Best and worst of Def Leppard

I am wanting to check out some of the old bands I used to love back in the day.  Def Leppard is one that I want to hear again.  What are the best and worst of their albums?  Are the more recent albums that I've never heard worth getting?

For me 'Hysteria' is thier best work. Its pretty much a perfect album. As far as recent material, 'X' is pretty good. Still has some of that old DL sound to it. 'Slang' isn't bad either. Then again I'm a DL fan and like pretty much everything released from Hysteria and forward. The only one I don't care for that much is Retroactive. Its just a b-side album.

Anything without Steve Clark isn't even an option, IMO.

I don't care for much of what I have heard of the newer stuff.  IMO their best are "Pyromania" and "High & Dry"

I would recommend a 'best of' for Def Leppard. You will get most of the songs that you would want to hear. I have Vault and it fulfils all my listening needs.

For me this holds true for most 80's lite metal bands.

Headshrinker wrote:I would recommend a 'best of' for Def Leppard. You will get most of the songs that you would want to hear. I have Vault and it fulfils all my listening needs.

There are actually a lot of hidden gems that arent on Vault though (ie, Gods of War, Mirror Mirror, Lady Strange, Die Hard the Hunter, Stagefright, White Lightning, Tear it Down, and thats just from the 81-92 era alone).

Agree, but depends on how much Def Leppard someone wants. I used to own all their albums at one time.

Pyromania, High n Dry and some of Hysteria, Pour Some Sugar is just dumb. After that, it's so hit and miss only a few songs are worth hearing.

So no one really likes the latter era Def Leppard?  Did they just totally wimp out or something?

I can tolerate Hysteria because its got some good pop songs on it. Because essentially, that's what they turned into...a pop band.

But for me, Nothing will top or replace On Through the Night and High n Dry. And on a slightly lessor level, I would include Pyromania in that as well. For hard and gritty ( and catchy ) rock tunes those first two can't be beat. Think of the rawness and passion of AC DC mixed with Humble Pie and you get.....awesome !


..those first three albums are COMPLETE ( and perfect ) hard rock classics.

alldatndensum wrote:So no one really likes the latter era Def Leppard?  Did they just totally wimp out or something?

Let me put on my " secular-worldly-critic " hat for a moment and say this....

....if Metallica are "sell outs " for the direction that they went, then Def Lep is even more so.

Now, let me qualify something. What I am saying is on a purely artistic level. If you are a Christian seeking to keep your mind renewed in the things of God, the early Def Lep is not for you. Lots of songs about sex, drugs and rock n roll.

So true. I rarely pull out my old secular metal anymore, mostly for a trip down memory lane. At least the thrash groups were mostly singing about just killing everyone. 

Back in the 80's I was a big Def Lep fan from High and Dry up to Hysteria.  Adrenalize came out and I drifted away from the band.  I have not heard of any of their albums after that, with the exception of Retro Active.  Retro Active is a collection of b-sides, remakes and unreleased songs and is actual one of the best cds that I have heard from the band.

Mirror Ball is a nice live album covering all eras of Def Leopard. I think you can find it in the $5 bin at Walmart now and it is a double disc set and includes a DVD as the 3rd disc. A pretty good album and live they pretty much sound the same.

No love for Euphoria? If anything, i dont see how anyone can dislike this song:

For albums as a whole Hysteria is Prime #1 for me

Some songs I really like by them are

Photograph
Rock of Ages
When Love and Hate Collide
Foolin

WildWorld wrote:No love for Euphoria? If anything, i dont see how anyone can dislike this song:

Really good song, I have never heard this cd, will have to check it out.

I don't mind newer Def Leppard.  Like WildWorld posted, "Paper Sun" is quite good.  Of course, I guess 1999 isn't really "new" anymore, but compared to their entire discography, it is newish.  

This thread made me check out their wikipedia page, and I discovered they have a new album coming out in October.  I can't believe "Songs from the Sparkle Lounge" was 7 years ago already!  Their "newer" stuff is definitely poppier than their first few albums, but it seems to be a logical progression since Hysteria, IMHO (aside from Slang, which I view as more experimental than their previous works - though it's been years since I listened to it).  I would say check out "Euphoria" for later era, and "High N Dry" for earlier era (which contains possibly my fave DL song, "Mirror, Mirror").

For me it's impossible to qualify anything as best or worst as there's nothing good. I've never been able to stand listening to any of their 'music' finishing the song except what was forced down my throat on the radio in a public situation where I couldn't leave.

In the past, I would check them out because they have nice album covers, but what drizzle. Ugg!

d@v!d wrote:For me it's impossible to qualify anything as best or worst as there's nothing good. I've never been able to stand listening to any of their 'music' finishing the song except what was forced down my throat on the radio in a public situation where I couldn't leave.

In the past, I would check them out because they have nice album covers, but what drizzle. Ugg!

Im sure your speaking of the albums of Hysteria on up ? Cuz then, I would have to agree.


But the first three albums ( well at least the first two ), are hard rock classics right up there with AC/DC, Rainbow and early Scorpions. ( at least in my humble opinion  )

I've checked out a few of their albums.  Of course, I started with "Pyromania" and then "Hysteria".  While "Hysteria" has some cool songs, it wasn't as great as I thought it was back in the late 80s.

I also listened to "Adrenalize" which was pretty cool to me.  "X" was just horrid as it is a lot of acoustic pop songs.  Did they bring in Casting Crowns to help with this album?  It stinks and will be promptly deleted.  I didn't even like the couple of rockers that are on the album.  Seriously?  This is what they bacame later on?

I've not heard a full album by them since Pyromania, once I heard "Pour Some Sugar on Me" I got the rock out of there!

sentient 6 wrote:Im sure your speaking of the albums of Hysteria on up ? Cuz then, I would have to agree.


But the first three albums ( well at least the first two ), are hard rock classics right up there with AC/DC, Rainbow and early Scorpions. ( at least in my humble opinion  )

You know I never heard much of their earlier stuff. But, if it's in the vein of the mentioned bands...
I like Rainbow, mostly on account of Dios voice, Blackmore's quirky playing end the epicness of their hits.
I don't care much for AC/DC or the Scorps as they are too plodding. They have a few fun riffs, but generally bore me. Rainbow plods, but gets a pass for the aforementioned reasons.

Candlemass wrote:I've not heard a full album by them since Pyromania, once I heard "Pour Some Sugar on Me" I got the rock out of there!

Most everything I've heard from them, and this is the worst, made me get the R&R out too.