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Pyromania (album)

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Pyromania is the third album by British hard rock band Def Leppard, released in 1983. It broke the band across North America and in Japan, and would sell over 10 million copies worldwide. It featured new guitarist Phil Collen and was produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange.

Untitled

The album is credited for paving the way for a new generation of hard rock bands in the 80's, and set the standard for albums of the genre through its combination of multi-layered vocal harmonies and heavy guitar riffs.

Three songs from Pyromania, "Photograph", "Rock of Ages", and "Foolin'", became Top 40 singles in the US, benefiting from their popularity on the 24-hour music channel MTV and attracting a large group of female followers.

Album History

After first working with Mutt Lange on 1981's High 'n' Dry, the band were very happy with the results, even though the album had fared only moderately well on the charts. Lange also saw the potential for even more improvement. Therefore, they teamed up again at Battery Studios in London in January 1982 to start work on what was to be their make-or-break album.

Lange's perfectionist production style would be taxing on the band, in particular Joe Elliott with the vocal ranges he was being asked to reach. It also worsened guitarist Pete Willis' alcohol problems, causing growing tension between him and the rest of the band.

The point of no return for Willis came in July 1982 after another night of heavy drinking. The recording session the following day was so poor that Lange suggested the problem was irreparable at this point. A band-only meeting followed and it was agreed that Willis should be fired. The dismissal was made by the band members, although they'd asked manager Peter Mensch to perform the duty (he refused to do it).

Although Willis had co-written most songs on the album and finished backing tracks on all of them, the band still needed another guitarist. Luckily, Elliott already had in mind London native Phil Collen, lead guitarist in the glam rock band Girl at the time. Since Girl's own success had stalled, Collen eagerly accepted the offer to learn and play 10 songs on short notice.

Collen's audition of the solo on the track "Stagefright" ended up impressing Lange so much that he not only approved the choice of replacement, the solo ended up on the album itself. Unhindered by the distractions caused by Willis, a new chemistry was born between Collen and Clark (and the other members) and the album was completed by November 1982.

Released in January 1983, the album took off when the video for lead single "Photograph" became a massive hit on MTV, unseating Michael Jackson's Beat It as the most requested clip. "Rock of Ages" would achieve the same level of success, as would "Foolin'". At the end of the year, Pyromania had sold 6 million copies in the US, behind only Jackson and The Police. However, that success did not cross over into other parts of the world, most glaringly in their home of the United Kingdom.

The popularity and influence of Pyromania has been so enduring that in 2002, the premiere episode of VH1's "Ultimate Albums" series was on the making of the Pyromania album.

In 2004, the album was ranked number 384 on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (Def Leppard's highest ranking on the list).

Miscellanea

  • The line "Gunter glieben glauchen globen" at the start of "Rock Of Ages" came about when Lange uttered the phrase after getting bored of saying "one, two, three, four" in the studio. The band thought it to be so amusing that it ended up on intro of the final recording. The phrase is not proper German and actually doesn't mean anything. The line was later used by punk band The Offspring as the intro on their 1998 single Pretty Fly (For A White Guy).
  • Thomas Dolby was brought in to record synthesizer parts, and is credited under the alias Booker T. Boffin.
  • The closing track, "Billy's Got A Gun", is immediately followed by a repeating drum machine and synth loop, which is unofficially titled "The March of the Dreaded Zultrons".
  • The tour for Pyromania and the "Photograph" video introduced fans to the popular Union Jack tank top shirt, a symbol that would be associated with the band to this day.
  • Pyromania was the last album by the band to be considered a "heavy metal" album, but still ranks high on many Top Metal Album lists.
  • The band started the Pyromania tour by opening for Billy Squier on his Emotions In Motion tour in early 1983.

Track listing

  1. "Rock Rock ('Til You Drop)" (Clark, Elliott, Lange, Savage) – 3:52
  2. "Photograph"(Clark, Elliott, Lange, Savage, Willis) – 4:12
  3. "Stagefright" (Elliott, Lange, Savage) – 3:46
  4. "Too Late for Love" (Clark, Elliott, Lange, Savage, Willis) – 4:30
  5. "Die Hard the Hunter" (Clark, Elliott, Lange, Savage) – 6:17
  6. "Foolin'" (Clark, Elliott, Lange) – 4:32
  7. "Rock of Ages"(Clark, Elliott, Lange) – 4:09
  8. "Comin' Under Fire" (Clark, Elliott, Lange, Willis) – 4:20
  9. "Action! Not Words" (Clark, Elliott, Lange) – 3:52
  10. "Billy's Got a Gun" (Clark, Elliott, Lange, Savage, Willis) – 5:27

Personnel

Def Leppard

Additional personnel

Backing vocals were credited to "The Leppardettes (courtesy of themselves)". The Leppardettes were, of course, Def Leppard themselves.

Production

Singles

  • "Photograph", February 1983
  • "Rock of Ages", May 1983
  • "Foolin'", August 1983 (US only)
  • "Too Late For Love", October 1983 (UK only)
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