Album of the Day: Def Leppard, Pyromania

My interest in Def Leppard’s 1983 breakthrough Pyromania was rekindled after years of fatigue when I picked it up on vinyl at a stoop sale about a year ago, and it’s been a dinner-time cooking soundtrack ever since. Vince air guitars around the kitchen while sautéing the garlic, MetalGF not only tolerates it but digs it as she chops the lettuce! Picture the scene.

Today’s inspiration comes courtesy of the announcement that Def Lep are planning a Las Vegas residency at the end of 2014. I’d totally go if I lived anywhere near Vegas or had any kind of passing interest in that disgusting city in the desert that, by all means, should not even exist according to the natural justice of mother earth.

But back to the ‘Lep: sure, everyone knows “Photograph,” “Foolin’” and “Rock of Ages,” three of the world’s all-time biggest rock smashes. Hooks for days and days, and those patented Steve Clark pre-choruses that I’ve long held are the catalysts that make Def Leppard songs go.

But casual Def Lep fans probably don’t know “Comin’ Under Fire,” one of the album’s hidden gems. That riff! Those gang shouts in the choruses! That melancholic feeling. Everything about this song. LOVE. Stream it: