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No one knows metal better than Lucas Aykroyd, author of 1984: The Ultimate Van Halen Trivia Book and reviewer for the Georgia Straight, Classic Rock, and Exclaim! Here he picks the five best pop-metal LPs from the decade time forgot Click to view Top 5 Eighties Heavy Metal LPs.
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Best For Production (Def Leppard, Hysteria) |
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 For a man whose reclusiveness rivals that of Howard Hughes, Robert John "Mutt" Lange has produced some of the biggest, boldest-sounding albums in rock history. Known now for his relationship with country star Shania Twain, his masterpiece is Def Leppard's Hysteria. |
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Prior to working on this 12-song 1987 landmark, the South Africa-raised maestro had made a name for himself with multi-platinum albums like AC/DC's Back in Black, Foreigner's 4, and Heartbeat City by the Cars. Lange had also helmed the last two Leppard efforts, 1981's High 'n' Dry and 1983's Pyromania. The former LP yielded the MTV-driven hit "Bringin' On The Heartbreak", where the Sheffield quintet first coalesced their signature sound with massively processed guitars and multi-tracked harmony vocals, distinguishing them from other new wave British heavy metal bands like Iron Maiden, Saxon, and Tygers of Pan Tang.
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 Then, Pyromania launched Def Leppard into the stratosphere, selling over 10 million copies thanks to singles like "Photograph" (singer Joe Elliott's homage to Marilyn Monroe) and "Rock of Ages" (an exploration of the titular pyromaniac's mind).
But as popular as Pyromania was, it was still rooted in a fairly harsh-sounding hard rock ethic (certainly more old-school AC/DC than Bon Jovi, for instance). And Def Leppard wasn't just facing the challenge of expanding its songwriting palette as it headed into the Hysteria sessions.
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Ever Popular |
On New Year's Eve 1984, drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm in a car accident and had to go through a painful rehabilitation process. Amazingly, he eventually learned how to play again, using a specially modified kit.
This was also the first time guitarist Phil Collen was fully incorporated into the creative process. He'd been recruited during the Pyromania sessions to replace Pete Willis, whose drinking problem had gotten out of hand. Furthermore, the band made an abortive attempt to work with producer Jim Steinman (best-known as the songwriter behind Meat Loaf), and finally ended up coming back to Lange, who had been their first choice anyway.
Despite this tortuous creative process, what emerged was one of the most exciting, genre-defining albums in pop-metal history. "Women" the first single, initially tanked despite its cool, fat bass groove from Rick Savage, causing concern that Def Leppard would be unable to build upon previous success. But happily, every other song on the first side of the LP turned out to be a hit single.
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 "Rocket" is a colossal tribute to the band's glam-rock heroes of the 1970s, like David Bowie and Queen, and its shuffling beat and weird mid-song breakdown set it apart from your standard rave-up. Elliott's edgy singing, though crisply captured on tape, is still frequently difficult to decipher, making it seem as if some futuristic race of rock and roll aliens has taken over Def Leppard's collective mindset. The emotional mid-tempo rocker "Animal" features a dynamic twin-guitar attack from Collen and the late Steve Clark, while the humungous choirs on "Love Bites" (the group's only No 1 Billboard hit) sell this power ballad's memorable melody. For songs such as this, the band could easily record more than 200 vocal tracks, with Lange including his own voice in the mix.
"Pour Some Sugar On Me" was one of the last songs recorded during the Hysteria sessions, but became one of the biggest hits. An almost rap-like verse mounts gloriously into the silly yet overwhelming sing-along chorus, which finds its roots in 70s British rock like Slade and Sweet. "Armageddon It" sees the band returning to pure riff-driven hard rock territory with a sweet chorus, and also showcases one of Steve Clark's signature melodic solos.
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 The second side of Hysteria is equally compelling, but takes things in weirder directions. "Gods of War" is a reaction to the still-menacing ethos of the Cold War, as Lange intersperses clips of explosions and Ronald Reagan speeches. One of this epic's guitar licks is a subtle re-invention of Andy Summers' work on Police's "Message In a Bottle". Pounding rockers like "Don't Shoot Shotgun" and "Run Riot" succeed in cranking up the adrenalin, and Lange's meticulous arrangements put these numbers on a higher level than most other bands' singles back then. The title track, another great ballad, provides the most poignant ambience anywhere on Hysteria, and "Excitable" bizarrely incorporates a disco feel. The mid-tempo album closer "Love And Affection" is arguably the weakest track on the record, but that just means it rates about four stars out of five.
With over 18 million copies of Hysteria sold worldwide, this is a record whose popularity has never waned, even when pop-metal was at its most unfashionable in the mid-90s. And much like the first Star Wars trilogy, it will always find ways to amaze you with its freshness and production values. A deluxe edition with bonus tracks was released in 2006. |
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