
4. Gods of War (I think this could've been the best song. I hate the way it transitions and resolves, though. A lot of other tracks have a similar problem. One thing that always pissed me off is that it sets you up for a solo, but then it only lasts ONE single bar before making its way back around. I felt trolled. After great stuff from Phil Collen and Steve Clark on previous records, I expected 4 full bars of at least half decent soloing. Still, buried underneath is a great song that could have been one of the best.)
5. Pour Some Sugar on Me (It's stadium rock, I don't overthink it anymore. I always see wasted opportunity for a great solo and outro here too, but where I live this isn't overplayed enough to be annoying, and there is a charming catchiness to it that sways it away from cringe. Stuff like Warrant's Cherry Pie try to do the same and fails horribly, so something was done right here.)
6. Women (After the countless times I gave the songs I didn't like a second chance, this is the one that actually really grew on me. I think the intro riff and melody are cool, they catch on.)
7. Love an Affection (This is a decent ballad, in my opinion. Not great, but it's the last ok song I'm gonna talk about, as I think everything else is awful.)
8. Hysteria (So- this isn't as bad as the others, but man that chorus annoys me. It's also a little sleeper agent as well, until the chorus scares you awake.)
9. Love Bites (Def Leppard has great ballads, but I don't think this is one of them. Really over the top on sappiness, and I wish it were more bland and discrete, because at this point the bad songs pile up.)
10. Don't Shoot Shot Gun (Interchangeable with the worst three. There's a difference between "fun" silly like Sugar and "bury your head in shame" silly like this one.)
11. Rocket (Same reasons as the previous, except this one's worse because it's longer and kills momentum in the album.)
12. Excitable ("She's so dangerous" kills me every time. It's barely even a song, the lyrics are torturous and the way they're delivered is even worse.)
* This had great Mutt Lange production- even when I don't like the songs, the mixing and sound engineering is top-notch. Rick Allen's comeback was also commendable. If I have to be honest though, the rest of the band are out of their element. Leaving out the songs I nitpicked (at least the worst four) they could have shaved off 21 minutes (yes, I did the math) and then you would have a 41 minute record that's much better for repeated listens. Giving stuff like Excitable "another chance" killed me 3-4 times. I won't get those minutes back. Even with this in mind I still don't think it'd be perfect, for things I mentioned like clunky transitions and resolutions, or one-bar solos, if none at all. It's 4 &1/4 guitar breaks from the same fine gentleman that gave us Pyromania, spread out between an hour's worth of music AND whatever else isn't. If I sound aggressive it's because of those 21 minutes...
Y'all have out done yourselves with this episode! This is absolutely one of the best ever. "It's like a concept album with zero concept". HYSTERI-CAL!
I really enjoyed The UK Connection laid back atmosphere and informal conversations. Great show guys.! Cheers!
Thanks very much!
It's always a good show but yeah I agree these 2 always deliver. I think it's the British sense of humour that does it.
I’m with Steven on Hysteria, love the overblown production, it really is a great example of what you can do in a studio with no limits.
I have issues with songs, but I think the production is great... Mixing and sound engineering on it are quite spectacular... I wouldn't mind other 80's hard rock albums having this sound, but they'd have to be young and hungry bands playing at their best and doing songs that aren't as cringe as some of these...
And it set the template for modern Pop/Country production
Love these UK Connection show. Cheers to you all. 🍻 I'm having a Leffe Blonde Belgian Ale.
Thanks. Good choice!
Another great UK Connection. I found it interesting that some of my choices where simpatico with Simon and Steven.
So here's my picks.
Pyromania :
10. Action! Not Words
9. Stagefright
8. Photograph
7. Rock! Rock! Till You Drop
6. Die Hard the Hunter
5. Too Late for Love
4. Rock of Ages
3. Comin' Under Fire
2. Billy's Got a Gun (this was no.1 until this afternoon)
1. Foolin'
Hysteria:
12. Love And Affection
11. Excitable (not great for Leppard. But, would Mr. Simmons be proud to have written this, possibly. )
10. Animal
9. Armageddon It
8. Hysteria
7. Pour Some Sugar on Me
6. Love Bites
5. God's of War
4. Don't Shoot Shotgun
3. Rocket
2. Women
1. Run Riot
But, really the top 5 on both lists have moved up and down over the last week.&
Todays beverage: 'Dawn of the Red' Red IPA by Ninkasi Brewing 7%.
Pyromania
1. Too Late for Love
2. Rock of Ages
3. Foolin'
4. Photograph
5. Rock Rock (Till You Drop)
6. Dir Hard the Hunter
7. Stage Fright
8. Action! Not Words
9. Comin' Under Fire
10. Billy's Got a Gun
There's very little daylight between #1 and #10 for me. I've got Billy's Got a Gun at #10 because that's the end of the album and it seems unnatural to list a song after it. It's so hard wired in my brain.
**************************
Hysteria
1. Hysteria
2. Women
3. God's of War
4. Animal
5. Armageddon It
6. Rock It
7. Pour Some Sugar...
8. Don't Shot Shootgun
9. Love & Affection
10. Love Bites
11. Run Riot
12. Excitable
Whew, this may be the first time I've completed an assignment. Usually just list a beverage, mention Bigfoot and listen to the fella's riff for an hour. ✌&🎵 everybody.
Congratulations, guys, you got done in under two hours! Yeah👍👍
Before I begin, I'll give a few shoutouts. Steven, thanks for giving Faith its props. George Michael isn't a SOT artist, but Faith is one of my favorite 80s albums along w/Hysteria and Kick. And I salute you for your love of Lionel Richie and Terence Trent D'Arby👍👍 Extra cool!😎😎
And Simon, your rant on Love Bites is spot on! I hate that song for pretty much the same reasons. The MIF line was particularly hilarious!🤣🤣 I was literally in tears. Again, great idea for a show guys! I'm totally prepared to rank the songs on both albums but, I'm starting w/Hysteria because I can recite it in my sleep.
Hysteria: The top six I absolutely love. The lower half I either like, tolerate or absolutely can't stand!
1.) Pour Some Sugar on Me- It's my favorite Def Leppard song and I'm sticking to it. It's also the reason Hysteria sold 500K a week so, I'm not the only one who likes it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2.) Love and Affection - It's my favorite of the three ballads. It's also 10xs better than Love Bites!
3.) Animal - I agree w/whoever said the delay at the end is brilliant and, the chorus is catchy.
4.) Gods of War - I agree w/Steven about the baseline, which is killer. It also lyrically has depth.
5.) Hysteria - I agree w/whoever said the song has atmosphere and the lyrics are better than Love Bites.
6.) Women - A good album opener and a decent, hard-rocking song.
7.) Excitable - My mom likes this song🤣🤣It's not their best but it's fun.
8.) Don't Shoot Shotgun - A mid-range tune w/a good tempo.
9.) Armageddon It - If it weren't for the guitar work and the chorus, I'd put it at the bottom.
10.) Run Riot - A pointless song.
11.) Rocket - I would say it's too much of a good thing, but I don't think it's that good. Four minutes or less would've worked just fine!
12.) Love Bites - The lyrics are like WTF?! When you make love, do you look in the mirror?! Really?! Joe Elliott constant wailing gets on my nerves! It's way too long and has nothing interesting to say. For me, it's absolute garbage! Oh,did I say how much I hate this song?!
Pyromania: I bought this album after Hysteria. I like it but not as much as Hysteria. Don't laugh!!!!!!!!!
1.) Too Late for Love - It's mellow but not so mellow that it doesn't rock. And I love the chorus.)
2.) Rock Rock (Till You Drop) - A memorable, high-energy opener.
3.) Rock of Ages - What do you want? What do you want? I want to rock and roll. You batcha. I love everything about this song.
4.) Photograph - It's more about nostalgia for me. It's a good tune but I'll always remember the video. It was also my first introduction to Def Leppard.
5.) Stagefright - All night, stagefright, get on with the show. . . Again, the chorus and lyrics drive this song for me.
6.) Foolin' - It's my least favorite of their hits but I don't hate it.
7.) Comin' Under Fire - I like it but it's not as much of a standout as Too Late, Rock Rock or Stagefright.
8.) Die Hard the Hunter - It's alright, but not a favorite.
9.) Billy's Got a Gun - Filler, not bad filler, but filler none the less.
10.) Action! Not Words! - Absolute filler, does nothing for me.
You guys always make my week better. Thanks for another quality show.
Cheers gents, another excellent dissection of a huge part of my youth, accompanied in my case by a rather splendid Innis & Gunn "The Original" ...
Pyromania:
1.Rock Rock (Till You Drop)
2. Photograph
3. Die Hard The Hunter
4. Billy's Got A Gun
5. Rock Of Ages
6. Foolin'
7. Stagefright
8. Comin' Under Fire
9. Action! Not Words
10. Too Late For Love
Hysteria:
1. "Animal"
2. "Rocket"
3. "Hysteria"
4. "Armageddon It"
5. "Pour Some Sugar on Me"
6. "Women"
7. "Gods of War"
8. "Don't Shoot Shotgun"
9. "Run Riot"
10. "Love Bites"
11. "Excitable"
12. "Love and Affection"
Pyro and High and Dry are their best 2 records.
I'm a big Pyromania and Hysteria fan, but that's probably because they were what I listened to first and the most as a kid. I do love High and Dry though.
@@trickofthetrail @A Trick of the Trail I had hysteria myself as the first record I had from them. I do like it a lot particularly the Live in The Round Hysteria Tour 1987 show they did. Phenomenal. When I went backwards and heard Pyro followed by High and Dry etc though I thought 'wow, even better!'
One of my favourite Leppard tracks is Paper Sun ☀ from Euphoria. A true classic Leppard track. Probably considered a hidden gem by many.
@Careless Whisper Brilliant song. They usually open with it, still do I think.
I have a 2-cd German bootleg called Retromania from 2010 that's got covers of Jeff Beck's "Cause We Ended As Lovers" & "Led Boots", really good. It's mostly covers - Hendrix, Stones, Tom Petty, Bowie, Alice Cooper, Faces. Also some nice acoustic versions of their hits. If boots count then I think this might be my single fave DL album, I think unlike a lot of bands they do a really good job with covers. Their Rarities box series is pretty good too (especially their "10538 Overture" ELO & Lizzy's "Don't Believe A Word" covers). I also liked their new one Diamond Star Halos with guest Vivian Campbell
😃👍
Black lager contains roasted malted barley giving the lager a dark colour. Usually characterised by toasty, chocolate taste. Quite common in Germany , Czech Republic. Budvar is worth a try, as is Asahi from Japan.
This album was my journey to school in Sheffield on my walkman. An absolute classic. I remember Spitting Image taking the piss out of Def Leppard, about there American sound and Sheffield roots.
Pete, the Mainstream Rock Chart was made by Billboard to show what was getting played on rock radio in the USA. Premiered in 1981.
After much deliberation my choices for both albums are
Pyromania
01 Stagefright
02 Photograph
03 Die Hard the Hunter
04 Billy's Got a Gun
05Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)
06 Comin' Under Fire
07 Too Late for Love
08 Foolin'
09 Action! Not Words
10 Rock of Ages
Hysteria
01 Run Riot
02 Animal
03 Gods of War
04 Women
05 Don't Shoot Shotgun
06 Love and Affection
07 Love Bites
08 Armageddon It
09 Excitable
10 Rocket
11 Pour Some Sugar on Me
12 Hysteria
Pyromania will always rank above Hysteria, though I did rate it highly when it first came out, but even then I was concerned about the lack of uptempo and - to borrow Simon's term for Marco's vocals from last week - 'manly' guitars. To me the balls have been produced out of Hysteria, so whereas at least half the songs on Pyromania have that NWOBHM feel and attitude, thats completely gone on Hysteria. Yes there are some nice songs and theres some fine playing on it. I even shelled out for the deluxe version - which has 4 bonus tracks that I prefer to any of the songs on he album itself. Financially and maybe artistically it was the right thing for them to go along with Mutt and produce an album on which any track could be a single, however I just wish they'd have included a few more out and out rockers.
My Pyromania choices were made on the basis of what I felt sounded closer to High and Dry and their NWOBHM heritage dropping down to a more Glam/Hair metal approach until the cheese of Rock of Ages. Mabe that one woulld be overtaken by my top 4 on Hysteria - so I suppose if Hysteria had been those 4 and the 4 bonus tracks it'd be a great album.
Commercially speaking, with Mutt they definitely struck gold but for me personally I was never a big fan even though I quite like Pyromania, I'll alwyas prefer the debut to anything else they ever did.
My beer today was Amber Bock, which has been my favorite for a long time. Now, onto my personal rankings of the songs from these two albums...
Pyromania:
10. Rock of Ages
9. Rock Rock Til You Drop
8. Action! Not Worse
7. Stagefright
6. Photograph
5. Comin' Under Fire
4. Billy's Got a Gun
3. Too Late for Love
2. Foolin'
1. Die Hard the Hunter
Hysteria:
12. Excitable
11. Pour Some Sugar on Me
10. Animal
9. Love and Affection
8. Don't Shoot Shotgun
7. Run Riot
6. Armageddon It
5. Women
4. Love Bites
3. Rocket
2. Hysteria
1. Gods of War
And yes, I did attend the Stadium Tour in Orlando, June 19!
Looking back at the full catalog, I think the exit of Pete Willis had a larger impact on the sound than I initially appreciated. I find High N Dry and Pyromania the best releases due to the edge and grit that you don't find afterward (and it was there on On Through the Night, the songwriting wasn't quite as strong as on the next two). As always, such a blast to see the UK Connection with the legendary Steven and indomitable Simon!
I think that's a good point that might be up for discussion... I don't know if people will agree, but the counter-argument is that to me High n' Dry seems dominated by Steve Clark and Pyromania seems dominated by Phil Collen... Pete Willis is crucial to the first one which has really good lead guitar but is maybe not quite there yet on the songwriting, like you mentioned... It's interesting how there can be three different guitar protagonists on consecutive albums to explain why each record is such a massive departure from the previous... Sure, they function as a team- but for example- you can see how a song on Pyromania that features a Steve Clark solo also ends up having a High n Dry vibe... So it does seem like three guys were on a roll, playing and writing at their absolute best at different times...
A great UK Connection - The UK charts were full of very strange and diverse albums at that time . Steven and Simon along with Pete have so much fun debating the merits of these albums . The reactions are brilliant and thank you all for the great entertainment again today.
I found out recently that Pyromania has sold ten times as many copies in CANADA than in the UK. I love the album but have no idea why so many fellow Brits overlook it.
Nice one as always!
I agree that a bunch of B-sides were great, Retroactive is among my favorite Leppard albums, it really shows how Hysteria could've sounded if they hadn't gone so commercial.
Pyromania
10. Action! Not Words
9. Rock Of Ages
8. Foolin'
7. Rock! Rock! Till You Drop
6. Billy's Got a Gun
5. Photograph
4. Too Late For Love
3. Comin' Under Fire
2. Stagefright
1. Die Hard The Hunter
Hysteria
12. Excitable
11. Love And Affection
10. Sugar
9. Armageddon It
8. Hysteria
7. Rocket
6. Animal
5. Love Bites
4. Run Riot
3. Don't Shoot Shotgun
2. Women
1. Gods of War
Yeah Pete👍 - finally someone who appreciates "Comin' Under Fire" - a great deep cut.
Both albums are great and I like both of them, personally I prefer Hysteria because I got into Def Leppard around that time.
Pyromania 1-10: Foolin', Comin' Under Fire, Photograph, Die Hard the Hunter, Stagefright, Too Late For Love, Billy's Got a Gun, Rock of Ages, Rock Rock ..., Action! Not Words - the only song that could be left out tmho.
Hysteria 1-12: Women, Hysteria, Armaggedon It, Gods Of War, Animal, Run Riot, Rocket, Love And Affection, Pour Some..., Love Bites, Don't Shoot Shotgun, Excitable.
Great episode again guys! Enjoyed it a lot.
My beverage of the night: I live in Indianapolis, but picked up a great Chocolate Hazlenut Porter beer called "Heretic" from Heretic Brewing in Fairfield, CA.
Pyromania:
10. Action! Not Words
09. Rock of Ages
08. Rock! Rock! (Til You Drop)
07. Billy's Got A Gun
06. Too Late for Love
05. Photograph
04. Die Hard the Hunter
03. Foolin'
02. Comin' Under Fire
01. Stagefright
Hysteria:
12. Pour Some Sugar On Me
11. Love Bites
10. Excitable
09. Armageddon It
08. Animal
07. Love and Affection
06. Run Riot
05. Don't Shoot Shotgun
04. Hysteria
03. Rocket
02. Women
01. Gods of War
Hi guys Thanks for another great show. I am a fan of the beer chat as I also enjoy a god real ale. Re the black lager ,I have tried this , last time was in Bavaria Bauhaus in Glasgow pre gig. On to Def Leppard ,I came in right at the start and have very first single the ep featuring Getcha Rocks off. Whilst I agree that High n dry best album it was Hysteria that was the big one. As for Pyromania, I think Uncle Simon has got it more or less spot on. For Hysteria my favourite is title track..I do prefer the early stuff. Not sure about liking every album . Do you still like/listen to X Steven ?. Ps went Uria Heep on Friday They ere amazing. Also looks forward to Angel discussion. Gutted they cancelled UK show
PYROMANIA
10. Action! Not Words
9. Stagefright
8. Comin' Under Fire
7. Photograph
6. Billy's Got a Gun
5. Rock, Rock (Till You Drop)
4. Foolin'
3. Die Hard the Hunter
2. Rock of Ages
1. Too Late for Love
HYSTERIA
12. Excitable
11. Don't Shoot Shotgun
10. Gods of War
9. Women
8. Run Riot
7. Love & Affection
6. Armageddon It
5. Love Bites
4. Rocket
3. Animal
2. Hysteria
1. Pour Some Sugar on Me
Another fantastic piece of entertainment from you all.
PYROMANIA
1- Comin’ under fire
2- Rock rock (till you drop)
3- Too late for love
4- Billy's got a gun
5- Rock of ages
6- Stagefright
7- Foolin’
8- Photograph
9- Die hard the hunter
10- Action! not words
HYSTERIA -
1- Gods of war
the rest all joint 11th.
Appetite for Destruction was mentioned a couple times in the charts for Hysteria and it made me think that album would be a brilliant show idea to do a song ranking on! I personally think it's a phenomenal album, every song is great, however I know that Pete isn't a fan at all, and Steven seems to dislike it. Which leads me to think a song ranking would be even MORE fun! 😂
I really enjoy the three of you talking about classic rock music! I LOVE `Pyromania`...I don`t like `Hysteria`, not from the first listen. So disappointed after rushing out on release day to buy it and played it the moment I got home. I do like `Animal` which you could imagine could have been on `Pyromania` and `Love Bites` is a decent rock ballad but don`t like any of the other tracks. I loathe Armaggedon, Excitable and Pour Some Sugar.
My 1-10 is -
1.Stagefright - this is so bombastic I think it`s great and it would have been a good album opener if they didn`t have `Rock, Rock..`on the same record.
2.Comin` Under Fire - with you here Pete I always loved this one!
3.Photograph
4.Foolin`
5.Too Late For Love
6.Rock of Ages
7.Rock!Rock!Til You Drop
8.Die Hard The Hunter
9.Billy`s Got a Gun
10.Action! Not Words
Numbers 8 and 9 are very good songs but what I love about `Pyromania` is the Friday night rock/jukebox tracks type and they are my favourites.
I never understood why my favourite song on Hysteria is never mentioned nor played live. EXCITABLE is the real straightforward rocker I had hoped for when I bought the album. I could play this song everyday and sing along, too. My no. 1. Well, if three decent guys slag it off, it dawns on me why it is never mentioned.
The last three times that I have seen Def Leppard in concert had Excitable on their set list.
@@johnkatsoudas4767wow, is that a long time ago?
They played it on the stadium tour and it was a VERY pleasant surprise
Yayyy pete …coming under fire 🔥🔥🔥
Without watching this yet i hope coming under fire is their favorite song
High'n'dry is my favorite Def Leppard album😃👍
So interesting to hear the charts and the musical context behind the times of the album releases by #Defleppard - keep this up Gents! I was a bit too young to be aware of music at all really when #pyromania was released but say what you want about the band's descent into mass produced 'meh' territory - they went directly at the idea of becoming the Michael Jackson of Heavy Rock and succeeded. I do enjoy their early records. And unlike a few panellists, I really get along with the production and the gloss and the work and technical achievements of #MuttLange and the band. It was an incredible achievement for the time and still is really. But Mutt Lange was the 'Bob Rock' for this band. For me, post Hysteria is like post #Metallica black album - shit.
Hi Pete and Simon and Steven great fun as always, this is the only two albums that I got from them
Die Hard The Hunter far and away my favorite. It’s not even close.
For your next one, you should do Rush 2112 and moving pictures
Could you give more than one like here??? Absolutely love the show
Thanks so much!
One of my all time favorite bands. I took celebrate the entire catalog, I really dig basically everything that the band has put out... Which I know can be an unpopular opinion haha. Anyway here's my ranking
Pyromania Ranked:
10. Rock Rock Til You Drop
9. Rock of Ages
8. Action Not Words
7. Foolin
6. Photograph
5. Stagefright
4.Too Late For Love
3. Comin Under Fire
2. Die Hard The Hunter
1. Billy's Got A Gun
Hysteria Ranked:
12. Run Riot
11. Armageddon It
10. Women
9. Rocket
8. Excitable
7. Animal
6. Pour Some Sugar On Me
5. Love Bites
4. Love and Affection
3. Don't Shoot Shotgun
2. Hysteria
1. Gods of War
Great show. Two songs I gravitate to on Hysteria are Don't Shoot Shotgun and Run Riot.
Both superb albums as is High N Dry and I will wage endless wars with anyone who says otherwise.
Pyromania ~
10. Action not words
9. Billy's got a gun
8. Comin' under fire🔥
7. Rock Rock (Till you drop)
6. Too Late for Love
5. Rock of ages
4. Die hard the hunter
3. Foolin'
2. Stagefright
1. 📸 Photograph
Hysteria -
12. Excitable
11. Love and affection
10. Love bites
9. Don't shot shotgun
8. Women
7. Armageddon it
6. 🚀 Rocket
5. Animal 🐅
4. Hysteria
3. Pour some sugar on me
2. Run riot
1. Gods of War
Lots of homework this week. So here's my ranking of Pyromania, which BTW is still sounding as fresh and exciting as it did back in 1983.
1 Action! Not words.
2 Foolin'
3 Rock Rock till you drop
4 Billy's got a gun
5 Rock of Ages
6 Photograph
7 Die Hard the Hunter
8 Too Late for Love
9 Coming under Fire
10 Stagefright
I really enjoyed revisiting one of my favourite albums of all time.
Yeah sorry I can't really join you this week. I listened to each album once (almost).
I honestly kinda tuned out during Pyromania so I would need to do another go through, and I got 3 songs into Hysteria before turning it off.
Fun show though!
Angel is actually a band I know and like again! wahee.
Guess I'll knock out some Giuffria and House of Lords albums till then.
Pyromania
10. Action! Not Words
09. Comin' Under Fire
08. Rock of Ages
07. Die Hard the Hunter
06. Stagefright
05. Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)
04. Too Late for Love
03. Foolin'
02. Photograph
01. Billy's Got a Gun
Hysteria
12. Love and Affection
11. Excitable
10. Rocket
09. Armageddon It
08. Don't Shoot Shotgun
07. Pour Some Sugar on Me
06. Love Bites
05. Run Riot
04. Gods of War
03. Women
02. Hysteria
01. Animal
I love UK connection! The best show on the Sea of Tranquility channel.
I like Pyromania a lot more than Hysteria.
PYROMANIA:
10. Too Late for love
9. Stagefright
8. Rock! Rock! Till you drop
7. Action! not words
6. Rock of Ages
5. Photograph
4. Comin' Under Fire
3. Die Hard The Hunter
2. Foolin'
1. Billy's Got a Gun
HYSTERIA:
12. Excitable
11. Love and Affection
10. Love Bites
9. Armageddon It
8. Don't Shoot Shotgun
7. Rocket
6. Women
5. Pour some sugar on me
4. Animal
3. Run Riot
2. Hysteria
1. God's of War
I’m fully on board with Pete’s top 4. 4 of my top 5
Check out Bell's Light-Hearted Ale. It's a 3.7% version of their popular Two-Hearted Ale (7%). It's almost as good and half the alcohol. It's become my go-to beer when I plan on a long day/night.
My theory on why Hysteria was so popular with the ladies is due to Rick's accident and the fact he couldn’t do the hard and heavy style of drumming with lots of fills on previous albums he had to resort to a more bass heavy low end sound which made the album more danceable??
Simon - Both your hair, beard and humor remind me of Rick Wakeman.
Steven - Your expressions are priceless!
Like many, I came to know Def Leppard after the release of Pyromania. It is my favorite album. Though I like a number of songs from Hysteria and commend the band as well as Rick Allen for both waiting for Rick and for him continuing to play, they kind of lost me after that. The production was too shiny and the songs were way more commercial than Pyromania.
I'm a bit contrarian on the first two albums. I actually like On Through the Night more than High And Dry. Kind of funny that they put the would be title track to the debut album on High And Dry.
Oh, and, like Steven, I saw Def Leppard the first and only time on during the Hysteria tour. I don't know what the average setlist was, but the show at the Coliseum in Hampton, VA was short. Less than 90 minutes I think. It was cool that they played in the round though.
My best friend recently made a GiF of me and Rick Wakeman side by side
With the pronunciation of the name Lange, back in NZ we had a legendary Prime Minister the late David Lange. His surname was pronounced "Long-e."
I think you hit on something with the Hysteria bought on multiple formats thing, giving it a false sales boost. 87 was one of the few years where 3 formats were available and all were close sales-wise, cassette being most popular. I was a vinyl guy, but I was on vacation August 87, and bought the tape for my walkman. When I got home, I bought the vinyl. A few months later, I got a CD player, and bought the CD lol
Great show, I will say now, if you ask me like 10 years ago I would say I love Pyromania and Hysteria, now I can still listen to pyromania but I never need to hear Photograph or rock of ages more than twice a year, I can still listen to foolin, but when I listen to Pyromania I listen to deep cuts. Favorite song on that album is comin under fire.
Hysteria the album I never need to hear poor some sugar on me, rocket, and love bites. I can still listen to women, Animal and title track. My favorite is gods of war
For Me:
Pyromania:
1.Too Late for Love
2. Photograph
3. Billy's Got A Gun
4. Coming Under Fire
5. Die Hard The Hunter
6. Foolin'
7. Stage fright
8 Rock of Ages
9. Action( Not Words)
10. Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)
Hysteria:
1. Animal
2. God's of War
3. Armageddon It
4.Pour Some Sugar on Me
5. Hysteria
6. Love Bites
7. Love and Affection
8. Women
9. Run Riot
10. Rocket
11. Don't Shoot Shotgun
12. Excitable
Its just like been down the pub , fantastic
Interesting discussion, guys. In his history of NWBHM, "Denim and Leather" Michael Hann says that Def Leppard ultimately destroyed NWBHM through their commercial success. Not sure whether he refers to Pyromania or Hysteria but given the former's lack of UK chart success he probably sees Hysteria as the album that dealt the death blow to the movement.
If you haven't read this book it is weel worth a read, lots of good stuff on Saxon, Diamond Head and others.
My ranking for Pyromania is difficult because I love every song. It also happens to be my personal favorite Def Leppard album. That being said:
1. Billy’s Got A Gun
2. Too Late For Love
3. Foolin’
4. Die Hard The Hunter
5. Comin’ Under Fire
6. Stagefright
7. Rock Rock (Till You Drop)
8. Photograph
9. Rock Of Ages
10. Action! Not Words
And for Hysteria:
1. Gods Of War
2. Women
3. Hysteria
4. Pour Some Sugar On Me (I prefer the video intro to the album version)
5. Armageddon It
6. Animal
7. Run Riot
8. Rocket (I much prefer the edited single/video version)
9. Love Bites
10. Love And Affection
11. Don’t Shoot Shotgun
12. Excitable
I will say that the backing vocals (all the band members sang as did Mutt Lange) sound way better on Pyromania than on Hysteria.
Pete that German black beer is awesome tried many times.
It is always a good show when Mrs Simon gets a mention. Keep it up guys.
Shhhh. She doesn't like being defined by knowing me...
Steven, I’m not sure if they still do it but back in my student days, which admittedly was 35+ years ago, Furstenberg used to do a black lager that you could get quite readily, even on draught, in Scotland. Might have been seasonal though.
And Too Late For Love is a stone cold classic for me. It was hearing that on Tom Russell‘s rock show on Radio Clyde that turned me on to Def Leppard. I was all-in for a while……then they released Hysteria. I did see them on that tour but it was very much the beginning of the end for me. The songs they didn’t release as singles off that album, and there’s not many of them, are the best songs on the album, well the first three songs on side two at least
Köstritzer ! Pete has won the Beer Battle! Btw: The letter "i" is pronounced like "ee" in English, but a short vowel! For the "ö" ...check Motörhead! ;)
Stephen Kostrizer is brewed by Bitburger in Germany 🇩🇪, avaliable online from Adnams hope this helps 👍🏾 cheers
Peter's Beer: Köstritzer Schwarzbier ( Black Ale ) brewed by Köstritzer Schwarzbierbrauerei.
One of Germany's oldest breweries. Founded in 1543.
Yes, have to agree with Pete on Comin' Under Fire. My absolute favorite of Pyromania too. So damn good.
We need a show about those Def Lep albums nobody talks about (Slang, Euphoria, X)! If Pete and Simon are not interested, I’d be more than happy to discuss these with Steven 😎
If you have the original vinyl, "billy's got a gun" is a locked groove, meaning the last few seconds play infinitely, until you pick up the tonearm. This is assuming your turntable is manual, and doesn't pick up automatically, before this
Good show, I'll go back to def leopard and have a re look at the 2 albums.
Pretty good pronunciation of Köstritzer, Pete. I like it a lot, too.
Love. PYROMANIA but it’s actually. No 3 with me. My favorite is super close but On through the night / 8️⃣0️⃣ by a hair over High n DRY/8️⃣1️⃣. F00LIN is a tremendous song. IMO. Thx to the trio for another bang up job . Did not get to watch this on Saturday afternoon, but watched it at night. Thx. SIMON/ STEVEN/ PETE 👍💯
the umlauts over the first o sound like "oooo" with lip rounded, then "strints", then "zerr"
Great show gentlemen, this was fun. I did the homework and then kept score to see how I faired with your selections.
Started out well on Hysteria matching with Simon & Steven.
Seems I had more in common with Steven than the rest of the panel.
Doing this with these albums, as well as Boston it got me to thinking. What if the song order was different. Would we like albums more, if that is possible.
Like start Pyromania with Stagefright, Rock Rock, Coming Under Fire, Foolin' end that side with Billy's Got a Gun. Side B lead off with Rock of Ages, Photograph, Action! Not Words, Too Late For Love and end the album with Die Hard the Hunter. Just a thought to get people thinking.
Here are my selections.
Hysteria - I like this album quite a bit, not as much as Pyromania or High & Dry, it is enjoyable
12) Excitable
11) Love & Affection
10) Pour Some Sugar on Me
9) Women
8) Hysteria
7) Armageddon It
6) Love Bites
5) Animal
4) Run Riot
3) Don't Shoot, Shotgun
2) Rocket
1) Gods of War
Pyromania- I still love this album, probably the nostalgia thing.
10) Rock Rock (Til You drop)
9) Coming Under Fire
8) Action! Not Words
7) Rock of Ages
6) Photograph
5) Stagefright
4) Billy's Got a Gun
3) Too Late For Love
2) Die Hard The Hunter
1) Foolin'
🔥PYROMANIA 🔥 Life-changing for me in third grade when I turned to Channel 22 MTV rock of ages changed my life but hysteria is their finest work.
Pyromania took me from nickelodeon to MTV realizing there’s something out there other than you can’t do that on television which was genius as well.
Pyromania - easily the better of two albums here imho.
10) Action not words
9) Billy Got a gun
8) Photograph - I heard way too many times and kind of in the same category as shook me all not long.
7) Coming under fire
6) Too late for love
5) Stagefright
4) Rock of ages
3) Rock Rock till you drop.
2) Die hard the hunter
1) Foolin. It came at perfect time when I girl I had crush totally destroyed me lol.
Hysteria - This album actually made me not a big DL anymore. It is good album but their was corporate feel to this album that just rubbed me the wrong way over the years.
12) Pour some sugar on me - if I never hear this song again, it will be completely fine. I get why people like it but it is the most pandering song of all time.
11) Animal
10) Love Bites. This song aged really badly over the years. When you talk about over done power ballad, this is picture of it.
9) Women
8) Excitable.
7) Love and affection.
6) Rocket
5) Don’t shoot shotgun
4) Hysteria
3) Armageddon it
2) Run Riot
1) Gods of war
I've always just loved the song, Women.
Stage Fright & Foolin' are probably my favorites off of Pyromania.
Hello gentlemen. I’m getting a late start again. It’s 12:45am est here. I’m having a Session IPA called Trail Slayer from Spearfish South Dakota. 🍺 So since it’s late or real early, depending on how you look at it I’m just gonna get right to it.
I must say I like everything on this album.
PYROMANIA
#10- Action Not Words
#9 - Photograph
#8 - Rock of Ages
#7 - Stagefright
#6 - Foolin
#5 - Comin Under Fire
#4 - Too Late For Love
#3 - Billy’s Got A Gun
#2 - Die Hard the Hunter
#1 - Rock! Rock! (til you drop)
HYSTERIA
#12- Love Bites
#11- Pour Some Sugar On Me
#10- Don’t Shoot Shotgun
#9 - Excitable
#8- Love and Affection
#7- Rocket
#6- Armageddon It
#5- Run Riot
#4- Animal
#3- Gods of War
#2- Hysteria
#1- Women
Great show guys. Simon telling it like it is and Steven about choking on his beer. Good thing Pete wasn’t drinking at the time. Hilarious! Always a pleasure.
Thanks Scott!
Kes got a mention on Sea of Tranquility, amazing!
Happy to help!
@@simonbrayfromsot1375 the football match in Kes is comedy gold
Pete Willis played all the backing tracks
That's why it has bite .
Finished watching this last night on our return from Yorkshire (we use to live in Sheffield)…though never really been a fan of the DL that I would have heard on radio (Hysteria era singles and beyond)…anyway, I get in the car today, and what are Sunshine Radio playing? Only LETS GET FOOKIN ROCKED!! 😂😂
Thanks for the laughs. Cheers
As often happens SoT prompts me to listen to albums that I haven’t heard in decades. Pyromania is a solid album with clever touches and some good guitar solos, every song is about 7.5 out of 10 in my book. But no song on it has the excitement of songs on High’n’Dry or On Through the Night. The only time I saw Def Leppard live was on the Pyromania tour, the crowd at Birmingham Odeon definitely reacted better to the older music but that’s not that unusual. I tried to like Hysteria at the time and I still bought Adrenalize but that’s when I finally gave up with this band 🇬🇧
My 2nd big concert ever i was in 8th grade saw Hysteria with the very underrated Tesla opening the show
1. Foolin’
2. Stagefright
3. Too Late For Love
4. Die Hard The Hunter
5. Photograph
6. Billy’s Got A Gun
7. Comin’ Under Fire
8. Rock of Ages
9. Rock Rock (Till You Drop)
10. Action! Not Words
1. Gods of War
2. Hysteria
3. Women
4. Love Bites
5. Run Riot
6-12 all the rest tied for meh
Steven, on my vinyl the funny noise at the end of "Billy's got a gun" does stop after many revolutions. So it is still part of the song, I'd say.
As a side note: At the end of Billy’s Got A Gun, that weird electronic drum bit abruptly ends on the CD.
I grew up with Def Leppard and by grew up I mean a band my age that I saw in tiny venues around the Went Lancashire / Manchester area, before they were signed,so I have an attachment to them and I still enjoy both these albums, and apart from a spell late 90s, Slang mainly fell off the train. I do like the new album. Anyway I still like Hysteria a lot and if it were a 10 song album and lost Excitable,Love and affection it wouldn’t be far behind Pyromania.
I would imagine that due to various deadlines and lack of coordination, album packaging was sometimes finished before track listings were finalised, hence the random order of songs.
Pyromania:
10. Action Not Words
9. Rock Of Ages
8. Rock Rock Til You Drop
7. Stagefright
6. Comin' Under Fire
5. Die Hard The Hunter
4. Photograph
3. Too Late For Love
2. Foolin'
1. Billy's Got A Gun
Hysteria:
12. Love And Affection
11. Hysteria
10. Pour Some Sugar On Me
9. Excitable
8. Don't Shoot Shotgun
7. Run Riot
6. Women
5. Love Bites
4. Gods Of War
3. Animal
2. Rocket
1. Armageddon It
@steven reid wasn't it the 12" singles that formed the album cover when you had to buy the special edition box set of love bites to get the extra panels to get the full album cover
"Slippery when not very good" has to be an all timer line for me now XD
It's crazy Ring Of Fire wasn't on Hysteria
Or 'Desert Song' 🎸🎶
Awesome pete!..i actually have a 4 way tie of fave DL song..coming inder fire, gods of war, hysteria, and shes too tough
That Black Lager looks delicious Pete
High and Dry is their best, Pyro then On Through the Night. I never cared for Hysteria it was too polished for me.
Drink of the day here a Köstritzer, too. Never knew it would be called a lager. That puts me right off.
Spandau ballet was mentioned. Damn I was disappointed no one on the show liked them. Love Tony Hadleys supreme vocals & fantastic songs as well, starting as synthpop early on with songs like ‘Cut a Long story short’ then moving into the soul, Jazz with songs like ‘True’.
I've had the distinct non-pleasure of seeing Tony Hadley. Didn't really enjoy him. 'Through the Barricades ' is an utterly brilliant song though.
@@simonbrayfromsot1375 Through the Barricades is absolutely beautiful! Probably that song & Round & Round are my favourites by them.
To be frank I'm not a big metal fan but love Petes reviews on music & do love prog rock. We've all got our different tastes.
The first three albums are the best in my opinion, especially High N Dry and On Through The Night. Pete Willis in my opinion was very important to the Def Leppard sound with Steve Clark.
How can you rank almost perfect songs in their genres?
Here we are:
Pyromania
1. Too late for love
2. Photograph
3. Foolin'
4. Die the hunter
5. Rock of ages
6. Billy's got a gun
7. Comin' under fire
8. Stagefright
9. Rock rock (till you drop)
10. Action! Not words
Hysteria
1. Armageddon it
2. Rocket
3. Women
4. Gods of war
5. Animal
6. Hysteria
7. Love and affection
8. Run riot
9. Don't shoot shotgun
10. Love bites
11. Excitable
12. Pour some sugar on me
Great show as always lads very funny and informative 👏 very entertaining show. The report when you guys get together every week is hilarious and very interesting subject matter . Well done boys , great show 👏 👍 👌 🙌.
Oh yes Rocket/Adam & the Ants lol! Good spot Simon!
Here's my non Def Leppard fan list from both albums:
Photograph (the only 10/10 perfect song of the lot)
Die hard
Animal
Armageddon it
Action not words
Foolin
Love bites
Woman
Comin under fire
Rock rock
Billy's got a gun
Rock of ages
Too late for love
Gods of war (he's saying I am Robert deniro, isn't he?)
Stagefright
Hysteria
Pour some sugar
Don't shoot shotgun
Love and affection
Runriot
Rocket
Excitable
A few points (probably not established wisdom but my own genuine thoughts):
- I wasn't a Def Leppard fan before this and I'm not sure I'd call myself one now, but I have softened on them a little. You really need to crank these up to hear past the production and get to the rock (it makes sense in my head)
- Pyromania songs suffer from the Lange production whilst the Hysteria songs are elevated by it
- I really don't like Pour Some Sugar much at all
- I'm a softie for a ballad, doesn't matter if it's cheesy this band does them well. Love bites? Yes please
- The live versions of these tracks on the Deluxe Editions are soooo much better
Loved both albums at the time but jumped the shark after these 2