Despite the building popularity of the first three albums that the band released, “On Through the Night”, “High ‘n’ Dry” and “Pyromania”, the out and out explosion of success that came with the release of the Def Leppard's “Hysteria” album exceeded all expectations, from the media, fans and surely band alike. A thousand singles from the album were released, all of them seemed to get to the top of the charts around the world, the album sold in the millions, and it crossed the generations and genres of music, being adored by headbangers, glam metallers, rock lovers and even pop single music lovers all in the same instance. 15 year olds and 65 years old, and everyone in between, seemed to love the album, the songs and suddenly the band. The mega success that the band had worked so hard for, and been so careful when it came to image crafting to ensure they were not pigeonholed into one area of music, had come to fruition.
There had been a three year gap between the release of “Pyromania” and “Hysteria” - an unheard of length of time between albums at that time, though that has changed significantly since. With the length and popularity of the Hysteria tour, that time frame went out the window when it came to writing and releasing the follow up, which was begun in 1990. And there is little doubt that trying to follow up that album’s success would have been something playing on the band’s mind. However, the biggest problem for the band was the alcoholism suffered by guitarist Steve Clark. Despite urging and prompting from his bandmates to go into rehabilitation in order to do something about his illness, he was unable to commit to any program himself to its conclusion. Eventually, with the band in the process of trying to write the new album, Clark was given what the band called a ‘leave of absence’ for six months, to go away and enjoy his life. Joe Elliott was quoted as saying “But instead he spent most of his time in the pub round the corner, and do things like get so drunk he'd fall down the stairs and crack his rib. So he'd be on serious medication for cracked ribs. Then he'd carry on drinking”. Tragically, on January 8, 1991, Clark was found dead on his couch, a blood alcohol reading of 0.30 and morphine in his system.
There had been a three year gap between the release of “Pyromania” and “Hysteria” - an unheard of length of time between albums at that time, though that has changed significantly since. With the length and popularity of the Hysteria tour, that time frame went out the window when it came to writing and releasing the follow up, which was begun in 1990. And there is little doubt that trying to follow up that album’s success would have been something playing on the band’s mind. However, the biggest problem for the band was the alcoholism suffered by guitarist Steve Clark. Despite urging and prompting from his bandmates to go into rehabilitation in order to do something about his illness, he was unable to commit to any program himself to its conclusion. Eventually, with the band in the process of trying to write the new album, Clark was given what the band called a ‘leave of absence’ for six months, to go away and enjoy his life. Joe Elliott was quoted as saying “But instead he spent most of his time in the pub round the corner, and do things like get so drunk he'd fall down the stairs and crack his rib. So he'd be on serious medication for cracked ribs. Then he'd carry on drinking”. Tragically, on January 8, 1991, Clark was found dead on his couch, a blood alcohol reading of 0.30 and morphine in his system.
After grieving their loss, the band chose to move forward with the new album, and record as a four piece, with Phil Collen playing all of the guitars on the album, though he is quoted as saying that for what can be considered as Steve’s parts on the songs he had been involved with before his death, he had watched how he had approached those songs, and he tried to replicate that in his playing for those parts. The other major change was that their long-time producer “Mutt” Lange was away producing an album with Bryan Adams, so the band chose to produce it themselves along with long time engineer Mike Shipley, with Mutt offering support and advice via the phone. With all of this going on, is it any wonder that, five years after the release of “Hysteria”, “Adrenalize” finally hit the shelves.
By the time “Hysteria” was a couple of years old, there had been rumblings of the band having ‘sold out’ their roots, and turned towards a much more commercial sound than many early fans liked. To be fair, and retrospect is a wonderful thing, that had always been the way the band was directing itself. This then became a louder cry from those fans when “Adrenalize” was released, who claimed it was even further down that track than “Hysteria” had gone. Now, views can change over the years, but if anything, this album is actually a more stripped down rock album than Hysteria was, less experimental and with a song list that you could probably categorise into two subsets should you be that way inclined. The album still absolutely has those soft rock ballads, the ones that can cause grown men to gag when they hear them begin. But all of those songs here are less sugary than anything produced on the previous album. “Tonight” is the first one to appear, but given it has no overlays or overly sugared vocals it does sit in a more ‘Pyromania’ era than ‘Hysteria’. “Stand Up (Kick Love in to Motion)” again showcases the difference between this album and the last, sticking to guitars and drums without delving into any synths. “Have you Ever Needed Someone So Bad” and “I Wanna Touch U” both have the now trademark Def Leppard soft rock touches. “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” drops into ballad territory, while “I Wanna Touch U” has more energy to it, a typical soft rock song aimed at the ladies.
But then you have the hard rock songs – polished, sure - that Def Leppard has always done well. The opening track “Let’s Get Rocked” was more infamous on its release for its music video, which for the time utilised the most modern computer animation technology. It looks terribly clunky now, but at the time it was a winner, and the song itself is catchy enough to keep you interested. “Heaven Is” is probably a little from column A and column B, but the opening riff from Phil is enough for me to push this into the rock category and override the slightly flowery chorus. “Make Love Like a Man” again settles into a typical Leppard beat and allows the band to do what they do best as individuals, including the combined vocals in the chorus. “White Lightning”, the last song Steve was involved in writing, could probably nestle somewhere between the two lists, and is the longest on the album at a tad over seven minutes. “Personal Property” is a beauty, picking up the pace of the album and driving with energy through Rick Allen’s harder drum work and Collen’s excellent guitaring. These are the kind of songs the old fans will enjoy.
“Tear It Down” is arguably the best song on the album, one that had its earliest demo forms back around the time that “High n Dry” was recorded, and you can certainly hear that throughout. Joe’s vocals are supreme, the support from the Rick’s and Phil are brilliant, the verse riff is terrific and drives the song throughout. It’s still my favourite, and it rounds out the album in style.
But then you have the hard rock songs – polished, sure - that Def Leppard has always done well. The opening track “Let’s Get Rocked” was more infamous on its release for its music video, which for the time utilised the most modern computer animation technology. It looks terribly clunky now, but at the time it was a winner, and the song itself is catchy enough to keep you interested. “Heaven Is” is probably a little from column A and column B, but the opening riff from Phil is enough for me to push this into the rock category and override the slightly flowery chorus. “Make Love Like a Man” again settles into a typical Leppard beat and allows the band to do what they do best as individuals, including the combined vocals in the chorus. “White Lightning”, the last song Steve was involved in writing, could probably nestle somewhere between the two lists, and is the longest on the album at a tad over seven minutes. “Personal Property” is a beauty, picking up the pace of the album and driving with energy through Rick Allen’s harder drum work and Collen’s excellent guitaring. These are the kind of songs the old fans will enjoy.
“Tear It Down” is arguably the best song on the album, one that had its earliest demo forms back around the time that “High n Dry” was recorded, and you can certainly hear that throughout. Joe’s vocals are supreme, the support from the Rick’s and Phil are brilliant, the verse riff is terrific and drives the song throughout. It’s still my favourite, and it rounds out the album in style.
I was one of those ‘old’ fans I’ve mentioned within this episode, who fell in love with ‘Pyromania’ and “High n Dry’ before ‘Hysteria’ was released, and which I loved equally as much, though perhaps with a slight twinge about a couple of those real fairy floss like ballads. By the time “Adrenalize” was released, the band had hired Vivian Campbell, one of my music heroes, as Steve Clark’s replacement, and toured Australia in mid-1992, where I saw them for the first time. It was an amazing concert, Vivian was brilliant, Phil his equal, and the set list tremendous. And any doubts you had about Def Leppard as a live band could be washed away completely.
When I first bought this album and was hoping and wishing for another ‘Pyromania’ which didn’t come, there was some disappointment. But I still listened to that album a lot over that six month period, and enjoyed it, and eventually found some other albums in 1992 that caught my fancy a bit more, such as Fear of the Dark, The Crimson Idol, Countdown to Extinction and Dehumanizer. But that didn’t mean this album paled in comparison. It was just a different style, and seeing the band live made me retain a lot of love for the album.
In the years since, I have really come to enjoy it all over again, and without doubt I love it more now than I did as a 22 year old. It really is the last of their hard rock albums, and the fact that it was recorded as a foursome may well have contributed to that. With the only keyboards coming on “Stand Up (Kick Love into Motion) it has a real guitar feel much like their early albums, and with Phil Collen pulling double duty there’s not necessity for showing off twice as much, which in the end actually makes it a tighter album. And the performances are all great. Rick Allen’s drums have a much better feel and sound on his second album with his new kit. Rick Savage as always is great on the bass, and Joe Elliott’s vocals are still terrific. All of that makes this an album that is still worth revisiting.
When I first bought this album and was hoping and wishing for another ‘Pyromania’ which didn’t come, there was some disappointment. But I still listened to that album a lot over that six month period, and enjoyed it, and eventually found some other albums in 1992 that caught my fancy a bit more, such as Fear of the Dark, The Crimson Idol, Countdown to Extinction and Dehumanizer. But that didn’t mean this album paled in comparison. It was just a different style, and seeing the band live made me retain a lot of love for the album.
In the years since, I have really come to enjoy it all over again, and without doubt I love it more now than I did as a 22 year old. It really is the last of their hard rock albums, and the fact that it was recorded as a foursome may well have contributed to that. With the only keyboards coming on “Stand Up (Kick Love into Motion) it has a real guitar feel much like their early albums, and with Phil Collen pulling double duty there’s not necessity for showing off twice as much, which in the end actually makes it a tighter album. And the performances are all great. Rick Allen’s drums have a much better feel and sound on his second album with his new kit. Rick Savage as always is great on the bass, and Joe Elliott’s vocals are still terrific. All of that makes this an album that is still worth revisiting.
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