"Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop) / Def Leppard / Pyromania

Exclamation points and parenthesis all in the same title? Awesome! Let's go ahead and get this on the table now, and you can debate this in the comments if you wish: Is Def Leppard Hair Metal? I say, vehemently, no.

Consider that their first record came out in 1979 and that they are from Britain, which technically puts them in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal category. Now, I know they aren't as heavy as your Priest, Maiden or Motorhead (and they went really whimpy once they started in with Mutt freaking Lange producing), but back in the day they were a pretty great group, and you can't deny "Pyromania" is a flat out classic.

The first time I remember hearing about Def Leppard was in the early MTV days. Before we had the glorious cable hookup, I had to see glimpses of MTV here and there. One day at a friend's house, I caught the "Rock of Ages" video off the same album. I recall Joe Elliot walking through a dungeon with a big ass sword (which I think was the basic plot of every heavy metal video in the early 80's) and thinking..."Intriguing".

Joe Elliot gaining hit points (2:10 in)


Not long after, in middle school, when I would spend the night with my buddies, we would watch MTV's "Friday Night Video Fights", in which you called up and voted for your favotite video beteen a champion video and challenger. Let me tell you. Leppard's "Photograph" was an all timer, the Muhammad Ali of MTV's salad days. It won untold weekly "fights" until they finally had to put it into retirement. That was only a glimpse of what was to come for the band.

It only got bigger for them. As popular as "Pyromania" was, it was stll more or less a niche album. But when "Hysteria" came out in high school, it was a full blown phenomenon. Once the chicks with the big hair saw a cute singer in ripped jeans and "Awwwwed" at the one-armed drummer in the "Pour Some Sugar on Me" video, it was all over. And don't get me wrong, I was caught up in it too. I even went with some buddies to see them (with Queensryche!) on that HUGE Hysetria tour when it came to Atlanta. In high school, I can't remember a bigger mainstream rock band than Def Leppard, or a bigger album than "Hysteria". Then they took a long, long break and put out shit like "Let's Get Rocked", and that was it for them.

Back to this song - it's a great opener to "Pyromania" with it's invitation to "rock" until one "drops" (which they repeat close to 346 times in one way or another in the song). It really starts out with a slow little picked riff until someone (Steve Clark? Phil Collen?) rips in with a killer riff. Joe Elliot has a great growl to his voice in this song that mixes well with that riff that goes on throughout. There's also the patented multitracked Def Leppard harmonies in there, an absolute signature sound. Apparently these guys were supposed to be studio perfectionists and would record track after track and a million overdubs ubtil they got that thick sound. Nice breakdown on the bridge at 2:38. I've never noticed all the times I've heard this, but right at the end there, (at about 3:48) you can hear someone say "Too loud man, too loud" and it sounds just like Otto, the stoned bus driver from the Simpsons. Heh. And finally, I can't hear the end of this song without hearing the opening chords of "Photograph" in my head right after, because that's the song that follows it on the album.

I actually found a pretty great live verion of this from 1983. Seriously, solid ass band back then.


Here's the song, if you want it:
http://www.mediafire.com/?5izp21wmgzj