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Island
It’s easy to find someone who admits to liking Def
Leppard; after all, Pyromania and Hysteria
are generally considered to be classic albums.
When trying to find someone who’ll confess to ownership of the band’s
later albums, however, the task becomes positively Herculean.
It’s not that those releases...Adrenalize,
Slang, and Euphoria...are bad; it’s just that, by the time Adrenalize
came out, grunge was the order of the day, and, frankly, it just wasn’t cool
to like Def Leppard anymore.
VH-1 and “Behind The Music” have made it acceptable
to appreciate Joe Elliot and the boys again, but, somehow, it’s hard to
imagine that X, the band’s new album
(their first for Island Records), is going to return Def Leppard to their
previous heights.
Again, it’s not that X is bad; on the contrary, it’s arguably the most consistent album
the band’s put out in a decade.
The thing is, somewhere along the way...right after Hysteria,
really...Def Leppard stopped being a heavy metal band and started being more of
a pop-oriented rock group.
Which means that, although songs like “Now,” “Everyday,” and
“Four Letter Word” are catchy 3-minute nuggets of listening pleasure, the
sheen’s a little too glossy for today’s generation of Pyromania
fan.
Never fear, lads; you’ll always have the state fair
tour circuit to fall back on.
Aquarian Nation
Chris Difford was the man who dashed off the lyrical
poetry found on every Squeeze album.
After the band’s 1998 album, Domino,
however, Difford bailed out of touring, which, for all practical purposes, put
an end to Squeeze.
His co-conspirator Glenn Tilbrook turned up last year with his debut solo
album, but Difford has remained conspicuously quiet...until now.