As the first album by this band NOT to go platinum in the United States. This is probably due to the fact that during 1996, radio stations weren't playing music from 80's rock bands, so therefore, no one knew it came out, unless they were already fans. This is a shame, especially with this album. SLANG was one of Def Leppard's most innovative, and creative albums. The raw guitar tone reminds me of early punk guitar, and even modern bands such as Rancid. The influence of this album can be heard in many bands of today, such as Fallout Boy, and the All American Rejects. SLANG had a perfect mix of darkly-tinged metal songs, and more upbeat songs like the title track. For anyone looking to find an album that defines why today's music sounds the way it does- look no further than the 12-year-old SLANG.
Here is a video for "All I Want is Everything"><
and the very upbeat, and my personal favorite...the title track- SLANG
3 comments:
Allow me a few minutes to go off about the near masterpiece that is Slang.
This CD should have gone platinum on the name "Def Leppard" alone - especially after the success of Adrenalize and Retroactive.
"Work It Out" was the first single released in the U.S. and "Slang" was the first single released in the U.K. - "Work It Out" is a great track, but it sounds nothing like traditional Def Leppard, especially Joe's lead vocal which is an octave lower than usual.
Slang came out after I started working in radio so I saw all the trade magazines with comments from PD's. Most of them had the same opinion I did. "It doesn't SOUND like Def Leppard."
Only fans that saw good reviews in Kerrang or Q Magazine would have even known Leppard had a new album out.
I think their big mistake was not releasing "Slang" as the first single in the U.S. That was the one song that sounded most like Def Leppard. Their record company serviced "All I Want As Everything" (I hate the video) and "Breathe A Sigh" (brilliant song) to radio - hoping for a ballad hit - but nobody had interest in 80's bands at that point.
You gotta remember, this was the time when KBPI ditched their entire format to follow 92X (whom I worked for) to become the "New Rock Revolution." Out with Winger, Warrant and Slaughter and in with Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Bush and STP. They kept Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and AC/DC, but bands like Def Leppard had nowhere to go.
Slang was Leppard's attempt to "fit in" with the climate of rock music and rock radio, but most Program Directors wouldn't add Leppard to their playlists.
I have a ton of Slang b-sides incluing a different version of "Truth?" which is much more hard rock than ended up on the CD.
the scenario you are describing behind the scenes is exactly what a lot of us suspected- It was a forced change in the music climate, and not a natural one...Def Leppard is but one of many casualties, and its a shame, because many of the bands we listened to and appreciated were already starting to progress toward a different tone on their own. I don't think "Nevermind" ,and Pearl Jam's debut album sold anywhere close to what "Hysteria" did, even if you combined the two, but yet record companys and radio stations switched completely to that style of music, knowing that the sales and listening audience would shrink? It doesn' make much sense to me...It should tell them something when many of "our" bands are still playing in arenas to this day, and many of the newer "popular" bands aren't...I think Nickleback is one of the only bands that gets it...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_worldwide
Appetite sold 28 million
Nevermind sold 26 million.
Hysteria sold 20 million.
Radio wanted to get rid of hair metal because sales were slipping (a bit.) I know you love some of these bands, but Roxy Blue and Bangalore Choir weren't exactly the future of rock music 15-20 years after hard rock started dominating the charts and MTV.
The industry saw an opening when Nevermind started to take off, so they went with it. The thing is, those bands didn't necessarily WANT to sell millions of copies. The success came, Kurt Cobain committed suicide, Pearl Jam wouldn't make videos anymore, Layne Staley died and Scott Weiland almost did. There goes your grunge movement.
I felt that those two genres of music could have co-existed had MTV continued to play music videos. But radio is different. You can't really play "Jeremy" back to back with "Let's Get Rocked." That's called a train wreck in the business. So radio stations cut Def Leppard, Van Halen and Bon Jovi loose. Even when some of the bands started to change their sound (Warrant's Ultraphobic comes to mind), it came across like these bands were making their "grunge" record. Slang has been accused of being Leppard's grunge attempt many times. In reality, they just knew they couldn't release a traditional sounding Def Leppard album in 1996 because nobody would play it.
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