10 Musical Shifts That Fell Flat On Their Face

10. Slang - Def Leppard

Def Leppard have been known for making records that sound absolutely perfect.

Even if the actual composition wasn’t all that great, the way they constructed their tracks into pop epics on Pyromania and Hysteria set them apart from the other run of the mill hair bands. However, that kind of style wasn’t necessarily going to hold up in the era of flannel and grunge.

Instead of going back to the drawing board, Slang came out in 1995 and sounded like a pale imitation of the alternative sound. While it’s always good to recharge your batteries, this felt like the band were ditching everything that made them great to begin with in the hopes that they would transition into the next Alice in Chains.

Even in retrospect, guitarist Vivian Campbell questioned why the band were spending a fortune on all of the organic approaches knowing that no one was going to buy the record. You can imagine that the layers of sound over the years had taken its toll on the band, but Slang is the one album that went too far the other way with songs that feel like they should be B-sides at best.

The ‘80s sheen of the band’s glory years probably wouldn’t have worked out in the early ‘90s, but it would have been a lot better than what we actually got.