siLLy puPPy DEF LEPPARD was of course one of the original 70s hard rock bands that stepped things up and joined the first British heavy metal invasion now tagged the NWOBHM ( New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The band originated in Sheffield, England as far back as 1977 with its roots in the prior band Atomic Mass formed by bassist Rick Savage, guitarist Pete Willis and drummer Tony Kenning. After lead vocalist Joe Elliot joined shortly after, he proposed a name change to Deaf Leppard which the other members agreed upon and soon after recruited Rick Allen to replace Kenning and then guitarist Steve Clark.

The band spent 1979 touring and gaining an audience which propelled the band into the nascent NWOBHM rather quick. This got the band noticed by the Phonogram / Vertigo label (which is Mercury Records in the US) and before long the band was on the road touring with AC/DC. The five members cranked out a bunch of tunes that were recorded and released on the debut release ON THROUGH THE NIGHT which was released on 14 March 1980 and raced to the top 15 on the album chart in the UK but despite touring the US and supporting acts like Pat Travers, AC/DC and Ted Nugent failed to make a dent at this stage.

If you ask me why the band failed to make the big time at this point, it has to do with the mediocre material presented on ON THE THE NIGHT. At this stage the band sounds like a rather ho hum garage band that was just getting acquainted to the heavier sounds of metal and the entire songwriting process. In many ways this debut album sounds like a demo to my ears. The production is shoddy, Joe Elliot’s vocals haven’t reached their full potential and the tunes themselves are fairly forgettable. Anyone coming to this after experiencing the much better following album such as “High ’n’ Dry,” “Pyromania” or even “Hysteria” will be let down by the amateurish performances here. This sounds like any old bluesy hard rock band from the 70s. Generic AF.

There were three singles released: “Wasted,” “Hello America” and “Rock Brigade” but none made a dent as the band was getting its foot in the door as an album oriented hard rock band through touring. This debut was produced by Tom Allom who seems to have failed both in scoring a decent production job but also failed to harness the band’s potential and create a signature sound. That duty would go to John “Mutt” Lange who took the ship by the helm and crafted DEF LEPPARD’s sound into a heavier arena with stronger material that suited the band’s strengths. The material on ON THROUGH THE NIGHT is decent but as many times as i’ve tried to get into this one, i’m always left cold and underwhelmed by the rather average sounding tunes with the exception of “Rock Brigade.”

While the band would step things up for their sophomore release, at this point they were trying to sound like Thin Lizzy, UFO or even Mott The Hoople but didn’t quite have the magic mojo to craft interesting stand alone tracks yet. There is nothing outright bad about this album but in the company of much better material that followed, this one just doesn’t match the quality of the album’s that followed. Despite the band’s phenomenal success as a hard rock band starting with “Pyromania,” ON THROUGH THE NIGHT along with the following “High ’n’ Dry” are the only two examples of the band generating a heavier NWOBHM sound and had they continued down this road, it’s hard to tell how their career would’ve developed. For my listening pleasure i find this debut by DEF LEPPARD a bit tedious and even boring but the material is decent enough and for those who don’t mind a crappy production and straight forward heavy rock tunes then you might like this more than me.

Unitron Def Leppard's 1980 debut album On Through the Night fits right in with the NWoBHM sound, with that raw charm shared by many of their contemporaries such as Diamond Head and Di'Anno-era Iron Maiden. It's an excellent album and all, but Def Leppard was a band that couldn't stay underground, as their 1981 follow-up High and Dry shows. Gargantuan drums, infectious vocal hooks, roaring guitars, and flashy solos. This was perhaps the real beginning of what many refer to as the arena rock sound. Though while the album has a massive sounding production, which makes it sound like far-cry from the raw garage band sound of the previous album, the music itself is still screaming with heavy metal of the NWoBHM variety.

While not as well-known as the band's following two albums, High and Dry does come with their first radio hit in the form of "Bringin' on the Heartbreak". It's a good song on it's own, but works even better in the album as a whole as it segues into the instrumental of 'Switch 625' which ranks as one of metal's best instrumentals. Many of the songs could've been hits though, especially the great 'Lady Strange'. From the explosive opener of 'Let It Go' to the almost as excellent closer of 'No No No', this is an album that will bring the sound of the 80's rock arena right to your stereo.

Warthur This is a bit of an oddity, since when you are listening to it you're hearing a Def Leppard lineup that never actually existed. Pete Willis had already laid down rhythm guitar parts for all of the songs when he was kicked out of the band due to his alcohol problems becoming too much for them to handle. In stepped new guitarist Phil Collen, who performs the lead guitar solos and sections that Willis hadn't recorded yet. Thus, even though Willis and Collen never actually shared a stage or recording studio with each other, you hear them both together on the album.

That's an interesting bit of trivia, but it's one which illustrates the transition the band was going through at this time: the rough and ready NWOBHM stylings of their previous albums was more or less absent at this point, and despite the violent cover art the music presented here is actually fairly middle of the road AC/DC-inspired hard rock with some mild glam metal undercurrents here and there. How much of this was down to Collen is an open question - it's notable that Collen's previous post had been with the glam band Girl, but regardless of whether he brought this new influence with him or whether he was chosen because the lads figured his style would fit with their new direction, the end result is some hard rockin' pop metal which is pleasant enough to listen to but which if you don't have any affection for it as a result of growing up with it won't necessarily win you over.

UMUR "Hysteria" is the 4th full-length studio album by UK hard/heavy rock act Def Leppard. The album was released through Mercury Records in August 1987. "Hysteria" is one of those albums with a really interesting recording history. Right after coming home from a one year long tour supporting "Pyromania (1983)", the band moved in together and imidiately starting writing material for their next album. The writing sessions were under the supervision of producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, but when it became time to record the album Lange bailed out because he felt exhausted. The band brought in Jim Steinman (Meat Loaf) to produce the album but after working with Steinman for many months and recording almost a full album´s length of material, the band fired Steinman because they didn´t agree with his vision, and decided to start from scratch. The band wanted a more polished and accessible sound compared to Steinman´s vision of a more raw and unpolished rock´n´roll sound. After firing Steinman the band opted to produce the album themselves with Robert John "Mutt" Lange´s recording engineer Nigel Green, but that turned out fruitless too. It´s wasn´t until Lange returned to produce the album that things started to happen, and they actually happened pretty fast.

So the band had a lot of trouble with the production of the album but in addition to that drummer Rick Allen was also struck with a personal tragedy on the 31st of December 1984, when he lost his left arm in an auto accident. Not only was the recovery process hard, but he also had to learn to play on a new special designed drumkit. "Hysteria" is definitely one of those albums which had a painful birth, which must have made it even more satisfying for the band when the album spawned no less that seven hit singles and sold millions of copies (estimated around 20 million copies worldwide).

The music on the album is an accessible, melodic and catchy type heavy rock. You won´t find much of a heavy metal edge here, but it´s damn catchy material. It´s obvious that everything has been thought through in detail. The sound production is big, layered and polished. The choruses generally feature a lot of AOR type layered choirs and they are easy to sing along to. There is no doubt the band got exactly what they wanted with "Hysteria": "A rock album that could hit the pop charts". With an album where seven out of twelve tracks are hit singles it´s almost ridiculous mentioned specific tracks, but I guess tracks like "Pour Some Sugar On Me", "Love Bites" and "Women" still deserve a mention.

No one can question the popularity of "Hysteria". It´s through and through a successful album. It sold incredibly well and the band were excited and happy about it. People into softer heavy rock will probably agree with the band, but if your preference is for more raw type of heavy rock/hard rock, this is probably not the best investment. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is warranted.

1967/ 1976 There are many ways to describe an album. Some of the definitions that are used to describe an album may even be contradictory. Yet not mean they are not all true. If I had to describe "On Through The Night" would I be to describe it as Hard Rock mixed with raw power, technique, feeling, Rolling Stones mixed with Judas Priest and Kiss. I do not know, though, maybe... I could be off the road. I read that Def Leppard were the most American of the NWOBHM movement... But, OK, Jimi Hendrix and Suzi Quatro were Americans and their ultimate success came in the UK!

As for the style of "On Through The Night" ... Pure Rock'n'Roll, similar to Kiss but wilder, less exciting ... I would say more a Judas Priest copy that anything else. I find that listening more carefully "On Through The Night" is a mix of Judas Priest for melodies, Suzi Quatro for vocals and Kiss for arrangements! All in all, not heresy to say, a perfect group of the province that combining two things already feel can emerge with something new. Listen to the guitars, pissed and wild, the drum work damn powerful and explosive, listen to bass lines, fucking powerful and listen to the vocal lines, copied from billions of singers, not just Metal.

"On Through The Night" is an album that can not grow old. And that can not be heard if not all in one breath. And, in that way, tasted and understood.

progshine The worst episode of all Classic Albums series (and I watched 25 of them)!

What is great about the series is that they explain track by track about the albums and show these tracks on a studio enviroment stripping them down and showing us details. Not here.

Hysteria have 12 tracks, but according to this documentary the album have only 7 tracks, and half of it the only feature on the movie is some video or live footage of the song, sometimes the band says 3 words about it though.

As I said, this series is supposed to go deep into Classic albums in the history of music and tell their secrets and details, and most of times they do an excellent job. Not here.

Not to mention that Hysteria might have sold 12 million copies but this is not a classic album at all, just a popular one in 1987. And we know this story in Pop music, right?