Def Leppard had always aimed to be a big deal. Their iconic 1987 album, Hysteria, had been a giant of an LP, breaking sales (and length) records, and propelling them to where theyd always wanted to be. Singer Joe Elliott said of their fourth record, We set out to be the biggest band in the world. And for a short while, we were.
The momentum built by the British band had propelled them through the end of the 80s and into the 90s but things were different by then. Musical tastes were changing; relied-upon colleagues were looking in other directions, and guitarist Steve Clark was dead. That was the backdrop to what would become Def Leppards fifth album, Adrenalize, which was released on March 31, 1992.
On Jan. 8, 1991, Clarks girlfriend found him dead on his sofa. Hed suffered compression of the brain stem the previous day, brought on by alcohol and pills. Def Leppard had faced tragedy before, most notably the 1984 car crash in which drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm. Whenever anything negative happens to us, it always pulls us together, personally and musically, Allen said after Clarks death. You batter on with the record and it takes your mind off whatever bad is happening.
So thats just what they did, operating as a four-piece, and leaving guitarist Phil Collen to play both his own parts and those of the much-missed Clark. The pair had influenced each other throughout the bands career, with Collens Van Halen style set against Clarks Jimmy Page influences. It was never a competition, Collen told SteveClarkGuitar.com. It wasnt like a lead player and a rhythm player we were making an orchestrated sound.
Collen was forced to channel his late bandmate during the sessions. He described it as the weirdest thing ever. It was like talking to a ghost, he noted. Id done my parts, and Id have to learn Steves parts as he played them. Although he didnt play on it, he did through me. It was schizophrenic; his personality would come through.
The LP was dedicated to the memory of Clark and contained the track White Lightning, which had started off as a Clark-Collen collaboration but eventually became a song about the bands fallen comrade. It was one of the last pieces to be completed. Lets Get Rocked is said to have been written afterward as a way of lightening the mood in the studio.
Savage later confirmed it wasnt his favorite Def Leppard album. We ended up making a record almost by numbers, he said. We were in a daze. We were numb. It wasnt coming from the same place any more, through tiredness, through the shock of losing Steve, and from confusion over what kind of album we should be making.
They knew the world was changing. The fans that we had on the last record may no longer be fans on the new record, Savage said during an interview at the time. Its something that every band has to contend with. You never know how your new album is going to be accepted. You never know whats around the corner especially when youre in Def Leppard.
Adrenalize was the last time Lange worked with the band. And it turned out to be the last album categorized as glam metal to achieve chart success before the musical revolution of the early 90s. It topped the U.S. and U.K. charts and sold more than three million copies in the U.S. during its first two months on sale. It kept Bruce Springsteens Human Touch off the top spot, while the Boss simultaneous release Lucky Town got to third position. It was also the last Def Leppard album to achieve large-scale mainstream success.
anyway.
http://ultimateclassicrock.com/def-leppard-adrenalize/
Tracks
Let's Get Rocked
Heaven Is
Make Love Like A Man
Tonight
White Lightning
Stand Up (Kick Love In To Motion)
Personal Property
Have you Ever Needed Someone So Bad
I Wanna Touch U
Tear It Down
It's hard to fathom that this album is 25 years old now. I was 4 years old 1992 and the music video for Let's Get Rocked blew my mind at that time. I was hooked and instantly became a lifelong fan of the band and their music. Let alone it was inspiring to see a band carry on after not one but two tragedies that would have broke most bands/artists of their caliber apart.
