Pyromania [Gold Disc CD] - Def Leppard (CD 1989)

Yes, here is the which set the stage for a lot of 1980s pop metal. That's both good and bad. It's good because Pyromania is a hell of a good hard rock album. It's bad because the success of this album meant we had to hear a lot of knucklehead bands try to imitate Def Leppard's success and inflict album after album of garbage on us.

The impact of Pyromania was huge, indeed, and the influence of the album has become almost larger than the disc itself. That's too bad, really, because this is one hell of a good album. If one can put aside the "historical document" status that has been attached to the album sometime after it was released in 1983, there's a lot of fun to be had.

Def Leppard was, once upon a time, part of the so-called "new wave of British heavy metal" and released a couple of discs -- On Through the Night (1980) and High 'n' Dry (1981) -- that both showed promise. The band established itself as one prone to crunching guitar riffs, clumsy odes to the typical partying and misbehaving lifestyle such bands sang about and a flare for the dramatic (Bringin' on the Heartbreak was an extremely cheesy and effective power ballad, after all). Neither of the band's first two albums, however, was overly impressive and few would have guessed that Def Leppard would release such an impressive album as Pyromania.

To appreciate Pyromania, you've first got to set aside any notions that the band was worth a damn at writing lyrics. Take the following few stanzas from Rock of Ages, one of the big singles from this disc:

Alright
I got something to say
It's better to burn out than fade away
All right
Gonna start a fire

Rise up, gather round
Rock this place to the ground
Burn it up let's go for broke
Watch the night go up in smoke

Rock on, rock on
Drive me crazier, no serenade
No fire brigade, just pyromania

What do you want? What do you want?
I want rock'n'roll, yes I do
Long live rock'n'roll

That's hardly brilliant, but lyrics aren't what made this album such a success. First of all, you've got lead singer Joe Elliott who sings with enough passion and fire to sound convincing even when spitting out such "sophisticated" lyrics as "Rock, rock 'till you drop!" He might not have a whole lot to say on Pyromania as this is just another disc hitting on such common themes as what a dandy thing rock n' roll is, various tales of women and partying along. However, it's the way that Elliott delivers his inane lyrics that really help sell the disc.

Truly, Elliott's vocals are utilized as just another instrument in the band's overall musical attack. Indeed, the music is what this album is all about and Pyromania boasts more hooks than a tackle box. There are catchy, pop elements all over the place and Def Leppard managed to sound like a heavy metal band that was radio friendly.

Of course, producer Mutt Lange gets a lot of the credit for that -- so much, in fact, that he is listed as one of the writers of every song on this album. Lange, through the years, has managed to crank out a ton of radio friendly discs that are tailor made for mass consumption. He was overwhelmingly successful in that regard with Pyromania as this is a pretty heavy album with a complete absence of the rough edges that Def Leppard exhibited on its first two albums. Yes, you've got a huge guitar sound here, but that "roar" is tamed quite a bit through the use of synthesizers and harmonic layers of instruments.

Sound familiar? It should. Shortly after Pyromania a bunch of "me, too!" bands showed up and tried to replicate Def Leppard's formula. The result of all that was a lot of terrible hard rock in the 1980s. Why? Because most of those bands simply didn't put together such strong material as Def Leppard did on Pyromania -- they managed to imitate the form and not the substance, see?

And, there is plenty of substance on Pyromania as far as the music goes. It's hard to deny the catchy fun and gang choruses on such standout tracks as Rock of Ages and Rock! Rock! (Till you Drop) -- a couple of tracks that are so infectious that you almost forget that songs with the word "rock" in the title are almost always awful. Foolin' is an embarrassingly dramatic power ballad, but a damn good one in that it's all "weepy and sensitive" where appropriate and the tempo and grinding guitars kick in just where they should. Photograph, meanwhile, is simply a charming song which hits on the classic theme of a boy pining away for a girl (not strong lyrically, of course, but the music is quite emotive and effective).

In all, Pyromania was tremendously effective at taking some heavy metal sounds and making them "poppy" enough to find a large audience. Sadly, Def Leppard never sounded this much fun again and had fallen victim to the worst trends in pop metal with 1987's Hysteria.