CoronaVinyl Day 75 (Quintet): High 'n' Dry by Def Leppard

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Apologies for forgetting to post yesterday.  Rest assured, I was rocking out to vinyl.  Yesterday's CoronaVinyl category was quintet, and my favorite quintet of all-time is Def Leppard.  Though their lineup has changed a couple times, there have always been five members of Def Leppard.  Lead singer Joe Elliott, bassist Rick Savage, and drummer Rick Allen have been around for the whole ride.  Guitarist Pete Willis was part of the band for their first two albums before getting the boot because of his excessive drinking during the recording of Pyromania.  He was replaced by Phil Collen, who has remained in the band since then.  The other founding guitarist was Steve Clark, who died in 1991 from a combination of too much alcohol and morphine.  He was replaced by Vivian Campbell, who has been in the band since then.

Now that we have this little history lesson out of the way, let's get to the music.  1981's High 'n' Dry was the band's second studio album, and it was the last full album to feature the original five members, before Willis was kicked out the next year.  As you can see from the photo above, I have the album cover framed and hanging in my Rock and Roll Staircase.  I had never noticed that the center sticker of the album has a nice little drawing of Chicago.  Apparently, Polygram Records was located in the building where I now work -- or where I would work, were we not in the middle of a global pandemic.

High 'n' Dry was the first of the band's albums to be produced by now legendary producer Mutt Lange, who also produced Def Leppard's two following albums, the colossal Pyromania and Hysteria.  In historical context, it's kind of crazy that Lange teamed up with Def Leppard this early in their career.  Their first album, On Through the Night, wasn't a massive hit, but Lange –- who had already produced AC/DC's Highway to Hell, Back in Black, and For Those About to Rock We Solute You -– must have seen something special in Def Leppard. Of course, under Lange's tutelage, Def Leppard would go on to become the first artist to have two certified diamond (at least 10 million sales in the U.S.) studio albums in the 1980s (1983's Pyromania and 1987's Hysteria). You read that correctly.  Def Leppard -- not Michael Jackson, Madonna, Van Halen, Prince, GNR, U2, or Springsteen -- was the first (and until the last couple years, the only) band or artist to have two studio albums from the '80s certified diamond by the RIAA.  (Michael Jackson has since equaled the feat with Thriller and Bad.)

High 'n' Dry was the band's last album that was really a New Wave of British Heavy Metal album, before the band transitioned to a more radio-friendly sound (which is not to say they didn't still rock, because they did).  Aside my Hysteria, this is my favorite Def Leppard album.  Some bands have a sophomore slump. Some bands do not. Def Leppard most certainly did not. This album has ten gritty hard rock songs. From beginning to end, it has energy and power. Elliott's vocals really begin to shine on this album, Clark and Willis's dueling guitar work is phenomenal, and the Ricks in the rhythm section keep everything driving along at an unsafe speed. (Incidentally, for those of you who are under the belief that Rick Allen always had only one arm, he did not lose his left arm until a car accident on New Years Eve 1984, so he was fully armed until Hysteria.) All in all, High 'n' Dry is a really good hard rock album, and if you're not familiar with it, perhaps now is the time.

The Spotify version includes two bonus tracks, the 1984 remixes of "Bringin' On the Heartbreak" and its non-album B-side, "Me and My Wine."

Favorite song from Side 1:  "High 'n' Dry (Saturday Night)"
I submit to you that there isn't a better song about getting drunk on a Saturday night than this one.  Ranked by VH1 as one of the Top 40 metal songs ever, it's a ballsy, fun rock song.  Not that you need another reason to hate the PRMC -- the parental organization formed in 1985 by Tipper Gore and several other bored Washington wives for the purpose of censoring music -- but this song was on the PMRC's notorious "Filthy Fifteen," apparently because it talks about drinking.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "You Got Me Runnin'"
One of my favorite Def Leppard songs is "You Got Me Runnin'." Like most of the album, this song a hard-hitting, heavy song.  The verses are brooding, about some chick who's trying to pull one over on her man, and the chorus features those now-classic Def Leppard harmonies.