04. Def Leppard Pyromania 1983 (Vertigo)
Heavy Metal
A true metal phenomenon from a town of steel.
The Lowdown
Pyromania means a mental disorder characterized by the need to start fires and Def Leppard’s third album
Pyromania was a fiery metal revelation back in 1983, where it started its claim to fame as being one of the most important metal albums of all time. The bulk of its sales were in the US where the album was really aimed at and it sold over a staggering 10 million copies there alone, making the album something of an mystery here in the UK, as sales here took time to take off and even then they paled in comparison to those in the US. I can remember back in 1983, that the UK rock press (non metal) commented that was there was this huge British band in the US selling millions of records and topping the charts there, whereas here in the UK the band were only known among true metal heads, because as far as the general music public went they were unheard of, that of course would all change a few years later here though with the
Hysteria album. As leaders of the NWOBHM Def Leppard on their previous album
High ‘n’ Dry back in 1981 (see review) had dropped the charismatic metal of their debut
On Through the Night 1980 (see review) for a more stadium rock-orientated approach that bore fruit on
High ‘n’ Dry and that album’s sole aim had been to crack the US market. Def Leppard it seemed had one sole purpose in the 1981-1983 period and that was to become the biggest British ‘heavy’ band stateside since Led Zeppelin and to do this they had equipped themselves with some great marketing tools both old and new to achieve this goal. 1) They had adopted the vital ‘stadium rock’ sound or in this case ‘stadium metal’ a la Judas Priest. 2) Constantly toured the USA. 3) Had a producer like Mutt Lange. 4) Embraced MTV. 5) They were attractive and looked good as metal pin-ups in pop mags. Of course on top of this the band were blessed with a melodic metal sound that was often described as being at the lighter end of the heavy metal spectrum, but in reality their sound could easily appeal to most metal listeners out there. Also when they also hit big in 1983 glam metal was making its arrival truly felt as well, so it was no surprise that they cashed their chips into that market as well. The recording of the album wasn’t all roses for the band though, as guitarist Pete Willis was fired at the start of the
Pyromania sessions for alcohol abuse to be replaced by Phil Collen, who had once spent time in British hair metal band Girl and he would go onto form the band’s vital guitar playing duo with Steve Clark. As for the album I probably know every track and every breath featured here and on “Rock Rock (‘Til You Drop) the band dished out one of the great openers to ever appear on a metal album. The following melodic “Photograph” sounds like a dream and I think its here that listeners either get hooked or decide it’s not really for them and the harder edged “Stagefright” which mixes in touches of melody is spot on. After three rampant tracks it was obvious that the band would slow things down if not the heaviness on “Too Late for Love” before embarking on the epic a-side closer “Die Hard the Hunter”. The b-side is just as solid and memorable as the five tracks before it, with the exception of “Action! Not Words” and these include Def Leppard gems like “Foolin” “Comin’ Under Fire” “Billy’s Got a Gun” and the unofficial title track the awesome “Rock of Ages”. The album’s running time at 44 mins makes it longer than most of your typical metal albums at this time, which helps to demonstrate its undeniable quality and made it very hard for me to pick just four tracks to highlight below, as nearly every track is great.
Pyromania under Mutt Lange’s production tutelage, must be the most buffed-to-a-sparkling-sheen example of how to produce a metal album, that still manages to stay true to all the essential ingedients when creating a big metal sound. The album is essentially timeless due to its great combo of melodic hooks and heavy riffs and it still sounds equally great twenty years after its initial release.
Joe Elliot- Vocals
Steve Clark- Guitar
Phil Collen- Guitar
Rick Savage- Bass
Rick Allen- Drums
Production- Robert John “Mutt” Lange