10 Artists That Changed Music Genres (And Everyone Hated It)

For the MTV generation, Def Leppard almost felt like a successor to a band like Queen. Though the rock royals managed to soldier on even in the video generation, the layered vocals of the band on albums like Pyromania and Hysteria were at least up to similar standards that Freddie Mercury had set for himself. So when you have that much of a foundation to work with, why the hell would you want to tear it all down on Slang?

Thinking that their old sound wasn't really in style in the age of Pearl Jam, Def Leppard decided to go for a much more organic soundscape for their next project, having live backing tracks and trying their best not to copy their old sound. While that entire concept is admirable, it also makes for a record that doesn't even sound like a Def Leppard album, as they try to reach for grunge rock and fail miserably. There are still some decent songs on here to be sure, but we're just listening to them in the worst form possible, as the band try to merge their layers of harmonies with guitar riffs that sound like a poor man's Nirvana.

The rest of the decade would be far kinder to Leppard though, with the tide shifting to a much more optimistic side of rock and roll when they returned to form with the album Euphoria. For a brief moment in time though, we got the bizarro world look at what Def Leppard would have sounded like if they had been born in Seattle instead of Sheffield.