Remembering Def Leppard Pyromania
Released on January 20, 1983, Pyromania was Def Leppard’s 3rd album and probably is the album that kicked off the 80s hair metal revolution. Produced by Mutt Lange, as was High ‘N Dry, this album introduced radio-friendly hard rock to the masses.
I don’t remember the first time I heard a song from Pyromania, but I suspect it wasn’t until later in the year. I definitely recall that Rock of Ages was my favorite sone in the fall of ‘83, but don’t really remember hearing Photograph or Foolin’ on the radio.
I asked for Pyromania on cassette for Christmas and got it along with my first boom box. My parent’s probably regretted those two gifts!
I remember that year-end count-downs on various radio stations usually had Rock of Ages or Metal Health (Bang Your Head) as #1. I do love Metal Health and took the name of this Substack from parenthesized part of its title.
“Rock of Ages” was another name I considered.
Song-by-Song Breakdown
Rock! Rock (Til You Drop)
This is a great album opener. It continues the trend of each album having a song with “Rock” in the title. I like the hot mic at the end that picks up “Too loud man, too loud.”
Photograph
Perhaps Def Leppard’s most well-known hit song, even if it is not really their biggest hit. This was the first single off of Pyromania and peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983. It proved to be a template for every other hair metal band that came afterwards. The excellent solo was recorded by Phil Collen shortly after he joined the band in 1982.
Stagefright
Not my favorite song in the early days, but I’ve come to love it. Doesn’t really need the fake crowd noise at the beginning, though.
Too Late for Love
For a ballad, this one has some punch. It’s surprising this was never a charting single on the Billboard Hot 100.
Die Hard the Hunter
The longest song on the album, this epic was inspired by The Deerhunter movie. I absolutely love the guitar solo.
Foolin’
Who doesn’t know the chorus of F-F-F-Foolin’? A big hit and one of my favorites. It starts slow and then kicks into gear, which proved to be a common song pattern over the years, not just for Def Leppard.
Rock of Ages
As mentioned above, this is the song that got me into Def Leppard. This is a different song because it is not a traditional rock song. It has more of synth beat behind it.
The intro (spoken by Mutt Lange) is now spoken by Rick Allen in concerts.
Comin’ Under Fire
When someone ask what is the best Def Leppard Deep Cut, this is my pick. Another song that starts slow and then quickly picks it up, this song should have been a hit!
Action! Not Words
This is my least favorite song on Pyromania. Something had to be. It’s not a bad song, but not as good as all the others.
Billy’s Got a Gun
Another story song to end side 2, back when sides mattered. The repeating synths at the end are strange and creepy and fit the song well.
Other Versions
I no longer have my original cassette. When I got a CD player in 1988, this was one of the first CDs I added to my collection.
Since then there have been some deluxe version released by the band, which mostly have a live concert as the extra content. Since I was too young to have seen Def Leppard in the Pyromania days, I really like having that available. It’s interesting hearing how much faster and heavier they sounded live back then, especially compared to now.
What are your favorite things about Pyromania?
Listening to the recent Abbey Road Studios half speed master 180g pressing last week, I noticed how obvious it was the original tapes had lost a lot of high end frequencies before they got to the mastering process due to how many times they overdubbed. I always thought it was a production choice, but a new pressing and a new phono preamp made that clear to me.
I was 13 years old at RA camp (Royal Ambassadors were an offshoot of the Southern Baptist church youth). A couple of friends of mine would sneak off and smoke cigarettes and get into all types of mischief. One of my buddies had a boom box and asked me if I'd heard the new Def Leppard album. I'd never heard of Def Leppard at all. "Check this shit out," he said, and hit play on "Rock! Rock! 'Til You Drop." By the time it got to "Rock of Ages" - which seemed like sacrilege to the RA counselors who were yelling at us to turn off this devil music that was co-opting the name of a gospel hymn - I was hooked.
Little did I know that just over ten years later, the producer of that album would be guiding Shania Twain to country superstardom with the same formula he used on Joe Elliott (no relation) and company.
It's a wild world.