27 October 1995
The ’90s presented a real existential crisis to ’80s hair metal bands and cheery three-chord rockers. Nirvana and the power divas had changed the market demand to authenticity: out with the perms and spandex, out also with the densely-layered studio-bound sound, and out with the kitschy OTT fun. For Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams, this meant shoving all their chips onto stadium-sized soft rock power ballads: slow, churning guitar chords, strings, no synths, bland lyrics about angsty feelings. This paid off well for them, with bigger hits in the ’90s than they ever had in the ’80s. Now here are Def Leppard following suit – dressed down in all-black plebwear, long hair now mullet-perm-less and parted in the middle, toting their own power ballad. And what do you know: ‘When Love And Hate Collide’ is their highest-charting single both in the UK and here in their adopted home of Ireland. Hey, this stuff works!
Def Leppard doing ’90s power ballads is like your seeing your team’s agricultural centre-back step up to take a sudden-death penalty: yes, they may get the job done by dint of brute force rather than through skill or subtlety, but they’re way out of their comfort zone and so are we. Joe Elliott’s trademark falsetto squeal was always a glam tinsel boa to drape around a squally rock-out, not primal scream therapy for releasing contrived emoshuns. Everything else here is pro forma power balladry: blustery, competent but crushingly safe and dull.
