This Is Heresy - 'Hysteria' Is Perfect

Written By Allyson B. Crawford

I really enjoy Ultimate Classic Rock. Great website, good writers. But this post of theirs below is heresy. Def Leppard's Hysteria is perfection - a work of art. The album says everything about the time it was written. The album IS 80s metal. Period.

Ultimate Classic Rock writers argue that the album is too long and it shouldn't play more than 45 minutes. This is absurd. Hysteria was released in 1987. During that time, people bought a record and let it play. Attention spans were longer. People appreciated music. Now, no one cares about anything. People throw a fit for having to wait three minutes in a line at Starbucks! One of the writers even wants to change up the track listing! Another writer wants to kill "Love Bites!" Are you freaking kidding me? That was a number one hit single! Yet another writer wants to kill "Love and Affection" which he calls "insufferable" but that's wrong. The song is one of the best ballads in the entire Lep catalog.

I'll note the four collaborative writers on this piece are all men, a sad by-product of music journalism, especially where metal is concerned. It wouldn't have been too hard to find a female music writer to weigh in on this subject and I guarantee the outcome would be different. Def Leppard is a male band but women made them rich and famous. They know where their bread is buttered too in that regard.


 

Allyson B. Crawford
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