Pyromania

Artist: Def Leppard

Pyromania is the record that broke Def Leppard into main-stream stardom. Released in 1983, it spent two weeks in the number two position on Billboard charts – behind Thriller, the best-selling record ever. This album has gone on to sell over 10 million copies, a testament to its popularity and wide-spread appeal.

This album was produced by “Mutt” Lange, who had earlier worked with AC/DC and Foreigner. Lange was known for his perfectionism and polished sound, which is responsible for this album’s ‘sheen.’ Despite being a heavy metal record, Pyromania’s polished and commercial sound allowed it to be acceptable to a wider range of listeners – not to mention being extremely radio friendly.

 Of course much of the album’s success can be attributed to hits like “Photograph”, “Rock of Ages”, and “Foolin’.” These were all top 40 singles, and can still be heard daily on rock radio. Again, “Mutt” helped to fine tune these songs with his background in country music – using techniques that are not necessarily common to the metal genre to increase their commercial appeal.

Although this album was a huge success for the band, the fact that they received relatively little critical acclaim in their native England, as compared to America, was found a bit troublesome by the band. Although riding high on success during the time following the record’s release, the band would keep this disappointment in mind when they finally returned to the studio to cut their follow-up – Hysteria.

This is one of my favorite albums – as all of the records I will be reviewing here – and while I too like the hits from this album, like everyone else, I do particularly like some of the B-side material. “Action! Not Words,” in particular appeals to me. I like the somewhat looser feel of the song, and it has a certain quality to it that reminds me of some of the band’s later work on Hysteria.

Rating: 5/5