Def Leppard's Adrenalize is a hodgepodge of songs reflecting various stages in the band's career. Stand up, Kick love into Motion is a very early 90's song, soft and pleasant with a lot of harmonies. The album's last track, Tear it Down ,has a lot of power chords. One could slip Tear it Down onto 1981's High n Dry and it'd fit right in. The linked performance is actually from the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards.
Let's look at Adrenalize's first track and first release, Let's Get Rocked.
Look there! It's 1992 but the hair is still big. That's right, trends don't stop because the decade changes over. 1981 has more in common with 1978 than 1988. 1992 had one fashion foot in the late 1980's. Also look, on this Top of the Pops performance, Def Leppard is a four man band.
When we first heard Let's Get Rocked in a posh London hotel room, we were kind of meh about it. The song wants to sound like Poor Some Sugar on Me and imitates the opening. The verse is...okay. The chorus sounds like it was written in 15 minutes to get the song over with. The guitar solo is stripped down and minimal, but lacks punch. Let's Get Rocked never achieves the heights to which it aspires.
We've never loved this song but we're in the minority. We've seen Def Leppard a half dozen times this century and Let's Get Rocked always makes the song set. It's better live.
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