Def Leppard - "Armageddon It"

[Mister Freeze]

These fuckers.

Hysteria comes out. They release "Women." Ok. Whatever.

Then "Animal." Huge hit.

"Hysteria" - One of the best songs of the era.

"Pour Some Sugar On Me" - Monster hit, song of the summer in 1988...

Then "Love Bites," which goes straight to #1.

And if that wasn't enough, here comes ""Armageddon It," maybe the catchiest song on the album.

Can you name a better single #6 from anyone?

[Van Ailin']

Love the solo on this one. It's got a groove to it that isn't like any other from the album.

[War_in_D]

Can you name a better single #6 from anyone?[/size]

Jeeze there can’t be many albums with six singles to begin with.

P. Y. T. Ok, no.

I’m Goin Down. No.

Another Part of Me … maybe.

Ed Sheeran and Katy Perry had some.

Hysteria actually ended up having seven singles released in North America. The seventh single was Rocket. I think that one hit at number 15 on the singles charts.

Man, it was great being a teen when the Hysteria album was current. Music was so good then.

Armageddon It is definitely one of my faves off the album. I am just imagining what sort of impact it would have had if it had been the lead single off Hysteria. It took the album a little while to gain some traction.

[War_in_D]

It's cool that Sugar was also a number two single on the charts, while Armageddon It made it all the way up to number three.

[Van Ailin']

Hysteria actually ended up having seven singles released in North America. The seventh single was Rocket. I think that one hit at number 15 on the singles charts.

Man, it was great being a teen when the Hysteria album was current. Music was so good then.

Armageddon It is definitely one of my faves off the album. I am just imagining what sort of impact it would have had if it had been the lead single off Hysteria. It took the album a little while to gain some traction.

The problem is that three of those tunes (Women, Love Bites, and Sugar) were really not very good songs. I don't think any of those were good enough to be singles. I think Animal, Armageddon It, Hysteria and some that weren't (like Don't Shoot Shotgun, Excitable, and Run Riot) could have been. Good album, though. It's odd because after this record, Def Leppard only had perhaps 8-10 more good songs in their entire career.

[pieceofme]

Hysteria actually ended up having seven singles released in North America. The seventh single was Rocket. I think that one hit at number 15 on the singles charts.

Man, it was great being a teen when the Hysteria album was current. Music was so good then.

Armageddon It is definitely one of my faves off the album. I am just imagining what sort of impact it would have had if it had been the lead single off Hysteria. It took the album a little while to gain some traction.

The problem is that three of those tunes (Women, Love Bites, and Sugar) were really not very good songs. I don't think any of those were good enough to be singles. I think Animal, Armageddon It, Hysteria and some that weren't (like Don't Shoot Shotgun, Excitable, and Run Riot) could have been. Good album, though. It's odd because after this record, Def Leppard only had perhaps 8-10 more good songs in their entire career.

WTF. Did you just say sugar and love bites were not good enough to be a singles? That makes no sense considering how well they did on the charts.

[HoldenSSV]

Bryan Adams - "It's Only Love"
Janet Jackson - "Black Cat" ("Love Will Never Do Without You" was the seventh single and went to #1.)

[NeonKnite]

The interesting part of this is that they released "Women" as the leadoff single which almost killed the album right out of the gate.

Who fucking decided THAT was a good song to release. Wow.

[dmbrocker]

These fuckers.

Hysteria comes out. They release "Women." Ok. Whatever.

Then "Animal." Huge hit.

"Hysteria" - One of the best songs of the era.

"Pour Some Sugar On Me" - Monster hit, song of the summer in 1988...

Then "Love Bites," which goes straight to #1.

And if that wasn't enough, here comes ""Armageddon It," maybe the catchiest song on the album.

Can you name a better single #6 from anyone?

And then “Rocket” (yeah!) was released as the final single. Really, every single on Hysteria is great. But yeah, as far as the sixth single from an album, it’s hard to top “Armageddon It”, though those aforementioned Bryan Adams, Janet, and MJ tunes come close. Another great sixth single is George Michael’s “Kissing a Fool” off of Faith.

[TheDeadBastard]

I’d say the B side to Animal “Tear It Down” is among the best songs they’ve done. Too bad the re-recording on Adrenalize sucked the sweat off of a dead donkey’s balls.

[Love_Industry]

I first had that album on cassette and it had side B on side A. I thought that was the proper sequence. Gods of War works as a first track.

Never thought of it as I never even had the vinyl to play side B first like I did with Theatre of Pain, but when you say it it works. Gods - Shotgun - Run Riot is a hard rocking 123 punch to kick off things with and a ballad after that makes sense, especially if it is the good one.

Excitable is garbage no matter where it is on the album though, it should have been left off and replaced with Tear It Down. While we're at it, ditch Love Bites in favor of I Wanna Be Your Hero and Fractured Love instead of Love and Affection.... all 4 b-sides and the 2 leftovers that made it to Retro Active were better than those three songs. And most songs from any of their albums after that.

[Dyslexicheart]

Nothing on this album did anything for me. A bunch of over-produced, lightweight fluff. Put Priest back on the turntable!

[Chip Z'Hoy]

Lads, I gotta go with this being one of their worst songs, possibly the worst on Hysteria. I cannot sanction the buffoonery of "Are you gettin' it? Armageddon it."

[LAglamrocker]

It’s the best song on Hysteria by far
First thing I do when tour starts is go to setlist fm and look to see if it’s in the setlist

It’s the happiest moment of any Def Leppard. show

[Nate S Axel]

Morgan Wallen's "One Thing At A Time" album.

1] "You Proof" - #5 Hot 100, #1 US Country and US Country Airplay charts (4x Platinum)

2] "Thought you Should Know" - #7 Hot 100, #1 on both country charts (4x Platinum)

3] "Last Night" - #1 Hot 100 for 16 WEEKS (7x Platinum) -- also Mojo's favorite song to hear in prison!

4] "One Thing At A Time" - #10 Hot 100, #2 & #8 on both country charts (Gold)

5] "Everything I Love" - #14 Hot 100, #7 & #3 on both country charts (Platinum)

6] "Thinkin' Bout Me" - #7 Hot 100, #3 & #1 on both country charts (3x Platinum)

How about #7 and 8?

7] "Man Made A Bar" with Eric Church - #15 Hot 100, #3 & #1 on both country charts (3x Platinum)

8] "Cowgirls" with Ernest - #12 Hot 100, #3 & #1 on both country charts (Platinum)

[pieceofme]

I first had that album on cassette and it had side B on side A. I thought that was the proper sequence. Gods of War works as a first track.

Never thought of it as I never even had the vinyl to play side B first like I did with Theatre of Pain, but when you say it it works. Gods - Shotgun - Run Riot is a hard rocking 123 punch to kick off things with and a ballad after that makes sense, especially if it is the good one.

Excitable is garbage no matter where it is on the album though, it should have been left off and replaced with Tear It Down. While we're at it, ditch Love Bites in favor of I Wanna Be Your Hero and Fractured Love instead of Love and Affection.... all 4 b-sides and the 2 leftovers that made it to Retro Active were better than those three songs. And most songs from any of their albums after that.

Yeah they should have ditched the number 1 single. Great thinking there.

[Van Ailin']

WTF. Did you just say sugar and love bites were not good enough to be a singles? That makes no sense considering how well they did on the charts.
[/quote]

They are both awful songs. This tells us a lot about "the people." The people are . . . (I'd better not go there)

[ParaDime77]

The live background vocals are great. There is an acoustic show from 1993 ish floating around that is really cool.

[HueyRamone]

Jackyl had just 1 fewer than Hysteria!

The Lumberjack"
"I Stand Alone"
"Down on Me"
"Dirty Little Mind"
"When Will it Rain"

[Van Ailin']

Lads, I gotta go with this being one of their worst songs, possibly the worst on Hysteria.

Run Riot, Excitable, Don’t Shoot Shotgun .,,

The worst ones are Rocket, Love Bites, Pour Some Sugar, Love An' Affection, and Women. Only good parts of Women are the subject and the key change near the end. There's a reason the album got off to a slow start. Animal righted the ship.

Delete those tunes (or keep Women and Sugar as deep cuts), and it's not only a better album, but it's one that actually sounds good on vinyl. That album desperately needed an editor. HND and Pyro are infinitely better.

[MOON]

These fuckers.

Hysteria comes out. They release "Women." Ok. Whatever.

Then "Animal." Huge hit.

"Hysteria" - One of the best songs of the era.

"Pour Some Sugar On Me" - Monster hit, song of the summer in 1988...

Then "Love Bites," which goes straight to #1.

And if that wasn't enough, here comes ""Armageddon It," maybe the catchiest song on the album.

Can you name a better single #6 from anyone?

It was actually 7 singles. "ROCKET" was a single too

[NeonKnite]

Why do you fuckers keep saying oh there was seven? He’s talking about Armageddon It and saying it was a great sixth single. He didn’t say it was the last single.

It was actually the fifth single not the sixth anyway. Animal was first single not Women.

"Animal"
Released: 20 July 1987
"Women"
Released: August 1987
"Pour Some Sugar on Me"
Released: 7 September 1987
"Hysteria"
Released: 16 November 1987
"Armageddon It"
Released: 28 March 1988
"Love Bites"
Released: 4 July 1988
"Rocket"
Released: 30 January 1989

Typical fuckin Sludge.

Not correct. I knew my memory wasn't faulty.

From Wikipedia:

The final recording sessions took place in January 1987 for the song "Armageddon It" and a last-minute composition "Pour Some Sugar on Me", though Lange spent another three months mixing the tracks. The album was finally released worldwide on 3 August 1987, with "Animal" as the lead single in most countries except for the US and Canada where "Women" was the first single.

I vividly remember being on vacation in Ocean City, MD eagerly awaiting the premier of the "Women" video and being completely underwhelmed by the song.

Also on that vacation, remember buying the vinyl of FREHLEY'S COMET and then leaving it on rear deck under the window on the drive home only to find it massively warped from the sun baking it on the 6 hour drive back.

The things you remember.

[ALMOSTsaved]

Years later when I discovered "Ring Of Fire" I couldn't believe it had been left off the original release of "Hysteria." I think THAT song could've easily been a huge single. That being said, I always felt that despite the huge singles, and yes I liked most of them (hated "Rocket"), the album still felt like a letdown to me. I remember thinking, "Where are the guitars?"

[Bono Nettencourt]

Why do you fuckers keep saying oh there was seven? He’s talking about Armageddon It and saying it was a great sixth single. He didn’t say it was the last single.

It was actually the fifth single not the sixth anyway. Animal was first single not Women.

"Animal"
Released: 20 July 1987
"Women"
Released: August 1987
"Pour Some Sugar on Me"
Released: 7 September 1987
"Hysteria"
Released: 16 November 1987
"Armageddon It"
Released: 28 March 1988
"Love Bites"
Released: 4 July 1988
"Rocket"
Released: 30 January 1989

Typical fuckin Sludge.

Not correct. I knew my memory wasn't faulty.

From Wikipedia:

The final recording sessions took place in January 1987 for the song "Armageddon It" and a last-minute composition "Pour Some Sugar on Me", though Lange spent another three months mixing the tracks. The album was finally released worldwide on 3 August 1987, with "Animal" as the lead single in most countries except for the US and Canada where "Women" was the first single.

He's a limey... not his problem, but unfortunately it's ours

[Mister Freeze]

I was living overseas in the late '80s, so I was following charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

"Armageddon It" was released in the U.K. around the same time "Sugar" was released in the U.S. That's why both have pretty much the same video.

"Sugar" was released in the U.K. months earlier with a different non-concert video and was a modest hit at the time.

I'm going with the U.S. singles release order as "canon".

[Mister Freeze]

It’s the happiest moment of any Def Leppard. show

Extremely accurate concert review.

[wildside1969]

It was actually the fifth single not the sixth anyway. Animal was first single not Women.

You listed the order the singles were released in the UK. Here's how they were released in the US and UK.

In the US the singles were released in this order:

1. Women - August 1987
2. Animal - September 1987
3. Hysteria - January 1988
4. Pour Some Sugar On Me - May 1988
5. Love Bites - August 1988
6. Armageddon It - November 1988
7. Rocket - March 1989

In the UK the singles were released in this order:

1. Animal - July 1987
2. Women - August 1987
3. Pour Some Sugar On Me - September 1987
4. Hysteria - November 1987
5. Armageddon It - March 1988
6. Love Bites - July 1988
7. Rocket - January 1989

[wildside1969]

"Armageddon It" was released in the U.K. around the same time "Sugar" was released in the U.S. That's why both have pretty much the same video.

"Sugar" was released in the U.K. months earlier with a different non-concert video and was a modest hit at the time.

They were unhappy with how the the original Sugar video turned out and weren't interested in doing another concept video so they used the footage from the 2 shows they filmed in Denver, CO on February 12th and 13th, 1988 for both videos. The Denver footage was later released on the Live: In the Round, In Your Face home video.

[Charles Bukaki]

I saw them on the Hysteria tour twice. Once in December 87 and again in October 88 at the same arena and as popular as they were the first time around, it was nothing compared to how huge they became. I went to the first show by myself because nobody I knew wanted to go. Ten months later they sold out the same place within hours and added a second show that also sold out. Most of my friend group and the day after the shows I saw a couple dozen other people wearing Leppard shirts. People who don't normally go to shows were going to this one, or trying to get tickets. Cranking out single after single like they did made them massive in 1988.

[Bono Nettencourt]

That album was an 80s marketing miracle... Mercury had so much invested that they just kept the payola and coke train going til the record finally caught fire on the 4th single.