“Hysteria” by Def Leppard
With Valentine’s Day around the corner, it’s only appropriate to cover an album filled with some classic ‘80s love songs. “Hysteria” by Def Leppard brings some of their most known and best hits.
“Women” opens the album and tells a story about how important love is and how crucial it is to for a man to love, citing the Bible as Adam was empty without Eve. This transitions into “Rocket,” a song filled with great harmonies and a very catchy chorus; this one comes off as a major tribute to the rock legends the band looked up to when they were young.
The third song on the album, “Animal,” is a great song about passion with a solid intro to carry the ‘80s magic to match the vocals. “Love Bites” is a spectacular ballad with killer vocals and lyrics for listeners to feel the band members’ emotions and connect to the song.
One of Def Leppard’s most iconic and well-known songs, “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” is featured on the album. This song has been played in almost every stadium, as well as many commercials and movies, and I believe everyone has had to hear it once in their live. It is hard to say something about this song that hasn’t been said many times before.
Next is “Armageddon It,” another timeless, positive song that never stops being good. Up next is the anti-war anthem, “Gods of War.” This tune comes with a slightly different approach as Def Leppard uses speeches by major political leaders at the time.
“Don’t Shoot Shotgun” is surprisingly the one not about war but rather seems to be about a gorgeous woman who is an intense lover. After that is “Run Riot,” a song dedicated to loosening up and being willing to break some rules in life.
Then comes the self-titled song “Hysteria” that sounds like it came straight from a John Hughes movie. This track has a great solo to match the tender harmonies. It has a blend of a softer tone throughout the song and the background vocals fade off to close the song out.
“Excitable” certainly has the weirdest opening of any track on the album. This one is a bit repetitive and doesn’t really carry the oomph the other songs have.
Lastly is “Love and Affection” to close off the album they hit it home with this ballad featuring some great guitar and smooth lyrics it really does finish off the album quite well.
I have to choose “Love Bites,“ “Animal” and “Armageddon It” to suggest as timeless picks. However, I want to give “Hysteria” and “Love and Affection” an honorable mention since they are more underground, and I hope you will enjoy them.
