Pyromania

Pyromania
Studio album by Def Leppard
Released	January 20, 1983 (1983-01-20)
Recorded	1982 at Park Gates Studios in Battle, East Sussex, England and Battery Studios in London
Genre	Hard rock
Length	44:57
Label	Mercury (US) Vertigo
Producer	Robert John "Mutt" Lange
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (C) link Rolling Stone link Thrash Hits link
Def Leppard chronology
High 'n' Dry (1981) Pyromania (1983) Hysteria (1987)
Singles from Pyromania
"Photograph" Released: February 1983 "Rock of Ages" Released: May 1983 "Foolin'" Released: August 1983 (US) "Too Late for Love" Released: October 1983 (UK)

Pyromania is the third studio album by British heavy metal band Def Leppard, released in 1983. It broke the band across North America and in Japan, and would sell over 10 million copies in the US alone. It featured new guitarist Phil Collen and was produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange.

The album was partially recorded with original guitarist Pete Willis, whose rhythm guitar tracks and backing vocals appear on all songs. Midway through the recording sessions, Willis was fired for excessive alcohol abuse and replaced by Phil Collen, who contributed guitar solos and other parts that had not yet been recorded by Willis. On the original LP release, Willis is visible in the background of the photograph of singer Joe Elliott, while Collen is given his own personal photo as the new full-time member of the group.

The album is noteworthy for Lange's intensive production process. During his tenure as guest moderator on audiophile website Gearslutz.com, the album's engineer Mike Shipley noted the following in a thread on the album's production:

"the tape was constantly going over the heads 20 hours a day for 13 months to the point where it started to shed so bad huge chunks of the oxide started to litterally [sic] fall off the tape. I had to make copies of the multi track and chop in small pieces as the tape started to deteriorate...... somewhat nerve wracking .... but using the full transfer always sounded muddy so we kept going back to the original master or rather what was left of it , and trying to finish before it totally disitegrated!!!!! [sic]"

Three songs from Pyromania, "Photograph", "Rock of Ages", and "Foolin'", became Top 40 singles in the US, benefiting from their popularity on the 24-hour music channel MTV.

The song "Rock! Rock! Till You Drop" is featured in the 2001 movie Rock Star. In 2004, it was ranked 384 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

A Deluxe Edition of Pyromania was released on June 8th, 2009, includes a digitally remastered version of the album, plus a live Bonus CD "Live LA Forum - September 11th 1983".On this edition disc one is misprinted disc two on disc label and vice versa.

Track listing

Deluxe Edition Bonus CD

Personnel

• Joe Elliott – lead vocals
• Steve "Steamin'" Clark – guitars
• Phil Collen – guitars
• Rick Savage – bass
• Rick Allen – drums
• Pete Willis – guitar backing tracks and backing vocals on all songs, though he was no longer a member of the band by the time the album was released

Additional musicians

• The Leppardettes – backing vocals (This is likely a joking reference to Def Leppard themselves.)
• John Kongos – Fairlight CMI programming
• Booker T. Boffin – keyboards (a pseudonym for Thomas Dolby)
• Tony Kaye - keyboards^[1]

Production

• Robert John "Mutt" Lange – producer
• Mike Shipley – engineer
• Brian "Chuck" New – assistant engineer (Battery Studios)
• Craig "Too Loud for Boys" Thomson – assistant engineer (Park Gate Studios)

Additional personnel

• Bernard Gudynas - front cover illustration
• David Landslide - back cover photograph
• Andie Airfix @ Satori - album sleeve concept and design

References

• (1983) Album notes for Pyromania by Def Leppard [Vinyl back cover]. London, England: Vertigo (VERS 2).