10 Most Hated Grunge Albums Of All Time
7. Slang - Def Leppard
The birth of grunge pretty much announced the death of hair metal in one fell swoop. Instead of the regular genre tags that kind of fade into the background, the arrival of Smells Like Teen Spirit over the airwaves stamped out any potential for acts like Warrant and Poison to have any kind of future success. That didn't stop many acts from trying to hop on the grunge bandwagon...not that anyone was asking them to though.
In one of the most drastic turns between albums, Def Leppard's vain attempt at rootsier rock with Slang is probably one of the biggest Freudian slips in rock history. For anyone going into a Def Leppard record, the main draw is the sheer size of the production, which becomes virtually obsolete when you hear these buried vocals and cliched attempts at dumbing down their guitar work. Even the members themselves don't really sound completely sold on this, as Vivian Campbell eventually remarked in the sessions that they were spending a fortune on these effects knowing no one would buy this record.
As opposed to just experimenting with different styles, this is the album that made Def Leppard look like they didn't really know their own strengths as a band. While something like Hysteria Pt. 2 wasn't really in the cards in the age of flannel, pretty much anything else would have worked more than this.