Tag Archives: 7 inch single

Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

The Record Vault: Def Leppard – Hysteria (7 inch US Version)

“Hysteria” is the title track of the album, released in 1987 as the third single. Its perfection was lost in Australia as a single.

But we became reacquainted with it after the album started to get traction on the back of “Pour Some Sugar On Me”.

“Ride Into The Sun” is an oldie, originally released on the rare Def Leppard EP from 1979. The song just kept coming back into the mix for an album release, but never officially made it.

And that rare EP from 1979 is still rare if you have the original pressing, however if you don’t have the original pressing, the EP has been released on various Def Leppard Box sets and reissued as a RSD purchase in 2017.

Riff wise, its Def Leppard at their metal best. The riff actually reminds me of “Aint Talking Bout Love”, just beefed up.

There is this little riff in G major, in between the E minor riffs that I like. When you hear it, you will know what I mean. It’s those little things that hook me in.

And the Chorus is very British rock, like Sweet and Slade, something which Def Leppard wear on their sleeves with pride. There’s even a pretty unflattering photo of the band in Union Jack T-shirts and small shorts around the “Pyromania” period. I’m surprised a testicle didn’t pop out, that’s how short the shorts were.

For the song “Hysteria”, well it’s one of those songs that can be classed as a perfect mix of hard rock and soft rock. I mentioned in the album review one word for the song.

Perfection.

Press play and enjoy.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

The Record Vault: Def Leppard – Pour Some Sugar On Me (7 inch Australasia Single)

I didn’t buy the “Hysteria” album when it came out. I know its sacrilegious to say it, but Def Leppard was out of the news cycle and the magazines for quite some time. You know the saying, Out of mind, out of sight. I had heard about Rick Allen’s car accident and the troubles the band had with producers. Plus I was still spinning “Pyromania” so I didn’t feel like I needed a new Def Leppard album.

When “Woman” came out as a single, it didn’t do any real business in Australia. Then came “Animal” and it just cracked the Top 50, but like “Woman”, it was largely ignored. I do wish I purchased the 7 inch singles for these releases at the time, as getting singles with B sides that had unreleased material moved you into the “cool” crowd amongst your mates. Well that’s how it was in Australia. Plus I was a collector.

Then came “Pour Some Sugar on Me”.

It had this “I Love Rock N Roll” riff with a bit of “Since You’ve Been Gone” and I was all in. It was the last song recorded on the album, featuring a signature riff written by Joe Elliot and a vocal line inspired by the mash-up of Aerosmith and Run-DMC on “Walk This Way”. Mutt Lange, always the song doctor, heard “hit potential” and within two weeks, the song was recorded and added to the album as the twelfth track.

The 7 inch single I have has “I Wanna Be Your Hero” as the B-side which as I understand is the UK and Australasia version, however the USA version has “Ring Of Fire” and the 12 inch version of the song has “I Wanna Be Your Hero”.

“I Wanna Be Your Hero” was originally called “Love Bites”. As we all know they used the title for a completely different song.

I was hooked as soon as the arpeggio guitars start. The vibe and feel reminds me so much of the “High N Dry” and “Pyromania” albums. Songs like “Comin Under Fire”, “Foolin”, “Too Late For Love” and “Another Hit And Run”. Maybe that’s why it became a B side as the band felt like they were re-writing their past, which according to Angus Young is totally fine to do. And AC/DC don’t look like they are losing doing it.

Check out the song structure, with verse, pre, verse, pre and then the CHORUS cranks in. And the music behind the Chorus, is very “Photograph” like.

Going back to “Pour Some Sugar Of Me”, in Australia it was played regularly by music television, and suddenly I was interested in the album.

Def Leppard was everywhere again and “step inside I did”.

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