Originally written for Realbuzz
Never has an entire decade of music been so thoroughly consolidated within the confines of a single album. Because we’re talking about the 1980s here — or more precisely, 1983-1993 — this can be viewed as either a good or bad thing, depending very much on your personal taste. If you didn’t like hair metal (and, just as importantly, hair ballads) the first time around, you won’t now. Regardless, and this is sort of amazing: Def Leppard’s aesthetic has by no means been softened by the two decades of safe-pop-rock that has infiltrated the mainstream since their 1987 hit "Pour Some Sugar on Me." Or rather, it has softened – their last album, X, was derided for ‘not having much kick to [its] rhythms’ — and now re-calcified. Abrasive, spasmodic, at times just plain noisy, Songs from the Sparkle Lounge is, for better or worse, a return to a lost era.
If you miss shaking your perm’d mullet to power chords, or if you were too young in the ‘80s to appreciate the charm-less allure of bands such as this, there is presently cause to rejoice.
The worst one can say about Sparkle Lounge is that it’s put together like a comeback effort. Despite the fact that Def Leppard has been releasing albums fairly regularly, this one in particular cycles through so many sub-genres that it does, regrettably, feel a bit like a cry for attention. That said, the group attacks each style – rock ballad, thunder metal, New Wave metal – with such sincerity, and even mastery, that when you’re listening to it you really feel as if you’re in a different (louder) era.
Though it may attract the same fan base, this isn’t the campy, half-ironic rock of artists like Andrew W.K. who capitalized on the resurgence of ‘80s culture; this is the real stuff, the prima materia. "Gotta Let it Go," for example, would be a pretty good match for a movie montage. Again – not the satirical sequences of Wet Hot American Summer or Team America: World Police; this is suitable for Top Gun, or even Rocky IV. There’s really fast, meandering electric guitar work that serves as filler, but its strength is a never-ending chorus, with the mantra "Gotta let it go!" shouted over and over, reinforced by some heavy chords and drums.
"Love," then, serves as a nice counterpoint, as the hair ballad is, after all, the inverse of the rock anthem. I think even Meat Loaf might tip his hat to this one. After a bastardization of the introductory licks to "Stairway to Heaven," lead singer Joe Elliot comes in crooning, "Love! Love! Why do I keep searching high and low?" One imagines candelabras and white poofy shirts, just like twenty years ago.
The rest all falls within the spectrum of leather jackets with lots of zippers, professional wrestling, patriotic bandanas, and the straightforward punchlines of Andrew Dice Clay. "Bad Actress," "C’mon C’mon," and "Go" all hold the elements of an oversized culture. That Def Leppard is British in origin seems incidental to me; I would say this is a profoundly American album. "Nine Lives," the single featuring Tim McGraw, has just enough twang to sound a bit like recent commercials for Ford Trucks. To show their versatility within the U.S. canon, they’ve even thrown in "Tomorrow," which sticks its nose into the mid-90s, emulating a bit of the Boy Band pastiche. Even this, though, is pulled off with the blunt confidence of the rest of the album. If there are a few adjectives that can be used describe every song, here they are: Loud, bold, and impossible to ignore.
Track listing:
1. Go
2. Nine Lives
3. C’mon C’mon
4. Love
5. Tomorrow
6. Cruise Control
7. Hallucinate
8. Only the Good Die Young
9. Bad Actress
10. Come Undone
11. Gotta Let It Go
12. Love