Gary Graff of Billboard reports:
Nearly 18 years later, the members of Def Leppard feel that 1996’s Slang didn’t get its just due — and are hoping to rectify that a bit with this week’s release of an expanded Deluxe Edition featuring demos, outtakes and alternative versions of the CD’s 11 songs.
It was an essential album for Def Leppard,” guitarist Phil Collen tells Billboard about Slang,” whose sound was markedly more raw and stripped-back than multi-platinum predecessors such as Pyromania, Hysteria and Adrenalize. “It was a drastic move, left-field for us. It was experimental. It went against the grain from what we normally were doing at the time. We felt like with ‘Adrenalize’ it started turning a little bit similar, so it was important to do something different at that point.”
Not everybody felt that way, of course. Though it debuted at Number 5 on the Billboard 200 (after No. 1 bows for 1987’s Hysteria and 1992’s Adrenalize) and went gold, Slang was Def Leppard’s slowest selling album in more than a decade, which Collen says was a source of great frustration.
“Y’know, I think we could’ve put out Sgt. Pepper’s or Dark Side of the Moon and I think it would have been the same because it was Def Leppard and we had gotten lumped in with all the crap metal bands of the 80s that were kind of pale versions of us,” Collen explains. “Nirvana had come along and everything had changed. What was very interesting was people said they didn’t like it so much because it didn’t sound like us, but we set up in a villa in southern Spain and pretty much recorded live, so it was actually closer to the mark than the other albums where we didn’t play live and did the usual studio thing of putting one thing on at a time and building it from there.”
Slang also marked the debut of new guitarist Vivian Campbell — who replaced the late Steve Clarke and wrote Slang’s first single, Work It Out — and was the first Def Leppard album made without producer Mutt Lange since 1980’s On Through the Night.
“Anyone who isn’t a Def Leppard fan, you play it to them and they love it,” Collen notes. “They go, ‘Wow, this is really cool. Who is it?’ ‘It’s us,’ and they go, ‘Whoaaaa. This is really cool.’ But, yeah, no one really heard it. There’s the faithful few who absolutely love it and think it’s the best Def Leppard album of all time, but it’s a minority.”
Collen says Def Leppard may play a few extra songs from Slang when it tours North America during the summer, and he’s also “hearing some talk” about another Las Vegas residency to follow up last year’s Viva! Hysteria shows at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Meanwhile, the group members recently assembled in Dublin, Ireland, for some preliminary work on Def Leppard’s next album, the first of new material since 2008’s “Songs From the Sparkle Lounge.”
“We’re just writing,” Collen says. “We’re all just together and figuring out what we’re gonna do. We’ve got some great ideas. We’re definitely going to get some new music out for next year.”
Read more at Billboard.
Listen to an audio sampler from Slang below.
source: billboard.com
45 Responses
Def Leppard’s “worst” album is better than 95% of the material that most bands could come up with on their best day. Of course it wasn’t going to sell 15 million copies in 1996. They knew that. Brilliant album and a fantastic Deluxe Edition treatment.
I’m not trying to knock anyone’s taste, we all have our preferences, but I recall not liking Slang because it was too mellow – it has nothing to do with how they recorded it. To be honest I haven’t listened to it in a long time, and I’ll give it another go – maybe I’ll like it more several years later. Here’s the thing – High N’ Dry and Pyromania are two of my favorite albums, they were among the first rock albums I ever got and were a big part of my early musical foundation in the genre. I still love them today. Hysteria was a letdown for me, they started getting soft and continued becoming more “pop” oriented from there. Their direction and my own diverged for quite a long time. I liked some of Retroactive, but did we really need 3 versions of “Two Steps Behind” on it? I think I’ve heard everything they’ve released, actually do own most of it, but I still haven’t liked any of it from start to finish as much as the earlier stuff. I even like On Through The Night more than most material after Pyromania. Don’t get me wrong, there are individual songs in that time that I really like, but I’d have to cherry pick every album to put together one solid full length disc I’d want to listen to again and again. I’ve only heard Sparkle Lounge once or twice, but I do recall thinking it was decent – or at least some of it was. I want Def Leppard to be a hard rock band, I’m just not sure they really are anymore. I’ve said this on this forum before, but I’d really like to hear them just crank up and let it rip on the next album. I doubt it will happen, but going for a modern Pyromania vibe would make me happy. Vivian Campbell played in Dio for goodness sake, c’mon man! Lay down some riffs and a few blazing solos! Forget the country collaborations and mushy ballads, prove that you can still kick some ass!
Before Judas Priest became my favorite band, it was Def Leppard. I completely agree with your statement about High N’ Dry and Pyromania. I still love those records as well, but was also disappointed with Hysteria. Although, the album does have a few good songs, it was way too polished and commercialized for me.
Just like when Judas Priest released Turbo, I was very surprised, to say the least. With time, I have come to appreciate that record. However, when it was released, I couldn’t believe that Judas Priest went “glam,” or at least their interpretation of “glam.” LOL!
Dana from EddieTrunk.com 🙂
I’ll tell you a funny story. I remember a couple girls in High School who were big Def Leppard fans. Def Leppard played my hometown opening for Blackfoot on the “High ‘n Dry” tour and they went. A year or so later, we heard Pete Willis was fired. One of the girls said “So what, he was ugly anyways!”
I saw Def Leppard on the Pyromania Tour. I went to see the opener Gary Moore, who unfortunately cancelled. Krokus opened and pretty much was every bit as good, if not better than Def Leppard. Within a month or two of nearly getting upstaged every night, Def Leppard kicked Krokus off the tour. I remember reading an article in Circus Magazine, or one of the rock mags that corroborated that.
What town is this? You had BLACKFOOT, GARY MOORE, KROKUS, & HIGH ‘N’ DRY era DEF LEPPARD. That is some pretty awesome variety there sir. If I stumble upon a time machine, I know where I am headed. My high school that my dad paid a flipping fortune for had nuns playing acoustic guitars and guys doing rap-offs in the cafeteria. Truth be told, my rapping is still very good ’till this day, though I’m not much of a fan of rap music. I’ll say this about Pete Willis wherever that bloke is, he is most likely wearing a shirt. The band made the right switch, but he has on a shirt on.
..has on a shirt. Sorry.
Def Leppard toured a lot for High ‘N Dry! And Blackfoot toured a lot in those days. The Blackfoot/Def Lep show is also in Eddie’s 1st book – you can see a stub from the tour. I think Def Lep might have even opened for Billy Squire in 1982 as well. I saw Krokus with Ted in 1981 (actually I think Blackfoot was 2nd on that bill.) Then Def Lep with Krokus in 1983. So the Def Lep/Krokus show (with Gary Moore cancelling) was for Pyromania. Then Def Lep played with Blackfoot in 1982 I believe. The shows I saw were in my hometown of Rochester NY.
Def Leppard booted Krokus off the tour because Marc Storace was stealing Joe Elliott’s stage raps and they were taking too many liberties as an opening band. With all due respect to Krokus (a fine band), they certainly didn’t cross over into multi-platinum territory – even after the massive exposure Leppard gave them. And they didn’t blow Def Lep off the stage every night. After Headhunter, their record label wanted Krokus to be more Leppard-like, but singles like “Burning Up The Night” ranks as some of the weakest pop metal garbage I’ve ever heard.
Krokus went over great – like I said, I was there. I saw then in 1981 too, opening for Ted Nugent. They were definitely on the cusp of breaking things wide open. Who replaced Krokus on the Def Leppard tour? I liked the Krokus tune “Winning Man” from 1980 I believe. Never a huge fan, but they were great at the time.
Stealing a stage rap won’t hurt a headliner. Stealing their audience will definitely hurt a headliner. If that’s what the Leppard camp said, I don’t buy it. I’m sure Def Leppard learned their lesson about how good an opener can be when they opened for other bands.
Yeah, I’ll say it: TURBO is an awesome album. I’ve been going to TURBO support groups for twenty-seven years and take it from me, it doesn’t ever get easier. High School, College,first job, career, home life. I’ve been shunned all of this time because I like WILD NIGHTS, HOT AND CRAZY DAYS and ROCK YOU ALL AROUND THE WORLD. But after all of these years, on this beautiful website someone else listens to PARENTAL GUIDANCE. I no longer feel as though I’m out in the cold. Granted opening up during a DEF LEPPARD discussion is baby steps, but you are not alone DANA. The Metal God is with us. I had it on cassette and CD bought it twice and got stared but I got my fill of TURBO and WE CAN RACE FOREVER………………
LOL!!! Wild Nights, Hot and Crazy Days is one my favorite songs on that album too. But as a Priest purist, in 1986 and with only one album separating it from my all time favorite Priest album, Screaming for Vengeance, that record was sacrilege. As I said, with time, I have learned to like and appreciate Turbo.
Dana from EddieTrunk.com 🙂
All I will say is this…Out in the Cold is still one of their coolest tracks, even with the guitar synth intro. It had me ‘Locked In’ from the very start.
Sorry, RACE TOGETHER, RIDE FOREVER…..Caught up in the moment. I’m going to the gym now and my TURBO filled IPOD is coming with me. Once more, TURBO is a great, classic album.
I totally agree about Turbo. It was cool however to hear Turbo Lover live on the Resurrection tour. Something about the 80s. Pyromania still sounds awesome. Work It Out (1st Draft) is another cool one off the Slang reissue, although that’s 90s. I also like DL’s recent rerecording of Switch 625.
You have courage FLASHROCKINMAN. God be with you. As recently as 2 months ago at work a guy said to me: YOU LIKE TURBO, IT F#$KNG SUCKS. He had to be emphatic about the way he said SUCKS too. My strong like of TURBO has been following me like a curse for 2/3s of my life. I know now that I am not alone as 2 brave and couraged people have come forward now, stepped and joined me. YOU ARE MY BROTHER AND SISTER. My 15 minute commute to work will include: LOCKED IN and PRIVATE PROPERTY mixed in with ANGEL OF RETRIBUTION. WE ARE DEFENDERS OF THE FAITH.
Courageous and stepped up, the KINDLE FIRE is a pain in the ass to text message. Sorry again….
Screaming. Unleashed. British steel. Point of entry. Sad wings. Then turbo
Todd,
I think I might slip Hell Bent for Leather and Defenders of the Faith in there before Turbo.
Dana from EddieTrunk.com 🙂
I’m glad to hear there’s some love for Turbo out there. Locked In is my favorite from that one, and Turbo Lover is a cool song. That one’s kind of the “happy, partying Priest” album. I don’t mind a band trying to add some different textures to their sound, as long as their identity doesn’t get lost. Somewhere In Time is one of my favorite Iron Maiden albums, synths and all, because the songs were great, but it still sounds like Maiden. Turbo may not be the best Priest album (that honor belongs to Screaming For Vengeance for me), but it’s still a metal album. Your parents still didn’t want to hear you cranking it up, whereas I think there were some songs on Hysteria that my mom was like “Oh that’s a nice song, why don’t you learn to play THAT one on your guitar?”
Totally agree on Somewhere in Time. To date my second fave after Piece of Mind. Wasted Years is still one of my all time favourites.
What was I thinking. Thanks for correcting me. Delivering the goods is one of my favorites. I’m getting old. Thanks.
Todd,
No worries 🙂 Delivering the Goods is definitely one of Priest’s all time best songs.
D from ET.com 🙂
British Steel
Screamin
Defenders
Point Of Entry
Angel of Retribution
Unleashed in the East (does that count?)
Hell Bent for Leather