The New, Not-Quite-So-Awesome Def Leppard Single "Undefeated"

[Hardrock69]

I did not like DL after High & Dry. Once the powers that be got the spit and polish specialist (Mutt) to work with them, it was all over.

Fuck those lame bastards.

"Pour Some Shit On Them...."

[BruinJer]

I actually thought their last album was pretty good... This is GARBAGE!

[Va Beach VH Fan]

When did Sammy Hagar start writing Def Leppard songs? This sounds like one of his cheesy 80's soundtrack tunes.

Beat me to it....

[Terry]

Sounds like "Def Leppard-by-the-numbers" songwriting.

While the band has always been a bit too derivative for my tastes, once in a while I can still listen to High N' Dry and the cuts on Pyromania that weren't played into the fucking ground on rock radio and enjoy them. Hysteria had some interesting stuff on it.

Right around the point when Adrenalize came out, this band ran out of the limited amount of creatuve juice they had. I mean, listening to this track...it just smacks of the word "product" to me, in that essentially Def Leppard are a business more than a band, and they churned out another uninspired tune off the assembly line. Doubtless there will be enough people out there who will like it or buy it to make the endeavor worthwhile for Leppard; audiences have been either been conditioned (or are just plain willing) to settle for less across the board re: the entertainment field output.

I wonder if the band were as bored making this tune as I was listening to it.

[binnie]

Joe Elliot's recent project covering Ian Hunter songs was far more interesting than this......

[Dan]

They Are Playing It Safe.

[FORD]

I did not like DL after High & Dry. Once the powers that be got the spit and polish specialist (Mutt) to work with them, it was all over.

Fuck those lame bastards.

"Pour Some Shit On Them...."

Mutt actually produced High and Dry, but that's when he was working with Ac/Dc and just finished with "Back In Black" which turned out to be one of the biggest selling records of all time. In fact Def Leppard even sounded a bit like Ac/Dc on that record (as opposed to sounding closer to KISS on their first album - first time I heard "Rock Brigade", I thought it WAS Kiss)

Sadly, by the time Pyromania was underway, Lange had switched into his Foreigner 4 cheese peddling persona, which he never escaped from. And neither did Def Leppard.

[chefcraig]

Sadly, by the time Pyromania was underway, Lange had switched into his Foreigner 4 cheese peddling persona, which he never escaped from. And neither did Def Leppard.

He threw in a Loverboy song along the way, just for shits and giggles. Listen to this garbage, and tell me his fingerprints aren't all over it.

[binnie]

I actually think that AC/Dc lost some of their magic when they started working with Mutt.......

[FORD]

I actually think that AC/Dc lost some of their magic when they started working with Mutt.......

Hard to call that one.... I think the Mutt-produced Highway to Hell is as good of an album as the Vanda & Young produced Powerage, and of course, it's impossible to know what Back In Black would have sounded like with Bon singing, so it's hard to compare it directly to Highway to Hell. But given Mutt's embrace of cheese after that, it's probably a good thing that Angus & Malcolm found other producers.

[binnie]

I'll be honest: although I think that 'Back In Black' is a special album, I've never really warmed to 'Highway....'

For me there are too many AORisms and a focus on writing hooky choruses, plus I'd argue that guitars just aren't as raucous as on 'Let There Be Rock' or 'Powerage'. They might be more singalong friendly, but are there any songs on 'Highway...' which posses the unbridled energy of 'Whole Lotta Rosie' or 'Kicked in the Teeth Again'?

[FORD]

He threw in a Loverboy song along the way, just for shits and giggles. Listen to this garbage, and tell me his fingerprints aren't all over it.

Yep. It was actually produced by Tom Allom (of Judas Priest fame) but Lange wrote the song. And it sounds like a blueprint for everything he produced for Leppard and his wife Shania Twain after that.

As for Loverboy, they went downhill after their second album. Or right after Mike Reno teamed up with a certain cheese peddling tequila salesman....

[chefcraig]

Yep. It was actually produced by Tom Allom (of Judas Priest fame) but Lange wrote the song. And it sounds like a blueprint for everything he produced for Leppard and his wife Shania Twain after that.

True. Substitute the fiddles for electric guitars, boost the backing vocals, and presto! You've got a Def Leppard track.

[FORD]

Back in the mid-90's one of the country radio stations in Seattle actually made a mash-up of that song and "Pour Some Sugar On Me". It was amazing how well it fit together.

[sadaist]

Sadly, by the time Pyromania was underway, Lange had switched into his Foreigner 4 cheese peddling persona, which he never escaped from. And neither did Def Leppard.

I'm in the minority here, but Pyromania is my favorite Def Leppard album of all. I remember being so young and hearing the beginning of Photograph on my little AM radio clock. Loved that song ever since I ever heard the first note. Billys Got A Gun, Die Hard The Hunter, Foolin, Too Late For Love, Comin Under Fire, Rock Of Ages, Stagefright....fuck...all brilliant songs to me that NEVER get old or stale. No, it's not their heaviest or guitar riff driven....but holy motherfuck do I love that album.

High 'n' Dry is a very close 2nd. But Pyromania wins out.

I think Joes voice is at it's best on this album over anything they recorded before or after as well.