Pyromania

I like Photograph and a few others were good listens.

Poppy rock with killer guitar lines.

Du bon rock. Je connais le rock ''commercial'' ou ''glam'' de Def Leppard. je ne déteste pas, meme que ca s'écoute très bien. Cependant, ca manque un petit quelque de mon côté. 3.5

This is very nostalgic, though I was a much bigger fan of Hysteria. This still brings everything you expect from Def Leppard though, sometimes they veer a little too much towards AC/DC'ness for my liking, but in general it's a fun listen.

Pretty straightforward hair metal, direct and to the point. Nothing especially fancy or artistic happening here. Enjoyable but not a "stand out of the crowd" type of record. Props to Def Leppard for being one of the first bands to popularize this sound. Fave tracks: Photograph, Too Late for Love, Rock of Ages

Still not my thing

Some great songs here, both in the singles and deep album cuts, but overall it is less consistent than the album it precedes; that inconsistently really brings it down.

Some of the songs are really good. These guys are seen as heavy metal gods but they sound like a classic hair metal band. There are other metal bands which are far more dark or metal.

Middling hair metal. The best song is probably 'photograph", but I prefer the Santana version of that as well. I was surprised to hear the sample from "pretty fly for a white guy" at the start of "rock of ages", but mostly because there is not other obvious influence on The Offspring by Def Leppard

Vähän pliisua menoa, mutta ihan soivaa rockia silti.

Ihan vänkä ja tasavahva levykokonaisuus

this was rock music

Can't deny that it's great stuff. A bit tired of it tho

sounds like guns n' roses

Rock ochentero, de película de los 80s, instituto.

Identifying Def Leppard : it’s Def Leppard

We probably didn't need two Def Leppard albums on this list. Still, it is a fun, low-stakes time to listen two, although I think I preferred Hysteria a bit more. Just something to turn off your brain to, not really the pinnacle of art. Key tracks: Photograph

I've been hearing tracks from this album on the radio since I was a child. There's a certain amount of suspicion in my mind that Def Leppard is one of the bands that led my young self to believe that I just didn't like much music. I suspect I'm going to blame Mutt Lange, producer (and man who singularly did not deserve Shania Twain) for a lot of this, but let's see, shall we? First up: Joe Elliott sounds like a half-assed version of Brian Johnson, with that sort of high falsetto growl that hair metal bands from this period all displayed. Everything sounds thin and tinny, like they were trying to make room for the kick drum and the bass, which both disappear in the mix anyway. I looked it up and learned that Def Leppard had three guitars on this record (not simultaneously; Pete Willis was fired for substance abuse and replaced by Phil Collen; Steve Clark is also present) but the guitars are all so high-timbred that I'm beginning to understand that late-90's obsession with 7- and 8-stringed down-tuned guitars that some of the numetal guys had. Allegedly, a man named Rick Savage plays bass on this record. Rick Allen (famously one-armed, having lost the other in an accident) plays drums. The old joke goes, "What has nine arms and sucks? Def Leppard." It's not Allen's fault, though -- he's fine. The album does contain vocal hooks (variously boring and overly saccharine), competent guitar solos (flimsy imitations of Thin Lizzy and Boston, eventually outshone profoundly by Metallica; always outdone by Bon Jovi's Ritchie Sambora) and gang vocal harmonies but a lot of it is lost in the swirling flanger effects that infest the rhythm guitar tracks, the reverb that undermines the guts of the lead singing and the drums and whatever they did to the bass recordings. It's possible there's a decent album in here -- a big concession for me. Some of this sounds like things I like in other bands but it feels insubstantial and/or overproduced. 'Stagefright' has a pretty good drive to it (I won't call it a groove) and 'Too Late For Love' almost gets a mid-tempo Van Halen thing going (but doesn't). And yet, some people revere this band. It feels hollow, soft and robotic. It has all the trappings of interesting music -- we've got your wailing singer, call-and-response, key changes, breakdowns, stomp-clap beats, furious sweep-picking and (somewhere, a Rick plays on) a bass player! It just doesn't gel. It sounds like wallpaper, digitized and pixelated -- but not quite enough to have a cool, lo-fi sound. The backing vocals sound like a synth pad. The guitars sound like someone recorded the amps through a telephone. The drums, as this album is from 1983, sound like horseshit sitting on hot asphalt, stomped on by several pipe and drum bands. There is also a synth here that seriously fucks up the gang vocals ('Die Hard The Hunter' features that synth mirroring their melodies and it is not helping.) Holy fuck the drums sound terrible -- and not for lack of skill. That snare sound is awful. Rick Allen taught himself to play his drums predominantly with his feet and this is how you treat him? I think Mutt Lange ruined this band. The record sounds like it was mastered by taping it off an AM radio station. Listen to some Metallica or Van Halen or Iron Maiden from this era instead. I'll go as far as saying this is better than either 2010's numb-indie or (*spits on the ground*) the Smiths. It's a toss-up whether I'd rather listen to this or that one Kid Rock album again. I'd probably take The Cure instead. I bet these guys sounded good live, though, once they got away from Lange. 2/5, though you should probably eat these vegetables once before you die: this was all over the radio from its release in 1983 right through till the early 2000's and it really pushed the music industry. Some people imitated it (Bryan Adams really sounds like this; another Mutt Lange production) and I think it's clear that there's a backlash to this that happens. Grunge is the opposite -- no Spandex, no perms, simpler production, deeper timbres and grooves (some baritone singers!) and a pretty different lyrical focus (opposite Diamond Dave).

this band is well edgy. rock til you drop, edgy as fuck. look at that artwork. edgy as fuck. listen to those guitar solos, edgy as fuck

"Kih-kuh-kuh YUYEEEAHHHH I'M DOCTOR ROCKZO! THE ROCK AND ROLL CLOWN 🤡 I DO COCAAAAINE!" I swear to god if you think "fun" is a strong defense for dogshit hair metal, then you can't be trusted with anything of critical importance. You could be listening to Priest or Iron Maiden. Hell, even the thrashers are making records. I hate this so much.

It was alright some big hits, but felt like a lot of filler.

I was never a fan of this band, but I had no idea how cheesy Def Leppard was until this listen. And it hits you in the face like a brick of Velveeta right out of the gate: rock, rock till you drop! Rock, rock never stop! Woof. That's a rough opener. It's got their breakout hit, Photograph, and zero substance as one would expect from pop-hair-metal. When it can fairly be said that bands like Ratt, Poison, and Cinderella have more musical and artistic depth than your band, your band sucks. This is a 2* album. I have discovered another crime committed by the author/editors: Weezer (The Blue Album) from Weezer is not on the list. Pyromania should get the boot to be replaced by Weezer (The Blue Album), which is a no-brainer 5*.

Ya know. As classic rock goes. It isn't the worst.

On a scale of black sabbath to steel panther, how much can you be a parody of your own shtick? It is dumb fun yes but all things that make hair metal good have been done better by other bands. This voice was done better by ac/dc, drums were beter on Judas Priest and the guitar work greatly surpassed by Van Halen. This kind of music is what would spur a counterculture in rock music to rise up and dethrone this corpo metal.

Dit is echt van die zwaar overdreven, veel te strakke broeken hair metal. Soms best prima, maar na 2 nummers weet ik wel al: een heel album is gewoon te lang hier van. De zang is overdreven, in de hoek van AC/DC en de muziek is snel, maar toch ook nog een beetje poppy ofzo? Ik denk dat het komt doordat de productie echt super slick is. Dan voelt de muziek al snel wat meer pop ondanks de scheurende gitaren. Maar jezus, wat een zit is dit zeg. Ik ben nu al rock n roll moe en ik ben pas op nummer 5 van de 10. Het is niet slecht perse, het is gewoon zo ontzettend nietszeggend. Ik kan me gewoon niet echt voorstellen dat iemand boven de 14 dit echt goed vind en dan een heel album lang... Bizar eigenlijk, dat deze gasten een heel album hebben kunnen vullen met het zelfde nummer en dat er dan ook nog eens blijkbaar genoeg variatie in zat dat men dit als invloedrijk zag. Heb sterk het idee dat ik dit allemaal al eens heb gehoord, maar dat kan mijn beperkte hairglammetal kennis zijn. Ben in elk geval blij dat ik nu richting het einde van het album ga, want wat een lange zit was dit. Klote om te zien dat er nog een Def Leppard album op de lijst staat, wie weet proberen ze dan eens iets nieuws..? FAVO: Stagefright

Nah. Did not last

it's the rock music that followed the greatest rock era...

I’ve never really taken Def Leppard seriously. Beyond respecting the band for sticking with their drummer after he lost an arm, their music has always felt like the kind of polished arena rock that never quite connected with me. Listening to Pyromania, I can hear why it was such a massive album, but I also found myself wondering if I was missing something. Outside of “Photograph,” which is a deserved classic, the first half mostly blends together into a parade of pop-metal clichés and interchangeable riffs. Songs like “Stagefright,” “Too Late for Love,” and “Die Hard the Hunter” never really left an impression. The second half is stronger, with “Rock of Ages” delivering a genuinely catchy anthem and “Comin’ Under Fire” hinting at something closer to the hard rock I enjoy. “Billy’s Got a Gun” has an interesting structure too, even if it overstays its welcome. The real star of the album might be producer Mutt Lange. The production is huge, polished, and influential. In fact, I think that influence is part of why Pyromania doesn’t land as hard for me today. This album laid the blueprint for countless ’80s pop-metal bands, and after decades of hearing those ideas copied and recycled, a first listen in 2026 feels less groundbreaking and more familiar. It’s a solid album, but not one I see myself returning to often. That said, I’m still curious to hear where they took the formula on Hysteria. 3.5/10

4/10

Im sorry to my local boys but I do not like this.

These dudes have a hard-on for rock and roll! Call that cock and roll. Hahaha. Anyway, this is just endless 104.3 core - in one ear, out the other.

Rating: 2.5/5 Playlist track: Photograph Date listened: 11/06/26 Listen when: - Too metal-ly for me unfortunately but can appreciate the attempt to make it more consumable for the masses. But attempt it remains.

Njae

A bit naff

Not particularly remarkable

I thought maybe they deserved 1 album on this list. This wasn't that album.

Fairly samey , hmmm

It’s just nowhere near as fun as the follow up is it. Lacking any really catchy songs or the over the top production which made them them.

After 1984 this felt meh.

This is pure 80's cheesy hard-rock. Very dated. Only for die-hard fans of the genre or former long-haired men who are now balding from the front.

It's not total dog shit, but I will just never get this band.

kjedelig og repetitivt

Honestly just dad rock -- if I hear this in a radio station, it's an instant skip. The voice is annoying, and every song sounds the same. 2*

O que estraga são os vocais. Voz chata demais. O resto é ok, são canções pesadas mas legais. O estilo de produção e de instrumentalização é bem característico do seu período de criação, mas eu gosto disso. Gosto dessas bateria que parecem ter sido gravadas de outra sala totalmente separada do resto dos instrumentos. Mas é, os vocais machucam muito minha impressão do disco. 2.5

I can hear a lot of the guitar influences in the 90’s bands I like e.g. smashing pumpkins, offspring, maybe blink. Not a huge fan of the synthesized chorus voice harmonies…seems too digitized or…something. Really like the guitars and seem to be really good recording quality. 2.5 stars

Listened twice because it was forgettable, to my ears

Oh fuck. I was so sure this was going to be a 5. I was absolutely the prime age when this came out - 13, all hopped up on MTV and hormones. I found “Photograph” to be the most achingly romantic song I’d ever heard. “Rock of Ages” with its vaguely medieval gobbedly gook at the opening and of course the iconic video, spoke to me of mysticism and danger. “Pyromania” was just a head-banging epic, also dangerously suggesting that thrilling diversion. I am so sorry to find that this record is not a thing of perfection, but so stupid and hackneyed it’s barely endurable. Oh man is it lame. I give it up to the producer who made all these into earworms with irresistible hooks and whoever fashioned Def Leppard into a safely defanged and video-ready version of much more genuine heavy metal. The saving grace for me is “Foolin’,” still a rocker, and one I’ve been singing for days.

A solid rock record but nothing revolutionary. I like the opening 2 songs and rock of ages was a banger but I felt myself drifting off with other songs. Wouldn’t be against more Def Leppard but won’t be back to this very often

Iets te glammy voor mij

Album cover en titel moet insinueren dat je je vast moet houden, want het wordt vuurwerk. De helft van de nummers spreekt over rock and roll. Wat je krijgt is commerciële sell-out pop. Het is geen mega slecht album maar het mist volledig authenticiteit en diepgang. Wel een beetje kenmerkend voor hair en glam metal. Maar dan nog is dit uitermate oninteressant.

Cock rock hair metal. Two stars

I’m not immune to Mutt’s mix of pop melodies and hard rock and the gang vocal effects, but the hard rock filler here is just...so boilerplate. I love Photograph and the similar title song on Hysteria, but Stagefright is the only thing here that comes close. Rock! Rock! starts off on a promising note and then immediately goes to their safe place, which worked at the time.

Man, I was very impressed by the first track. And Photograph is an all-time great song. But after those first two tracks, I just felt like I was listening to the same song over and over. And those songs weren’t all that interesting. I came in knowing (and loving) Photograph and knowing Rock of Ages. But was pretty unimpressed with everything else except Rock Rock Rock. To be fair, I’m not a big Def Leppard fan to begin with

This is too dull, and same sounding. I kept thinking of a thousands different bands in terms of sound, and the lyrics are cliché to an absurd degree.

music brought to you by a guy who sounds like dr rockso the rock and roll clown

meh

Meh

This is 100% not my cup of tea.

Def straight up stole American glam rock and watered it down worse. But Photograph is always gonna be an iconic banger. Not intolerable, but i don't like it.

Heard of them. Not a big fan but an OK album.

There was absolutely nothing even remotely appealing about this. Just straight hair rock. I thought there might be some sentimental song i remember from the 80s, but nope, that was only for Hysteria. Not even remotely going to listen to this again. 2 stars

p504. 1983. 2 stars. Inexplicably popular generic 80s stadium rock with no standout tunes. This is what you get if you splice the DNA of AC/DC and Bon Jovi. Nothing here that hasn't been done bigger and better by the Aussies.

Pretty much exactly as one would expect a Def Leppard album to be Standout songs: Photograph Die Hard the Hunter

Only good thing kid rock ever said was Def Leppard sucks. The first half is decent but it falls pretty hard in the second half.

I really don't care for this style of music. I tried to listen to this album but I kept fast-forwarding tracks after I couldn't take anymore.

I mean, yea the band had two absolute smash hit albums in the 80s, but both are wank, so we really only needed one album to appear. Think of the many, many, much better artists who didn't get a single entry. To their credit, one of the songs (forgotten the name already) is an underrated power ballad, and some of them have decent riffs...only for the resulting songs to be balls.

Don't like def leppard

Cheese and glam… but also a little nostalgia. Not the worst of the 80s arena rock but not that great either. This bubblegum “hard” rock music and its ilk didn’t appeal to me then and I still think it sucks.

Although I rather enjoyed the vocals on this record, I personally just could not get in to it. My listen made it feel as if every song was meddling together. It feels like an album I will eventually give a second chance to but as of right now I can not muster much praise for it.

Just not for me.

Kind of liked maybe 2 songs. 2.51

I really don't like this band, really don't like this album. There's some nice guitar work here and there, and it's got a strong arena rock sound, though things like the drum sounds sound so compressed and dull. I have to give it a 2 because 1 would imply that there is zero appeal which I don't feel. Is Photograph a decent pop rock song for its time? Sure. But as an album this has no business being here.

hmmm

I've never liked Def Leppard, so when Pyromania popped up, I put it off for later. I have to admit that despite sounding like self-parody, there's some decent melody in a few songs. Others are too cheesy for it to matter. The hits, "Photograph", "Foolin'", and "Rock of Ages" are at least inoffensive. I'll also have to hand it to Mutt Lange, whose production is kind of incredible. Pyromania is what it is. It introduced some version of metal to the masses, and unfortunately that was Def Leppard. How dumb the music is vs how great the record sounds.

I listened to half of it. Certified Home Depot Radio Dad Rock album that I don't care much for tbh sry. They do have some ear worms which is why they're so popular but not for me. 35-40/100

Sure it might have had a big influence, for hair metal and whatnot. It is so screamingly mediocre, I never want to hear it again. 2/5

Just ok, never was a fan and this go around isn't no different, fun rock to drive to and that's about it to my ears

Yep, those vocals are very 80s heavy rock coded. Not for me. Favourite Track(s): Photograph Least Favourite Track(s): Comin' Under Fire, Billy's Got A Gun

lowk boring sorry

Honestly I'm just not the biggest fan of 80's hair metal, and this doesn't have the hits their previous album had. Occasionally this had some energy but overall this was too much hair metal for me. 4/10

Did not like

Hair metal still sucks

Everything that had me not liking metal. This was insipid. I get the appeal for the 12 year old male, or some of them, anyway. Just not for me.

Very generic hair metal. Nothing that really stood out for me.

Getting this a few days after 'Hysteria', my first reaction to this was 'seriously, there are two Def Leppard albums on this list?' This is so generic it feels the like the result of an AI prompt for '80's rock with no real content other than how much they like to rock'.

Used to love this album when I was younger and wanted to hang out with my sister and her friends because I thought they were cool. Over forty years later, it doesn’t hold up for me musically anymore. Rock Of Ages is still a banger, though.

Apparently I was getting Def Leppard confused with another band because I didn't recognize hardly any of these songs. I know they were instrumental in forming that 80's hair metal sound and at the time it was a new thing but now this album almost sounds like a caricature of the genre. It isn't bad but I guess I don't like this type of rock/metal as much as I thought I did.

2.5

Drunk mom rock (who tried cocaine once).

I absolutely cannot believe that there are two Def Leppard albums on this list. I have already heard Hysteria, surely that's enough Def Leppard for anyone. Interesting that Rock of Ages began "Gunter, glieben, glauten, Globen", same as the Offspring's Pretty Fly For a White Guy. That's where the Offspring got it from, but does it mean anything? I have just looked it up and the answer is no, the Offspring just thought it was funny and wanted to use the sample. That's the only item of interest I found in this whole album. It's fine, but Hysteria was more enjoyable for me. Pyromania can be left on the cutting room floor.

2.25 - Better than expected, but still not my jam.

J’ai mis pour courir, ça fait le taf mais pas ma came

Not their peak.

I'm sorry. I just can't take cock rock seriously. I grew up with it. Everyone around me loved it. While there are some bangers, probably because I'm incessant 90s Classic Rock overplay, for the most part I still think it's the equivalent of bad 8th grade poetry couple with tight jeans. Went into this wanting to like it more than I thought I would. I didn't.

classic rock, not bad

no me gusta

Ok

Hey, I know "Mutt" Lange! I didn't know he was the innovator of "Gunter glieben glauten globen", though. What a legacy... This album was less enjoyable than I expected. More noisy, more guitars. 'Photograph' sounds like 'More Than A Feeling', but worse. It's probably hard to be a musician named 'Phil Collen'. It's confusing that 'Rock of Ages' is a musical with no Def Leppard songs in it. This doesn't seem bad enough for a 2, but if a 3 is "decent"... Highlight: 'Foolin' (ballad-y)

I just hate glam rock. I hate the hits more than I hate the deep cuts that didn't get pummeled on the radio. Voice is strained and unpleasant. Studio production is thin and compressed. Synths are 80's bad synthetic, after they lost the 70's analog warmth and before they got good again. Drum sounds are just artificial and out of balance. It's rock without energy, pop without danceability, corporate rock for the masses. I can't go to 1 but no chance this hits 3.

2/5 and this is my favorite Def Leppard album

So this is Rock of Ages huh

okay so the album art is super awesome but the music sucks ass

I’d say these are a lot of fun live, but nothing exciting on this studio album. Feels like they’re almost a parody of themselves

By the time Def Leppard make Pyromania, any lingering romance about bands as gangs is already museum culture. Even the idea of the band as jobbing musicians putting up with each other is old hat. Queen were edging toward corporate theatre as early as 1972. There were touring groups in the 60s that existed in name alone. But Kiss understood instantly that the band didn’t even need the name, they could simply be the logo. By Def Leppard, the transition is complete: the band is a vessel, a container for a product, its members less important to the public imagination than the typography on the sleeve. Perhaps that’s too strong. There is a sense of a gang in Def Leppard: when Rick Allen loses his arm, they gather round him. Although it is telling that the most visible member of Def Leppard becomes visible through absence. Even on the record, there are glimpses of a real living breathing band in the verses, more thoughtfully arranged than the choruses. However, it is the choruses where it all goes to Hell, where everything the focus group circled in red - anthemic, uplifting, memorable - is smooshed together. The choruses come in, not like attack jets of precision, but as the spoon-as-airplane motion where the band feeds the audience their mush. They excuse the sub-Judas Priest of what preceded by not being Judas Priest at all. When the Offspring cribbed the start of Rock of Ages for Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) were they commenting on the risible populist cool of their protagonist or their own attempt at novelty hit-making? It’s the same thing, Def Leppard selling out hard rock for radio-friendly gloss, selling out their verses to their choruses. But, perhaps, that is just what rock looks like when stops pretending it isn’t pop. 2 This was a miserable listen. We’d be here all day enumerating all the different elements which make Pyromania an objectively terrible album. Instead let’s focus on the positives. Rick Allen lost an arm after this record in a car accident and the band stood by their chum! Fair play. Theirs was one of the most inspirational VH1 Behind the Musics I ever watched. Easily earns them an extra half mark every time, even for the two-armed drumming records. 1.5/5

This was definitely corny but it is fun at times. I didn’t hate this but I can’t give it more than a 2. They get on a roll here or there but a couple good moments does not make a great album.

Didn’t need more than one Def Leppard record on this lost and this one isn’t as good as the other.

Good fun, metal for the masses. The longer you listen, the more it all blends into one bland monolith.

2/4

La décennie 80 est bien celle de la mort du rock.

Well, sorry mom, I hate this. Divorced dad has better music taste

don’t love the 80s glam rock vibe, had a few bops.

Okay, the haters have a point, and high school me would sneer, and every other song on the album really is kinda lame, but Rock of Ages is a feakin' masterpiece.

Dumb poodle hair 80's soft rock! yeah! Rock! I love Rock! lets Rock! All the songs sound the same and appear to all be about the same thing (Rock!) - but its inoffensive and well produced and quite fun to drive to.

What a terrible album cover. Music for A-Team fans. Give it a star for the start of '80s glam-metal and Photograph is a classic '80s rock song, but anyone liking this is pure nostalgia. ACDC's softer little brother. Hysteria the better album for full on cheesy '80s accessible-manly-glam-pop-rock-metal-roar-ness.

OK, this was essential listening when I was a nine-year-old hesher, and I am a little ashamed to admit I still know every song on this album. That being said, it lost its shine for me LONG ago. I can make a pretty good argument that this was the Prometheus of metal (at least in mainstream circles) becoming a toothless caricature of itself. There are defiantly a few riffs left here reminiscent of Judas Priest, but for the most part this is watered down and polished for popular consumption. Great for DF because this album certainly made them a household name but tis is background music for me.

Still dislike.

Yeah, not good. This is everything wrong with glam. It's just run of the mill cheesiness, with nothing interesting or special musically or lyrically. It's worst sin is that it's antithetical to everything metal should be. This is pop music posturing as metal / hard rock, and it's a shame it took the spotlight off of some actually talented metal bands of the era. 1.5/5.0: Bad

Decent. I like photograph and some of the other tracks like the opener and rock n roll are good too. There’s some definite mid on here. Im gonna give it a 2 because they couldve put so many other albums on this list and they chose this one

Metal and Pop, can, and do, mix. Neither of these things happened here.

this is a rock song!

I think hair metal had its place and time, but that has surely long passed. This record sounds like a parody of 80s metal. Stupid lyrics, simple and cheesy music, fantastic sounding and really well played guitars. It's like they wanted to make a more radio friendly metal but lost all of what made heavier music good by slapping so much makeup on it. I feel like this kind of music still has its fans but they are all the same fans that were there in the 80s going to see these bands every weekend. I would be very surprised if there were many new fans of this kind of music. I suppose this era of rock has to be represented on this list and this is as good an album for that as any - half of these songs are playing on countless classic rock radio stations right now. But I would guess there are quite a few of these records on the list, and I think there's even another from Def Leppard which is fully unnecessary. 2.25/5

None of the songs stood out to me, most interesting thing about the album is the intro sample to pretty fly for a white guy

Def Leppard were on track to be a massive part of the NWOBHM in the 80s, then said "nah, we wanna make crap."

Well produced, but not to my taste

I like this rock more than the others but still not my thing give me winehouse or Beyone something pls maybe

I’ve never intentionally listened to Def Leppard before today, and yet I “knew” three songs from this (photograph, too late for love, rock of ages). Pretty impressive staying power for DL. And I even liked one song (photograph)!

01) Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop) - 6,5 02) Photograph - 6,5 03) Stagefright - 5,5 04) Too Late for Love - 6,0 05) Die Hard the Hunter - 5,5 06) Foolin' - 6,0 07) Rock of Ages - 6,5 08) Comin' Under Fire - 5,5 09) Action! Not Words - 5,0 10) Billy's Got a Gun - 5,5 TOTAL: 5,85 (59/100) Current ranking: 641/785

There are occasional moments of cheesy fun in here but overall it is very bland and repetitive hair metal.

Местами это неплохо, я не против стадионного хард-рока, но песни звучат практически одинаково. Альбом мог бы быть вдвое короче. Лучшая песня: Comin` Under Fire

This started off with such a bang and then just tapered off into mediocrity. Disappointing.

A última linha da resenha do livro resume bem o disco: "Deus do metal para adolescentes". Bem fraquinho!

Coupl'a bangers but I'm glad this is on the list so I can say definitely that I don't like Def Lep 2/5

I’ve never listened to a Def Leppard album. And now I understand why. I get that hair metal had its time and place. Just not in my headphones. The band is solid so I can’t say they aren’t good at their craft.

Meh

Not into this style

Generic bordering misogynistic

I just can't get into this. I understand this is the musical equivalent to something like a Fast and the Furious movie, i.e. I should turn off my brain and enjoy the fun, but even from a cheesy nostalgic angle, it's not doing it for me. However, "Photograph" is a great song.

Trying to put myself in the mindset of how it was received when it first dropped, and if it was groundbreaking? It sounds cohesive, but it blends together quite a bit. God I really hate Janie’s Got a Gun too, a big ol stinker album for me

I don’t get it. It’s cheesy at best, boring at worst.

This sounds like commercial hard rock. I was excited to listen to a band on so many people's T-shirts, but I'm feeling indifferent with anything they might've inspired after this. Maybe this is what's been copied by rebel ballad singers for the next few decades. It's not the worst rock I've ever heard but I don't want it near my speakers. 1.7/5

Dumb poodle hair 80's soft rock! yeah! Rock! I love Rock! lets Rock! All the songs sound the same and appear to all be about the same thing (Rock!) - but its inoffensive and well produced and quite fun to drive to.

Pyromania Photograph and Rock of Ages are dumb, but great fun 80s glam-metal-pop dumb. The rest of it is mostly just not very good dumb. A bit like Dre and the proliferation of dick sucking, they sing about rock and rock’n’roll constantly, to the point where you wonder about their insecurities. I do have a soft spot for Mutt Lange’s production on this sort of thing, he really does know how to make this 80s rock sound spacious and stadium filling, it’s just there aren’t really many good songs on here, with nothing outside of Photograph and Rock of Ages and possibly Action! Not Words eliciting much of a response, so it all feels a bit wasted. Definitely not the worst album, so it’s not a 1, but I can’t imagine coming back to it, ergo a 2. 🔥🔥

This has the sort of 80s soft-rock feel that makes you think shit MTV videos, spandex one-pieces, and flammable hair. Leaving behind harder rock roots, which I've never heard and so can't compare, this seems a cynical move to mimic AC/DC, ZZ Top and Kiss. However the first track 'Rock! Rock! (Til You Drop!)', which is pure AC/DC, ain't half bad. A rollicking riff. 'Photograph' has a chorus that transports one to an 80s high school comedy film, sounding like any soft rocker you care to mention, but it certainly has a radio-friendly melody. It all gets a bit turgid after that. Like wading through 80s treacle (Tate & Lyle). My favourite bit of this album was realising that the beginning of 'Pretty Fly' by Offspring is a sample. I had read 'Rock of Ages' was a single so assumed it'd have some redeeming features - but the treacle just got a hell of a lot thicker.

lmao

boring

Simple pleasures, I guess, and if I'd had a lobotomy I'd maybe find some enjoyment in it. But just can't forgive it anyway for being so samey and dull. 1.5

god i hate this dude’s voice

Average '80 melodic rock/metal. Not into it as a genre, none of the tracks stuck. Well-executed and smartly written, but that's about all.

Really? I'll admit up front that I have never liked what I heard from Def Leppard. Granted, I've judged this book by its cover for a long time. The name always seemed dumb. The era and genre combo they hail from (80's and rock) has rarely if ever been a combination I've enjoyed. And to throw on top of that - it's hair metal. I cannot stand hair metal. Hair metal bands present as more style than substance to me, and it always confused me when you'd see them in videos. The music comes across as hyper-masculine, but then they present as more feminine than what you'd expect. Nothing wrong with that, but it makes me wonder just how much thought was put into their image. So when I already see them style over substance, and then I see the style doesn't make sense, I just don't go out of my way to investigate. There have been many instances during the course of this project where I have had my expectations defied, where I've been surprised by a band I previously had little patience for. This was not one of those experiences. I did not enjoy this. It seems like they have three kinds of songs, and they cycle through all three over the course of this album. None of them feel particularly original or interesting, and they don't do or say anything new. I really don't understand why this album made the list when plenty of more culturally relevant and important albums were left off. Two stars. Standout Tracks: Die Hard the Hunter

A couple decent songs (the singles) but really didn’t dig the rest. I like some hard rock (Zeppelin, Rush, Ozzy) but hair band albums are a hard sell outside their hits.

Nothing to see here.

Sorry, för töntigt.. även för den tidens rock

I bangered my head somewhat gently.

Not really my thing, but at least it's fun and doesn't take itself too seriously.

This is the most generic, boring rock I've ever heard. One of the songs is even called Rock! Rock! No wonder they're able to get by with a one armed drummer, every beat is exactly the same.

Preposterous soft-metal

80s. Cool man.

God dillerrock, I guess.

Pretty kitsch.

Way too commercialized

Not for me, bordering on hair metal. Some fun elements to it but just not my thing.

This album is incredibly repetitive. The songs are all 25% too long. There’s some fun moments in some of the fun singles, but they’re buried under unnecessary riffs and awful singing.

Dated and underwhelming

If I were young I would think this album was very good, especially if I was young in the 80s. The album has a polished sound to sell.

This sounds like a parody or TV rock.

I wonder if people in the 80's went "You know how in the last 20 years we had some of the best music of all time that kids even 50 years from now will like and listen to? Lets do the opposite of that!"

Extremely mid arena rock

This would probably sound better live, rather than in an empty pub

I wonder what montages they envisioned while recording...super hokey.

The first song is actually terrible, didn’t hate photograph. The rest kind of felt like a parody? Maybe it just reminded me of Spinal Tap.

I didn't hear anything here that stood out at all. 2 stars or D+.

Blaring Freshman year, didn't like it then or now, ACDC rejects, wasn't Journey doing this, beginner lyricist Photograph Foolin Rock of ages

Dated, disposable cock rock by numbers.

Cock. Rock.

This album sounded like wannabe Van Halen crossed with Ac/Dc. It just didn’t deliver, though the musicians were pretty good

Well well well. We’ve arrived at Def Leppard. Truly, I. Never. Listened. To. This. Before. I mean, I’ve heard the music of course - out there floating around in the [hands waving about] cultural air - but did I ever LISTEN to this? No. And wow….what a 1983 ‘wild and free’ ride! Like burning house of pure ‘American Rock & Roll 1983’ energy. Strike a match and watch it go…what is the worst that can happen? Answer: A LOT of BIG HAIR STAGE PRESENCE, and BIG 80’s EMOTIONALLY EXPRESSIVE DUDE ENERGY! I will likely never listen to this again just because it is not at all my calling, or dharma as you say. But credit where it’s due - they absolutely did what they came here to do. As an artistic expression if their own, they nailed it…really crossed the finish line on their aesthetic of big hair, big riffs, and stage struts. Maybe I was a decade late. It just isn’t my vibe.

Gunter, glieben, glauchen, globen... What do the editors of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and that girl Denise from my 8th grade middle school class have in common? They both clearly think Pyromania is THE SHIT. Only Denise merely demonstrated her abundant love by putting "Rock, Rock, Rock Till You Drop" as a quote under her photo in the yearbook). You go, Denise... (or Jenny, or Rachel, or Tiffany, whatever your name was). Before I got full-on into metal and punk, I dabbled in what I called "Butt Rock Summer" in 1988. I was like 12 or 13 and went to see Warrant live coz my best friend won free tix on Pirate Radio 100.3 in LA (RIP). So that summer, I built a small collection of cassettes of these pop/hair metal bands. (In those days, being an isolated suburban kid with no money, you just kinda tried to like whatever came your way). Also, my first girlfriend when I was 12 years old put "Animal" from Hysteria on a mixtape for me. Cherchez la femme. Anyhow, Def Leppard featured prominently in this small seasonal collection—but it was the aforementioned Hysteria, not Pyromania. Of all the shitty music I listened to that summer, Def Leppard is still one band I come back to every once in a while as an adult. Although, as a kid I was so excited to hear anything with distorted guitars after growing up with a lot of radio pop and early hip-hop; in hindsight it's pretty clear Def Leppard plays the metal equivalent of easy listening. It's nostalgic, safe, fun, and fairly accessible. Listening to Def Leppard is a lot like playing with sparklers on July 4th while the cool kids wearing black jeans and sleeveless t-shirts are down the street setting off M-1000s and exploding aerials. They are metal for teenage white girls wearing scrunchees, chewing bubblegum in white Jeep Wranglers with beige ragtops, on their way to buy acid-washed jeans at ESPIRIT in the mall. Okay, so if you didn't grow up in LA as I did (specifically The Valley), Def Leppard are also primarily for white girls with Aquanetted frosted-tipped hair ratted out 6 inches high, wearing bandanas around their necks and cut off jean shorts, running around the midway and drinking Boone's Farm getting fingerblasted at the county fair. (Both of these kinda girls have a TON of shit on their keychains, by the way). And all of that is just fine. It totally has its rightful place. It's clear this band have never taken themselves super seriously (see the very first sentence above). They have always seemed to have a lot of fun just being a pretty boy hard rock band with pop sensibilities. Pyromania is alright, but I maintain that it is not worth including in this list, the only real standouts being "Photograph," "Stagefright," and "Rock of Ages." The latter being a track that still holds up as a total fucking banger and was apparently worthy to title a major Broadway rock musical. Plus, you're gonna want that COWBELL. Hysteria is still an objectively superior record, and that's not just because it sold 20M copies and had like 7 hit singles (but that helps, yeah). I actually listen to it annually to remind myself of that mythical summer in the LA suburban foothills chasing ice cream trucks, crushing on girls way out of my league, riding skateboards, and being a total fucking pre-teen poser. One star for each iconic track, and minus one for some other more important album this one egregiously kicked off the list, like Band of Gypsies by Taraf de Haidouks.

Album number 89 and it’s my second Def Leppard?!?! Will there be Bon Jovi too? This is the 80’s music I most despised-supposed hard rock that wasn’t hard at all. It rocked, I guess, in the most generic way possible. I will say I tolerate it better than “Hysteria” but not by much.

Rock Rock till you drop baby. This album feels like a parody. I have to admit that it's kinda fun. Pop rock anthems that your grandma can chant along to if she doesn't think it's satanic. There are some fun riffs. Hate the vocals, and the drumming is so simple that your grandma could play along. This album reminds me of my dad because he has a few songs from this album on his trusty mountain biking playlist.

I think every generation of rock music has tried to defy and one up the last. This is no different with Def Leppard, except that Def Leppard is awful. I cannot stand this band. Every time I have tried to listen to this band / album, I just want it to be over. I don't know if its the over emphasis on blues guitar, but played super simplistically. Its like appropriation in the worst kind of way. Its like they want to play blues guitar, without ever listening to the blues. They heard a few songs by The Who and decided to try that but in a shitty way. I hate the way he sings, screechy and silly but somehow serious? And the lyrics are dumb. I do not like this band. Part of me thought that I don't like them because all of the older men in my youth were huge Def Leppard fans, but I tried to listen to this objectively and I freakin hate it.

All kind of started sounding the same after a while. I liked photograph and stagefright. Would I listen on repeat: No Favorites: Stagefright and photograph Genre: 80s dad rock Rating: 3/10 not my thing

Super generic and by the numbers rock music. It avoids being a 1 star because it's competently played, but it really doesn't move me in any way at all.

I really thought I’d already gotten the genre-defining, Mutt Lange-produced, 80s British hairband album… Wonder what I’m thinking of. I definitely preferred that one.

I've had Def Leppard. This list does not need two Def Leppards. This is "Hysteria" again, somewhat less megalomaniac but still equally clownish, in retrospect at least. And this album has to do without my nostalgia bonus. I'm now at the Glieben Glaufen Globen song and I think I've done my work here. This music had its place in time, but that's not now.

The kind of 80s I dont fuck with

I don't like Def Leppard and this didn't change that perception. Was really struggling with how much I dislike this album or whether I secretly like it a bit. But I don't. The entire thing sounds like the predecessor to everything awful that came with late 80's popular Rock, which it is. Some songs are ok, some are kind of kind in an ironic way and some, like Rock of Ages, are godawful atrocities of music. I will say that I really like the ''look what you've done to this rock & roll clown'' part in Photograph.

This is so 80s rock. It's ok, it partly quite nice, but I really don't like the way they play. I wasn't a fan in the 80s and I am not a fan today.

It's... Glam metal from the 1980s, there are some parts when the chords and sounds reminded me of the 80s era of post-punk and new wave but I guess I choke that up to be the era where this sort of things were popular than Def Leppard themselves being particularly inspired by that stuff. Outside of that... I really didn't find much in this album that was interesting to me, it was perfectly serviceable but not something I care for

Elliots voice were way worse than I remember. Some ok songs, but terrible production.

Hair metal sucks

pas mon genre

Cheese.

Thought Photograph wasn't bad. The rest of the album has all the worst excesses of this genre. If you didn't like hair metal going in, this album will not change your mind.

Was contemplating a possible 1 star during the first track and dreading the rest of the album. Fortunately there were some better moments spread throughout and I made it out alive. 2.5.

Dad- 5 Mom- 5 Mike- NA Lori- 3 Michael- 5 Miles- 2 Cole- NA Avg- 4

I want to like Def Leppard, I really do.

Patiently listened to the whole thing. Did not care for it. It was just... silly. No substance. I was thinking this was almost surely one of the albums I heard the counsellors playing at summer camp when I was 11 or 12.

Quick story of an encounter with Def Leppard, I used to live across the street from a racetrack, and there would be concerts there several times a year, my wife and I would sit in the front yard and listen to the shows often, even if we didn’t care for the artist(s) (we were close enough to hear the music and see the lights, but far enough that we could chat quietly while hanging). DL played there one time and we sat there and had a blast, it was mainly for the people watching - this was roughly 2013 and all the people who peaked 30 years earlier super stoked to see Def Leppard live was enjoyable. But, the show was solid for a bunch of aging rockers. This album had some moments where it is entertaining. It is never down right awful, but there are some pretty low points as well. I honestly don’t know what to think of this album. It is peak 80s glam/hair metal, a genre just pretty crappy in my opinion, but the reason this album is on here is because it is the definition of this genre. Is it almost a meme is it so comically glam rock / hair metal. Listening to this I can hear so many shitty 80s bands that were just carbon copies of each other; White Snake, Poison, Motley Crue, Ratt and so many others. For that reason, it belongs on the list, as a record for a sound that opened the airwaves of suburia for pretty much a decade. Thankfully a decade I am to young to fully remember, but 4.8/10 #63/1001

Beetje te

There are a few Def Leppard tracks I love (growing up in the 80s! However I couldn't find any of them on this album.

Ok, but doesn't light my fire - which I would expect it to given the title.

One arm drumming

Would be a lot cooler if I was 10 years older... or at an 80s themed party

Hairmetal eller Puddelrock? Det er set fra 2025 svært at betegne det som metal, men i samtiden har det været alt for hårdt til at blive betegnet som rock. Det er 100% kliché med kliché på.

Has some pretty good songs. Has some pretty dumb songs. Not a big fan of 'Rock of Ages'. Not even the gleeben globen part at the beginning.

Big, dumb and very cheesy, about the best you can say. Pop metal heading/grasping for that radio friendly mass market. As they sit on their millions guess they don’t give a damn, but originally when you claim to be influenced by Bowie, Zep etc and end up famous for this sugar crock cock pop metal? This is the leppard album thought I could actually listen to before they fully fell into that barrel of saccharine turgid shit, and if this is here it’s follow up hysteria is gonna be and that is where Mutt Lange took it head first into said barrel to make everyone many more millions and still heard here and there today, and that’s a sound I hated from the first listen of the first single, but guess that’s another day down the line. Pyromania is ok I thought for a bit of dumb fun but looking back it really has the same shit, there are couple of good pop songs early on, photograph and too late, then the laying on of lots of rock n roll cliches and heavy production, which are fine but too much will rot your teeth if you’re not careful, and it gets a bit much very quickly. Started off being generous 3 Star, but it outstayed if’s welcome with the cliches and syrup by time got to the end - 2 Star. Don’t care how popular this was, 1 album would be enough to represent this sound. This over hysteria personally. And to the top reviewer of this yes, personally would swap any Uncle Tupelo album onto the list for this shit. Wasn’t expecting to be so damning of this but with hindsight hasn’t rock of aged well at all, falls into albums I am now embarrassed I once actually it some point owned.

Photograph rules but everything else is shite.

The drummer from Def Leppard has only got one arm. If there is a second Leppard album on this list I'm done and am making my own.

Felt like Johnny Lawrence listening to this.. fun in small doses but unbelievably overwrought and corny. Photograph is a fantastic song though

Trött på skiten

Ok so 80s hair metal is another genre that might be overrepresented on this list. I’ve gotten a lot of them fairly recently and it’s not an era that, looking back, is particularly known for its quality. Case in point, Def Leppard is a fun band but probably didn’t need two of their albums on this list. This is essentially just a worse retread of their first one, with less hits on it.

In a nutshell: heavy metal's made-for-radio cousin. It is what it is: a formulaic AF "rock on" music. Some good riffs though. Overall: 3/10

#561. I find Def Leppard's music to be grating and don't really understand why people find it to be interesting. 2/5: not it

Not my genre, but not bad. Makes you want to play instruments you don’t know how to. 2.5

Because of this project, I’ve learned that Def Leppard is purely derivative of Judas Priest. In some ways they might be better than the original because their hooks are better. But it’s pretty simple music with juvenile themes. Three of the songs are bangers, but the rest miss (particularly the first track). As an album, it fails.

тягомотина

Before listening to this I couldn’t name a Leppard song. I still can’t. And I couldn’t pick Leppard out of Whitesnake, Poison, Crue, or whoever else. This is some interchangeable music. But man, I’m having a tough time hating this one. This well-done hair metal just makes me think of turning on the radio in the summer and letting it play. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not good music exactly. The production is terrible, vocals are an indistinct mess. But on a hot day with a beer in my hand, I’d leave this station on. I’d probably wax my Camaro too.

It's big and hairy, no real hits that I recalled. Of its time. High 2s

Definitely excessive to have more than 1 album here. My 9yo reckoned it was a 3 star and I think along with album art it probably had appeal to that sort of younger demographic. Influencial from an entry point for young listeners perhaps? Not for me, skipped the last few songs

Just perfectly servicable dad rock - not essential by any means, pretty sure this their second entry here? That feels excessive

Hair rock, not the best.

Not my thing

Eh, I recognized the singles from this album, but I wasn’t blown away by anything. I didn’t hate it, but it’s not going to be something I go back to.

no. I tried and no.

Das dritte Studioalbum der britischen Rockband Def Leppard und gilt als einer der Meilensteine des 80er-Jahre Hard Rock. Die Band, die zu dieser Zeit aus den Mitgliedern Joe Elliott (Gesang), Rick Allen (Schlagzeug), Steve Clark (Gitarre), Phil Collen (Gitarre) und Rick Savage (Bass) bestand, arbeitete für dieses Album mit dem renommierten Produzenten Robert John "Mutt" Lange zusammen, der bereits mit AC/DC und anderen bekannten Acts gearbeitet hatte. Die Aufnahmen fanden in den Pathway Studios in London sowie in den Voorhees Studios in New Jersey statt. Lange beeinflusste die Klanggestaltung maßgeblich, indem er ein sauberes und poliertes Soundbild erzeugte, das für die Band neu war und ihren kommerziellen Erfolg förderte. Einige herausragende Songs auf Pyromania sind „Photograph“, „Rock of Ages“ und „Foolin'“. „Photograph“ wurde zum größten Hit des Albums und trug maßgeblich dazu bei, die Popularität von Def Leppard in Nordamerika zu steigern. „Rock of Ages“ wurde ebenfalls ein Klassiker, der den typischen Sound der Band verkörpert, der sich durch eingängige Melodien und markante Gitarrenriffs auszeichnet. Insgesamt zeigt Pyromania eine Band, die ihren Stil weiterentwickelt und dabei den kommerziellen Erfolg nicht aus den Augen verliert. Das Album war ein Wendepunkt für Def Leppard, da es ihnen half, international größere Anerkennung zu finden. Trotz der eher klassischen Hard-Rock-Elemente wird es durch die Produktion und den Songaufbau auch einem breiteren Publikum zugänglich. Pyromania ist ein prägendes Rock-Album, das sowohl die Stärke von Def Leppard als Songwriter als auch ihre Fähigkeit, ein breites Publikum zu erreichen, zeigt. Es bleibt ein fundamentales Werk der 80er-Jahre Rockmusik.

It’s fine but I just didn’t engage with it at all when listening to it.

What has 9 arms and sucks.

White Trash arena rock from the 80’s, now playing at a tribal casino near you.

Pre-listening thoughts: Def Leppard is known for having a one armed drummer. Well he still had two arms when this album dropped so like what am I supposed to be impressed by Post/during listening thoughts: in my brain this is like Van Halen meets AC/DC. But they’re lacking the technical flair of Eddie Van Halen and they’re lacking the iconic-ness of AC/DC. Let me know in the comments if I’m right and like and subscribe for more awesome album reviews. In the next review, hopefully I’ll get a better album. 3/10 DID I NEED TO HEAR THIS BEFORE I DIE: no Fav tracks: Photograph, the intro to Rock of Ages 😭 Least fav tracks: Too Late for Love, Die Hard the Hunter

Nice safe pop rock

Forgettable. Not a fan of this genre and this hasn’t changed my mind. None of the songs had any distinguishing variation from any other.

I feel like an old man saying this, but this album was just too noisy.

top album als je van hair metal houdt... perfecte popsongs als je van de top40 houdt....geweldig als je van bedekte vuile praat houdt (let's get rocked = let's get fucked,...) helaas behoor ik tot geen enkele van deze categorieën...

Fav song: Photograph Really not my favourite type of music! But still, at least it's well produced.

Hair metal 🤢

As far as big, dumb albums go, this was pretty big and plenty dumb.

My husband, overhearing the album of the day: 'AC/DC?' No. 'Motley Cru?' No. 'Whitesnake? Def Leppard.' The last one. 'Knew it was some hair metal bullshit.'

Not my thing at all Photograph is good The whole thing is incredibly cheesy. Every single element of it. There are a few times when the chorus flips to major and everyone is singing and it's fun A lot of it sounds like its either ripping something else off, or it's been ripped off

Let’s be honest, sometimes the music of the 80s was as cheesy as a British summer garden party. Picture the scene: those plastic trays laden with tiny cubes of mild cheeses, laid out for everyone to nibble on between sips of warm Pimm’s. Easy to enjoy at first, but after a while, you start wondering if there’s something more interesting on the table. It’s tasty, it hits the spot, but by now it’s the same thing you’ve had hundreds of times before. That’s Pyromania—familiar, easy, and crowd-pleasing, but lacking any true excitement or unexpected flavours. The production is like a wedge of Edam: meticulously crafted, but lacking the depth of a truly aged cheese. Every sound is surgically precise, engineered for perfection rather than allowed to breathe. Tracks like “Photograph” and “Rock of Ages” are undeniably catchy, offering massive hooks that stick with you long after they’ve ended. “Photograph” is a masterclass in crafting an anthem—big, bold, and bursting with youthful energy. “Rock of Ages,” with its bombastic production and larger-than-life choruses, is pure 80s adrenaline, guaranteed to get your head banging. But, while these songs are exhilarating, their overblown grandeur borders on the ridiculous, like those wild cheese-rolling competitions—entertaining, but hard to take seriously. I can’t deny that Pyromania has its musical moments. The guitar solos are proper showstoppers—sharp, intricate, and as satisfying as a well-aged Cheddar. The lyrics? Just like those cheese strips you give your kids to shut them up—simple, familiar and predictable, but undeniably effective in the moment. There’s an instant comfort in their straightforwardness, making it easy for listeners to sing along. Leppard tap into timeless themes of heartache and yearning, hitting the emotional sweet spot with their straightforward delivery. They may not be profound, but they’re relatable—offering up just enough emotional content to engage without demanding much thought. Yet, the simplicity betrays a lack of real depth. “Too Late for Love” attempts to deliver an emotional punch, but instead, it feels more like the sort of awkward, over-earnest lines you’d hear at a drunken pub poetry night—romantic on paper, but cringeworthy in execution. The attempt to bring any sense of real vulnerability or exploration into the song’s lyrics doesn’t land, leaving the listener with a hollow, superficial sentiment, keeping the experience comfortably familiar but never pushing any boundaries. Still, I can’t dismiss the album’s cultural significance. It peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 (second only to Thriller) and “Photograph” dethroned “Beat It” as MTV’s most requested video. . Somehow, it captured the spirit of the era, full of glossy hooks and anthemic energy. This sound resonated deeply in its time, even if it feels overly familiar today. This was the rock equivalent of fondue night—melting everything into an irresistibly gooey concoction that brought people together When compared to their peers, this album feels less refined. Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast was raw and sharp like a tangy Stilton, Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet was more like a comforting mozzarella, while Van Halen’s 1984 offered a daring Roquefort. But Pyromania? It’s inoffensive, widely loved, but maybe a bit too safe—like a dependable block of Cheddar: ubiquitous, polished, and undeniably popular, but lacking that true bite. This album paved the way for Hysteria, which took the same glossy template and somehow made it even more indulgent, and I mean that in a good way. Pyromania might not be essential listening, but it’s hard to resist the big riffs and unapologetic silliness that define this album. Whether it’s a classic depends entirely on your appetite for 1980s excess. Did/Do I own this release? No Does this release belong on the list? One Def Leppard album would have sufficed. Would this release make my personal list? No. Will I be listening to it again? Not really.

I’m a little conflicted by this. On the one hand, they are a Sheffield band with a proper rags to riches story but on the other hand this is very much transitional album between their heavy roots and their monster pop metal sound of the late 80s. I was quite surprised by just how much they sounded like AC/DC in places here and there’s not much that really stands out, except for Die Hard the Hunter which includes air raid sirens, helicopters and gun sounds.

Metal is probably the genre I listen to the most, but I've always been bored by heavy metal and the likes. This is an honest album of the genre -- I guess? -- but nothing too memorable for me.

I hated this music in high school And nothing has changed 40 years later.

Aika salonkikelpoista, ei ravistele tai ravisuta. Tulee vähän sellanen olo, että rokkenroll on heidän duuninsa. Eivät he sitä intohimottomasti tee, mutta suunnitelmallisesti ja ilman suuria tunteenpurkauksia.

Too 80s

Another band where I only really know one song- Pour Some Sugar on Me is a banger. I find it quite interesting that they’re from Sheffield, because there’s something so American about their whole old man sports bar attitude. There’s nothing on here anywhere near as fun as Pour Some Sugar on Me. I liked Too Late for Love for being so terribly dramatic, but everything on this sounded the same to me. Other highlights were Photograph and Action! Not Words because it felt like these had a slightly distinct lyrical subject matter- the whole album is about starting a fire and rock and rolling, and it’s just a bit boring. I think hair metal is very much not my thing- after listening to Black Sabbath I thought maybe I’d be open to more metal, but I really didn’t care a jot about this and will never put it on again. 1.5 rounded to 2 because someday there might be an actual 1.

2/5. A glam metal album that has hints of progressiveness and just plain rock. It is hype and does have an energy of excitedness but unlike Kiss it's not as catchy and unlike AC/DC it's not as cool. It kind of feels like, despite the confidence, they were still experimenting. I wanted to like this more, I'm not above heavy hair metal, but I don't think this album did it for me. It wasn't bad but nothing to write home about. Best Song: Photograph, Foolin', Rock Of Ages

I mean it’s fine. Has some bangers but most of it just sorta washes over me.

War ok

Really not worth listening to a whole album of these dudes

It was okay

Jag tycker Def Leppard är jättedåliga, fast lite musikaliskt kanske det är.

Been a while I listened to this and out the output that I have heard I prefer Hysteria About as 80s glam metal as you can get.

Soooooo lame.

Me aburrió rápidamente. Algunas cosas nunca debieron salir de los 80.

Not very good

I sort of wanted to like this more and having Photograph second almost did the trick. But it's just too cheesy for me and I'm not a fan of Joe Elliott's voice. He sounds both loud and slightly strangulated at the same time somehow. Rock music is filled with bad fake American accents but something about his is particularly unconvincing. Makes me wonder how Americans took to this band so much. As a Scot it feels like it would be like being really into a group fronted by Groundskeeper Willie.

Weird placement on this list, Photograph is a pretty iconic song that reminds me of being a child and getting up at the crack of dawn to play hockey out of town while my dad cycled between AM and FM radio on the way. Good memory but its just goofy past-your-prime highschool hero rock.

Why is this on here? Photograph and Rock of Ages are fun radio hits but the rest is just boring dad butt rock. You can definitely die before hearing this. In fact… I wish you would!

2 stars. doo doo

couple decent songs but blehhhh

- glam.. yeah - ist und bleibt nicht meins - mag die klassische Stimmenlage auch einfach gar nicht

Too much

All hail butt rock i guess

Like Whitesnake, but a bit more glam and worse.

Iconic, not my sound though.

Bastante normal, entiendo que el cambio al pop comercial podría haber sido una razón

I wanted to hate this even more than I already do because this is aesthetically against everything I value in guitar music. I really hate hard rock and prog rock and hair metal with a burning passion. I did like two songs from this, Too Late For Love and Foolin’. The rest was still actually painful to sit through. The kind of slop you only like if your formative years were in this era and you just have nostalgia from making out with a girl to it in a drive in or something.

Not sure this is a must hear before ya die album… Photograph and Foolin’ were (overplayed) hits that really aren’t that good. Rest of the album is mediocre. Pyromania does not light a fire for me (2.4*s)

More glam rock pop ballads that I could never really take seriously. This album didn't impress me. The only memorable part was realizing that Offspring's intro on "Pretty Fly" is actually from "Rock of Ages" (and is completely made up words).

Some more bad hair band. Mutt Lang German count in on "Rock of Ages" gets this album on the list but little else. Not enough air guitar. This is a genre I can't ever say is good but I can make fun of it and (fake) rock out to it. How a bunch of dudes dressed as women playing half ass music can get popular is beyond. Guess all you need is a bit of shred, long hair, screech, and sexual innuendos for days."You got me coming.................under fire"...1.6.

Turns out I've heard more Def Leppard songs than I'd thought.

Albumi #36, 02.09.2024 Def Leppard on ainakin sanoitusten puolesta ollut vähän junttia brittiheviä, mutta kieltämättä jotain kiehtovaa näissä biiseissä kuitenkin on. Pyromania ei yllä ihan seuraajansa Hysterian tasolle, mutta tälläkin on hetkensä.

Not a big Def Leppard guy. Some of the songs are okay, but most of the time I'd rather be listening to something else.

A pretty flawless example of a genre that just isn’t for me. Mega compressed production, catchy guitar riffs, flashy solos, big anthemy guitar riffs, provocative chanty riffs. Just sits so well in a big stadium, but from the production to the vocals and lyrics to the composition (mostly) there’s just no depth for me.

Could it really be a hard rock album from the 80s if the only 2 lyrical themes weren’t: a) rock b) sex That said, this album is a least more instrumentally interesting than Back In Black Fave tracks: Photograph Foolin’

Cheesy 80's metal just isn't for me. 2/5

Favourite song - photograph

Nothing exciting here.

a little too rowdy for me

Not as good as its successor and sort of feel like once you've heard one track, you've heard it all.

All due respect, shit was ass

Really fun.

Def Leppard is mid. They are to 80s rock what Cheap Trick was to 70s rock. Cheap Trick might be generous...Journey might be better than this. There are a lot of hits on this album, Photograph, Foolin', Rock of Ages. I have always hated the German at the beginning of Rock of Ages. Actually, I hate Rock of Ages.

There were some moments I found tolerable - the chorus of "Stagefright"; the last minute of the last track, Billy's Got a Gun. But overall I really struggle to take this seriously. The song titles, the power chords, its all too much. It took me 3 sittings to get through the 11 track album - as I listened there was something disheartening knowing that the album just wasn't going to go anywhere interesting. 2.2/5

This is pretty damn cheesy and poppy. The didn’t fund this particularly interesting nor did it rock as hard as I hoped it would.

Lots of energy for something quite so dull and repetitive.

Things I realized listening to this album -i don't like Def Leppard very much -if you are going to make songs about rocking, they can't be overproduced.

My dad had this album on cassette. The ultimate dad rock record. Have you listened to a Def Leppard song back to back? It sucks. His voice is interesting when it pops on the radio after hearing Coldplay or something. But the same shrieking over and over and over again is rough.

It did not transcend the time it was made in, unfortunately. There’s more unique and identifiable arena rock out there, if you ask me. Photograph on here even kinda just passes by as it’s hit song

I'm not really a fan of glam metal of the 1980s, to me it is too superficious, shallow, simplistic rock music which isn't really interesting musically. This album wasn't unbearable to listen to but it was kind of boring overall, just like most glam metal from that era.

Pretty irredeemable hair metal nonsense. Almost gave it a 3 for nostalgia, probably would have if it had pour some sugar on me on it, but alas.

Það eru element í þessu sem ég fíla en lagasmíðin heillar ekki alveg.

In all it’s 80s glory it’s not memorable.

Like a lesser version of 80’s ozzy.

Band was excellent but I am not of fan of screaming in place of singing. Never was a fan.

1. rock till you drop - 1 2. photo - 2 3. fright - 1.5 4. too late - 1.5 5. the hunter - 1 6. foolin - 1.5 7. rock of agez - 1 8. under fire - 1 9. action - 1 10. billy - 0

Photograph Die Hard the Hunter Foolin’ I don’t understand and find it cringy to make songs about loving rock and roll and wanting more of it. Imagine if Taylor swift was like “pop pop till you drop. We want more pop. We love pop” average old rock band

Bit sick of boring 80s heavy metal. Not much more to say

Pretty bland.

I can't quite figure out why there are 2 Def Leppard albums in the 1001, surely Hysteria was enough to cover the 80s hair metal quota!! That said, I didn't hate it, just felt dated and pointless. 2.5