“Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” is yet another ballad from ‘Adrenalize’ and there were a bunch. It was the third single off the album and the highest charting as well going all the way to #12 on the Hot 100 and even #7 on the Mainstream Rock Chart. The song was written by Phil Collen, Joe Elliott and Robert John “Mutt” Lange who might not have produced the album but he was involved thus the “Executive Producer” title.
The song is a tale of unrequited love, I mean, the title sums it up nicely. The person on the song longs for this woman so much that he aches for her. She seems to be there, ready for the night, but by morning she is gone. She doesn’t want to commit and he is ready to go all in. Almost to the point of stalkerish, but not sure he has crossed that line yet.
SIDE 1:
‘Adrenalize’ was an album filled with so many ballads and you’d think they all can’t be good, but you’d be wrong. This is yet another masterpiece. The ballads Def Leppard were doing all sounds so sophisticated, so pure. They seem to spend a lot of time making them perfect. ”Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” had that flair of “Love Bites”, that emotive quality, it felt meaningful and honest. I love how the guitar solo mirrors the emotions and you can feel the sadness he is feeling not having his love returned. The band really seems to connect with this song on all fronts. Brilliant…just brilliant.
After the Tour in support of their album, ‘Hysteria’, Def Leppard didn’t want another 4 year gap between albums, but nothing was easy for these guys. Something always happened. This time it was Steve Clark. His alcoholism was getting worse. He was in and out of rehab and in September of 1990, the band granted Steve a 6 month leave of absence to try and sobered up. Sadly, it did not help and on January 8, 1991, the world lost an incredible guitarist too soon as Steve Clark passed away in his home.
The band was devastated. However, they didn’t want to stop and kept going, but only as a four-piece. No new member was added for the record. It took months after Steve’s death before their heart was back in to it. The band also ended up having to do the album without long-time producer, Robert John “Mutt” Lange, as he was busy working with Bryan Adams and his ‘Waking Up the Neighbors’ album. Mutt did wind up as the “Executive Producer” on the album. Mike Shipley helped the band as both engineer and co-producer as he had worked with the band for years.
Most of the songs had already been demoed prior to Steve’s death, but they were all re-recorded and Phil mimicked Steve’s playing as best he could for the solos Steve was meant to play. And after months of working on the album, they were finished. The album came out on March 31, 1992 and it debuted at #1 in the UK and a week later was #1 in the U.S. It sold over 4,000,000 copies worldwide and had 6 singles off the album.
I bought the album on the day of release but it was not easy. I was down in Cairo, Georgia working for the State of Georgia on an audit. After work, I borrowed the company car and drove down to Tallahassee, Florida and bought the CD and Tape and listened to it on the trip back to Cairo. It was about a 45 minute drive each way so wasn’t too bad. Did I like it? Well, let us find out.
The opening track, “Let’s Get Rocked”, was the first single off the ‘Adrenalize’ album and did pretty good going to #15 on the Billboard charts and #2 in the UK. The song is a mindless fun track about a teenager disobeying their parents and yet it was filled with sexual innuendo after sexual innuendo. “Let’s Get Rocked” does just that with the heavy guitar riffs, Rick’s pounding drum beat and even filled with orchestration and some nasty violins. The most important thing about this song is the question is asks you at the very beginning…”Do You Want To Get Rocked?”. And the answer is always…YES!
This was one of the last songs written for the album as the band had finished riding the song “White Lightning” which is about the loss of bandmate Steve Clark. After coming off such a dark song, the band needed to cut loose and have some fun and as a result, we got this bundle of joy. Despite my tiring of the song, it is pretty great even if it is overly corny. The video is a CGI filled rocking good time and is the only video the band has ever done as a four piece. Steve had passed and Vivian hadn’t yet come completely in to the picture.
Up next is “Heaven Is” which was the 5th single from the album reaching #13 in the UK, but didn’t chart in the States. The song is about a woman…a very fine woman and you can figure the rest. It is a pop song, no doubt. Massive choruses, probably bigger than they have ever done. It is a little cheesy at times, but it is kinda catchy. Not the best thing they have done, but not the worst…that is coming later.
“Make Love Like A Man” which is actually one of my least favorite songs they have ever done, but not as bad as another one on this album. Yes, it is catchy, has a good beat and memorable, but it is generic and stupid at the same time. Now, Joe Elliott has stated that the song was the band having some fun and it was all a joke. They weren’t trying to be big bad boys, they were only joking. The song was the 2nd single off the album and did fairly well, going to #36 on the US Billboard Hot 100 charts. The album was starting to sound very generic and a Hysteria 2.0…yeah…don’t like that.
The sixth and final single was for the song “Tonight”. Written back during the ‘Hysteria’ Tour as a possible B-Side, but instead it was held on to for an album years later. The song charted in the U.S. going to #62 on the Hot 100 and #13 on the Mainstream Rock chart while it also charted in the UK at #34. The song is a ballad and it sees the singer longing to be with the woman he loves and have some very passionate, satisfying sex. THe band was overdoing it with ballads now, but this one reminds me of “Love Bites” and “Hysteria” which are two of their best and for that I like this one. It is sophisticated sounding with some great melodies and the music is emotive as is Joe on the vocals. This is how you do a ballad.
“White Lightning” was written about Steve Clark and his addiction and his untimely death. Steve’s nickname from the band was White Lightning as he normally dressed in all white on stage and ran around the stage like a bolt of lightning. It is such a heartfelt tribute and you can feel the love and passion the band had for this man. The song opens with a guitar solo by Phil Collen that was played in the style of Steve as a personal tribute to him. The solo starts off slow, with an eerie feel to it…a sadness. In fact, Phil played all the parts and even with the dual guitar parts he played as if it was he and Steve going at it together. It is very touching.
The lyrics spell out Steve’s troubles how he was burning the candle at both ends, always had to have that taste, but always unable to let it go and walk away. He was consumed by his addiction and in the end, the addiction won and took his shining light from us way too early. Sadly, this is a story played out everyday with people of addiction. It is a horrible disease with no end in sight that touches millions around the world.
“Stand Up (Kick Love Into Motion)” was the fourth single off the album and it did really well going to #34 on the Hot 100 and #1 on Mainstream Rock Chart. And there is a reason for it as it is another great ballad by the band. This one was actually written for Hysteria, but it sounded too similar to the song “Hysteria” so it was scrapped and held on to for later use. Another reason why this album feels like ‘Hysteria 2.0’. The song is about a guy that is so in love with this woman and not sure she is feeling it, but he calls out to her to kick this love in to motion and then have some serious sex. He says it better than that though. A great ballad, very sophisticated and able to connect with you emotionally has who hasn’t felt this way at one time or another.
Then we get to the what is probably the WORST SONG the band has ever done (at least up to this point). “Personal Property” is totally utter trash lyrically and musically. The most generic, piece of crap they have ever put to tape (or digital in this case probably). I can’t describe how bad this song is so you just need to go and listen to it yourself.
“Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” is yet another ballad and the third single off the album and the highest charting as well going to #12 on the Hot 100 and #7 on the Mainstream Rock Chart. An album filled with so many ballads they all can’t be good, but you’d be wrong. This is yet another masterpiece. A tale of unrequited love, I mean, the title sums it up nicely. I love how the guitar solo mirrors the emotions and you can feel the sadness he is feeling not having his love returned. The band really seems to connect with this song on all fronts. Brilliant…just brilliant.
Then we get “I Wanna Touch U” which finally gives us a rocker as it has been awhile since a decent rock song on this album. It is still pretty basic of a song and another about sex. I will say the writing on this album lyric has been singularly focused with the exception on anything written about Steve. This has left a pretty boring album at times for the rockers. No depth here whatsoever. But at least the song will get you moving.
The album ends with one of the band’s best rockers with “Tear It Down”. The original version of the song was used as the B-Side to the song “Women” in the U.S. and “Animal” in the UK. So, they re-recorded it, punched it up a little and modernized it a little to fit where they were sonically and you have a great rocking track. But imagine my disappointment when hearing this on the album. I mean come on!! What the hell Leppard? You’ve done this song, give us something new. You have had 5 years since the last album and we get 9 new songs. This completed the disappointment for the album. Don’t get me wrong, this song kicks ass, but I’ve heard it. It was one of my favorite B-Sides they have ever done.
Track Listing:
Let’s Get Rocked – Keeper
Heaven Is – Keeper (1/2 Point)
Make Love Like a Man – Delete
Tonight – Keeper
White Lightning – Keeper
Stand Up (Kick Love Into Motion) – Keeper
Personal Property – Delete
Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad – Keeper
I Wanna Touch U – Keeper(1/2 Point)
Tear It Down – Keeper
The Track Score is 7 out of 10 Tracks or 70%. As you can tell from the review, I am not a fan of this album for many reasons. One…lyrically, the song was lacking. The lyrics were overly cheesy and mostly about sex in some form or another. Two…too many ballads. Yes, the ballads were great that were one here…but it slowed down the album as there were way too many. Three…no real rockers that stuck with me (that were new songs). “White Lightning” being the best song on the album, the rest were stinkers really. Four…the whole thing sounded like ‘Hysteria 2.0’. This is the first Def Leppard album to not completely change their sound from the previous. Go back and listen to the first four albums and you will notice they don’t sound like each other…yet they still sound like Def Leppard. This felt like rehash. Maybe Mutt is the missing ingredient. My Overall Score is 2.5 out of 5.0 Stars. I hate this album today more than I did back then and I dislike it more with each listen as it bothers me so much with what they did with it.
NEXT UP: DEF LEPPARD – “HAVE YOU EVER NEEDED SOMEONE SO BAD” (1992) – CASSETTE SINGLE
Def Leppard released their album ‘Adrenalize’ on March 31, 1992 to massive success. The album sold 4 million copies and went to #1 in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and in Swtitzerland. It spawned 6 singles and in a time when 80’s Rock was dying out, somehow, Def Leppard still succeeded.
It was the first album without Steve Clark on guitar and would be the first tour without him as well. The tour kicked off with a club show in Dublin, Ireland on April 15, 1992 and was the first with Vivian Campbell on guitar. It was also a warm-up for the massive Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert on April 20, 1992 which would see Def Leppard perform to over 70,000 people and technically introduce the world to Vivian Campbell. It was a rip roaring success. The tour then officially started on May 19, 1992 in Madrid, Spain and would last the rest of 1992 and not end until September 1993.
Some of the opening acts were Ugly Kid Joe, Thunder and Terrorvision (who I know nothing about). It was a massive success as usual as the performed In the Round again and as you’d expect, I did catch the show on November 24, 1992 at the Omni in Atlanta, Ga.
For My Sunday Song #151, we are now going to spend the next 10 weeks exploring some of my favorite Def Leppard songs. These won’t be the hits you have heard on the radio or in concert (okay, some may have been played live, and one might be a single but that is it). These will be songs that I think are some of their best deep cuts and something I think is worth checking out if you want to get a better understanding of what the band is about.
The first song is off the 1993 album, ‘Retroactive’ and it was the B-Side to the song “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” off ‘Adrenalize’ from 1992. The song is called “From the Inside” and was written by Joe Elliott.
The song is one of the darkest songs they have ever written or performed. The theme of the song is about drugs and addiction and the point of view of the song is actually from the drugs. The drugs describe to the user what it will do them and how it will take them up high and drag them to their lowest of lows. With lyrics such as…
And I’ll laugh while you’re up there And I’ll laugh when you’re down Though your screams break the silence Oh, they won’t make a sound
…it is quite disturbing and sadly, so true. Written around the time I think Steve Clark died, my guess is that Joe was inspired by what happened with Steve write this track.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 