Pyromania_(album)

<i>Pyromania</i> (album)

Pyromania (album)

1983 studio album by Def Leppard

This article is about the album. For the disorder, see Pyromania.

Pyromania is the third studio album by English rock band Def Leppard, released on 20 January 1983[2] through Vertigo Records in UK and Europe and through Mercury Records in the US. The first album to feature guitarist Phil Collen who replaced founding member Pete Willis, Pyromania was produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange. The album was a shift away from the band's traditional heavy metal roots toward a more radio-friendly sound, finding massive mainstream success. Pyromania charted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200,[3] No. 4 on the Canadian RPM Album chart and No. 18 on the UK Albums Chart.[4] Selling over ten million copies in the US, it has been certified diamond by the RIAA.[5]

Quick Facts Pyromania, Studio album by Def Leppard ...

Recording

The album followed an unusual method of recording: all guitars and bass parts were recorded to a click track provided by a LinnDrum (or LM-1) drum machine, with the drums being added last. This gave flexibility in changing the arrangements.[6][7] The album was partially recorded with original guitarist Pete Willis, whose rhythm guitar tracks appear on all songs. Toward the end of the recording, Willis was fired for alcohol abuse and replaced by guitarist Phil Collen, who contributed solos and guitar parts not yet recorded by Willis.[8] "I had all the fun stuff, none of the heavy lifting..." Collen remembered. "Pete and Steve [Clark] had done these amazing rhythm guitar beds, and it was a joy to whizz around and play solos over the top... Mutt [Lange] was going, 'Just have fun: be a lead guitarist, go nuts."[9] On the original LP release, Willis is visible in the background of the photograph of singer Joe Elliott, while Collen has his own photo as a new full-time member.

The album can be seen as a transitional one between the heavy metal sound of Leppard's first two albums and the radio-friendly direction of later releases.[10] It featured rockers such as "Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)", "Stagefright" and "Die Hard the Hunter" as well as the Top 40 hits "Photograph", "Rock of Ages" and "Foolin'".[11]

Release

With its melodic hooks and heavy MTV exposure, Pyromania became a massive success, and was a major catalyst for the 1980s pop-metal movement.[12] The album sold six million copies in the US in its original release (about 100,000 copies per week for much of the year). It has since sold over ten million there and been certified diamond.[5] In 1989, it was re-released by audio fidelity company Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs as part of their Ultradisc series.[13]

"Photograph", "Rock of Ages" and "Foolin'" became top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, with "Photograph" peaking at No. 13 and "Rock of Ages" at No. 16.[11] "Photograph" (6 weeks) and "Rock of Ages" (1 week) both topped the Billboard Top Rock Tracks while "Foolin'" and "Too Late for Love" made the Top 10. "Comin' Under Fire", "Billy's Got a Gun" and "Action! Not Words" made the top 40 of the Top Rock Tracks chart.

In Canada, "Rock of Ages" charted highest at No. 24, while "Photograph" and "Foolin'" reached No. 32 and No. 39, respectively. At CHUM-AM in Toronto, one of Canada's largest audience Top 40 stations at the time, "Rock of Ages" never reached its Top 30 countdown; whereas 70 km away in Hamilton, at the CKOC-AM Top 40 radio station, it peaked at No. 2. It also topped the chart at many album-oriented rock stations such as Q107 in Toronto. "Rock of Ages" also charted the highest in the UK at No. 41 compared to No. 66 for "Photograph".[14]

Critical reception and legacy

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Pyromania has received mostly positive reviews, being commonly considered, along with its follow-up, Hysteria, one of the band's finest efforts to date, and one of "Mutt" Lange's best productions. David Fricke of Rolling Stone praised Leppard for putting "much-needed fire back on the radio", producing sophisticated music "more emotionally charged than most of the synthesized disco that passes for 'modern music'" over the airwaves; adding that the band "may not be highly original, but they mean what they play" and "Lange's artfully busy mix" easily covers up any fault.[15]

AllMusic reviewer Steve Huey stated that Pyromania was "where the band's vision coalesced and gelled into something more." He described the songs as "driven by catchy, shiny melodic hooks instead of heavy guitar riffs, although the latter do pop up once in a while", and added that "transcendent hard rock perfection on Pyromania was surprisingly successful; their reach never exceeded their grasp, which makes the album an enduring (and massively influential) classic."[12] Sputnikmusic staff reviewer, equally enthusiastic, thoroughly recommended the album, "filled with tight musicianship, infectious melodies and anthemic choruses" "to pretty much anyone... No matter what their taste in music is."[16] Ultimate Classic Rock described the album as a “set of slick, hi-fi rockers ornamented with poppy synthesizers and towering vocal harmonies”, in which Def Leppard was “laying the groundwork for their world domination and inspiring a wave of copycats."[18]

In contrast, Canadian journalist Martin Popoff considers Pyromania the beginning of Leppard's "creative degeneration" and criticizes Lange's "painstaking approach to detail" that strips the album "of its sweat and grit", making it sound "phony".[10]

"I remember meeting Phil Lynott..." recalled Joe Elliott. "We'd delivered Pyromania and, with us sharing a label with Lizzy, he'd heard it. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'I heard your album – it's the reason I've split the band. I can't compete with that.' The crappiest backhand compliment I've ever had. I wish I had been brave enough to shove him up against the wall and say, 'Well, make a better album then!' But I just said, 'Oh,' and scuttled off."[19]

In 2004, the album was ranked No. 384 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[20] In 2006, Q magazine placed the album at No. 35 in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s".[21] In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked Pyromania at No. 17 among the 50 Greatest Hair Metal Albums of All Time,[22] and in 2017, the same magazine listed the album at No. 52 on its list of the 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.[23]

Track listing

Original release

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  • "Comin' Under Fire" and "Action! Not Words" are listed inversely on the original Mercury vinyl release, but play in the order above.
  • The last 56 seconds of track 10 following "Billy's Got a Gun" is a hidden track named "The March of the Wooden Zombies".[24]

2009 deluxe edition bonus disc

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Personnel

Def Leppard

Additional musicians

Production

Charts

More information Chart (1983-1984), Peak position ...

Certifications

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See also

References

  1. [1]
    Strong, Martin Charles (1995). The Great Rock Discography. Canongate Press. p. 212. ISBN 9780862415419.
  2. [2]
    hennemusic. "Def Leppard launch Pyromania 40th anniversary celebrations". Retrieved 1 September 2023.
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    "Pyromania Billboard Albums". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
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    "Def Leppard Official Charts". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  5. [5]
    "RIAA Searchable Database: search for "Def Leppard"". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
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    Stix, John (December 1983). "From Ten Bucks a Night To Twelve Bucks a Ticket: Guitarists Uncaged". Guitar for the Practicing Musician.
  7. [7]
    NEVER BEFORE SEEN HYSTERIA PHOTOS + FULL NIGEL GREEN INTERVIEW
  8. [8]
    Fricke, David (1987). Animal Instinct: The Def Leppard Story. London, UK: Zomba Books. pp. 75–77. ISBN 0-946391-55-6.
  9. [9]
    Wall, Mick (May 2018). "A wild ride over stony ground". Classic Rock. No. 248. p. 35.
  10. [10]
    Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 92. ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5.
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    "Pyromania Billboard Singles". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  12. [12]
    Huey, Steve. "Def Leppard – Pyromania review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  13. [13]
    "Gold CDs". Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs. Archived from the original on 15 September 2019.
  14. [14]
    "Steve Clark ••• Top Songs as Writer ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts".
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    Fricke, David (31 March 1983). "Pyromania – Def Leppard". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
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    Boy, Davey (6 January 2009). "Def Leppard – Pyromania". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
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    Christgau, Robert (26 July 1983). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
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    Rolli, Bryan (24 November 2023). "Top 30 Glam Metal Albums". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
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    Barton, Geoff, Dome, Malcolm, Kendall, Jo, Ling, Dave: "The night I set Phil Lynott's todger on fire and other stories"; Classic Rock #219, February 2016, p55
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    500 Greatest Albums of All Time: Pyromania – Def Leppard Rolling Stone. Retrieved 17 November 2011
  21. [21]
    Q August 2006, Issue 241
  22. [22]
    "50 Greatest Hair Metal Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 13 October 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  23. [23]
    "The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 21 June 2017.
  24. [24]
    Eddy, Chuck (10 August 2011). Rock and Roll Always Forgets: A Quarter Century of Music Criticism. Duke University Press. p. 121. ISBN 9780822350101.
  25. [25]
    Progressive Palaver (30 December 2018). "Special Episode - Interview with Tony Kaye". SoundCloud. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  26. [26]
    THE STORY OF DEF LEPPARD'S PYROMANIA ALBUM (RELEASED 35 YEARS AGO) "I was really tired and pissed off," Mutt admits. "I was told we had to send those tracks off on the Concorde to New York the next day. So I worked right through the night with Nigel Green, because Mike Shipley had passed out again."
  27. [27]
    Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992: 23 years of hit singles & albums from the top 100 charts. St Ives, N.S.W, Australia: Australian Chart Book. p. 86. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
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    "Top RPM Albums: Issue 4327a". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
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    Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
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    Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
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    "Swedishcharts.com – Def Leppard – Pyromania". Hung Medien. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
  33. [33]
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    "Canadian album certifications – Def Leppard – Pyromania". Music Canada. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
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    "French album certifications – Def Leppard – Pyromania" (in French). InfoDisc. Retrieved 9 September 2021. Select DEF LEPPARD and click OK. 
  37. [37]
    "British album certifications – Def Leppard – Pyromania". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  38. [38]
    "American album certifications – Def Leppard – Pyromania". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
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