Pyromania - Def Leppard (Cassette 1987)

When the band Def Leppard is brought up, oh so many people consider them a relic of the hair band era that MTV gave us. They get lumped in with the Cinderellas and the Wingers and the Strypers. But while all those bands sucked (yes, Cinderella sucked people, badly I might add), in terms of creating albums that stand the test of time, Def Lep belongs more in the category of a Bon Jovi, though their latter albums haven't sold nearly as well as Jovi's (only 1999's Euphoria has gone gold since the band's last multi-platinum sales success, 1992's Adrenalize).

With Pyromania, Def Leppard became one of the biggest bands in the country, thanks to three huge hits and a bevy of strong album tracks. Working with producer Mutt Lange, Pyromania is an album full of catchy pop hooks, solid guitar riffs, and songs that well, rock in nearly every way possible. In fact, the biggest flaw of the album could be considered to be Lange's insistence on using electronic drums instead of Rick Allen in places. Talk about your eerie instances of foreshadowing (Allen would lose his arm before the next studio album, resulting in a special drum kit being constructed for him that was electronic).

The best known track, and biggest hit, from this disc is of course Photograph. If you haven't heard this song, you haven't heard one of the best sugar pop confections ever put to wax by a rock band. The guitar riff is a simple chordal structure, while the chorus is a mix of excellent vocal harmonies and ringing guitar melodies. Add in the guitar solo (which legend has it came together on Phil Collen's first take) which fits the song like a glove, and you couldn't ask for a song that is put together better.

The band would ramp up things for the other two singles, while making quite sure they didn't lose the pop sheen of Photograph. Foolin begins in a ballad type mode, with a soft guitar melody over some impressive vocal work by lead singer Joe Elliott. From there, it builds up to a driving pre-chorus, before the song becomes a full blown anthem with the chorus. The song repeats in this same style and once again, we get another blistering guitar solo. Rock of Ages, with its classic German intro (which would be aped by the Offspring for their 1998 hit Pretty Fly for a White Guy), is more of a mid-tempo rocker that plods along at its own pace. It's effective though, and it just sounds like it should be called Rock of Ages, thanks to Lange's big over the top production.

The band doesn't forget to include the real rock though. The opening Rock Rock (Till You Drop) has an excellent biting guitar riff that slashes through Lange's otherwise glossy production. In fact, this song wouldn't sound a bit out of place (with some minor lyrical changes or arrangement changes) on AC/DC's Back in Black album, which was also helmed at the boards by Lange.

Die Hard the Hunter has a trippy spacey intro that works surprisingly well, given the driving rock song it becomes. The band also provides a bit of a preview of where their sound would go on 1988's Hysteria with Billy's Got a Gun. Between the solid riff that opens the song, the pulsating bass line that pounds itself into your head, and the full group harmony that colors the chorus, not to mention the melodicism that permeates the bridge, it is as if Def Leppard are, before your very ears, moving from an English hard rock outfit to an English pop rock outfit.

Other strong tracks include the swinging fun of Action! Not Words, and the driving, hooky rock of Comin' Under Fire.

While some of it can sound a bit hokey at times, the fact remains that Pyromania was one of the best rock albums the 1980s gave us. Some people point at Hysteria as being a superior album, but I'm not sure I would agree. Hysteria in many ways ended Def Leppard's hard rocking ways, as they went for a much more pop/rock sheen that while catchy, was at least a tad disappointing, given the hard rocking good times the band had given us up to that point. Regardless, Pyromania remains a pinnacle of 1980s rock and roll, and if you only own one Def Leppard album, I may go so far as to say this should be the one.

5 stars.