29 years ago today Def Leppard released Hysteria.
Mrs. Stroock and I saw Def Leppard just a few weeks ago. It was my fifth or sixth time, interestingly, all since 2005. Never saw them in their hay day.
The interesting thing about Def Leppard is their roots are 70's era British glam rock. They parlayed this into a hard rock sound with Hello America and High n Dry. By 1983 they were becoming more refined. This is the influence of their producer, the legendary Mutt Lang. Hysteria is the culmination of Lang's influence.
Hysteria is a hard rock album in D, with the band's backup singing ability producing a wall of hard hitting harmony. The whole effect produces a wall of D previously unheard in hard rock or heavy metal.
Lot's of interesting things happening on Hysteria. Women is the opening track very hard hitting and underrated. Of course there's Poor Some Sugar on me, the song/video that got me hooked on the band, Hysteria, and Animal where the band's D sound really comes out. Even the deep tracks are remarkable. No filler here. Run Riot hearkens back to The Sweet (a hug influence for them) as don't Shoot Shot Gun and Excitable (the last one reminds me of Brian Johnson's Geordie).
Utterly unique and still around.
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