To me and probably to many other rock music fans and critics, this albums serves as a transition – a turning point and progression from their previous rather raw, wild and heavy metal albums to more radio-friendly, modern, catchy, sophisticated and easier to fall in love with sound. Despite all, the results were beyond impressive. In order to get the right sound and create this “hard rock stronghold”, the producer recorded each member of the band individually – a rather unique approach causing many bumps along the way. In this case, Mutt Lange’s ingenious vision is what lies behind the success of “Pyromania”. Sometimes, people don’t really understand the role and the importance of the music producer – he/she is not only another full-time member of the band but also the figure that glues together ideas, concepts and intentions for the songs, lyrics, performances, etc. He not only set new standards and characteristics of mainstream hard rock of the 80s with this album, but he was also responsible for the memorable, radio-friendly and easy to remember and sing with lyrics. The reasons behind the album’s positive response from the public are numerous but to me personally, the success of the album comes from the brilliant hard rock mastermind of the producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange. To me it’s fresh, futuristic and rocknroll! Some say it predicted 9/11 and consider it rather controversy however I try to stay away from such interpretations. The artist behind this memorable and classic hard rock cover is Andie Airfix – the guy who also a few years later does the cover of “Hysteria”.
The artwork of the album is also pretty amazing, don’t you think? It includes a skyscraper caught on fire and a bullseye which is directly pointed at the flaming building. In its original release, the album sold more than 6 million copies in the USA alone and since than it sold more than 10 million copies – thus It was certified 10x “platinum” by the RIAA in 2004. Going back to the album itself, it was indeed a huge success as it reached number 2 on the Billboard 200, number 4 in Canada, and number 18 on the UK album charts – those are some major achievements and prove that the album was and still is worthy of admiration and listening. It was an European tour, however it did have a huge impact…after all, in the 80s it was all about the “live concert experience”. Along with the album, the band also organized a concert tour that lasted for one whole year, in order to support and present their new project to the world. “Pyromania”, as already mentioned, was released on the 20 th of January back in 1983 and it’s Def Leppard’s third studio album. Since this is going to be an album focus publication, I would like to begin with some of the major details regarding the album. Needless to say, I adore and appreciate each and every song from this album which makes this publication a very special one.įinally, this album focus marks the beginning of a new category of posts on this blog – The Greatest Albums of the 80s…what better way to start than with Def Leppard’s “Pyromania”? Def Leppard 1983 (credits to the owner of the photo) Also, I would like to provide some basic information about it so that the readers can have a better idea of the impact and the greatness that lies within this album. To mark the anniversary of this incredible masterpiece, I decided to dedicate a publication which can hopefully give some insight and also show my appreciation and love for it. To me personally, “Pyromania”, along with their following album “Hysteria” are the two albums that mostly characterize and represent Def Leppard…not to mention that those two albums are some of my all-time favorites. Released back in 1983, this album not only changed the face of the 80s, but it also became one of the biggest reasons behind Def Leppard’s major success and fan recognition back in the days. On the 20th of January, we celebrated the 33th anniversary of Def Leppard’s groundbreaking and era-defining album “Pyromania”. Def Leppard – Pyromania Album Cover (by Andie Airfix)
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