Slang is the sixth studio album by English rock band Def Leppard, released on 13 May 1996. The album marked a musical departure from their signature sound; it was produced by the band with Pete Woodroffe and was their first album since 1980 without involvement by Robert John "Mutt" Lange. Slang is the first album with new material to feature new guitarist Vivian Campbell (Campbell had previously played on the B-side collection Retro Active in 1993 and on the new song on Vault a year earlier). It charted at number 14 on the Billboard 200 and number 5 on the UK Albums Chart. It is also the only Def Leppard album that does not feature their recognisable font logo on the album cover, though all its singles still bore the classic logo.

Overview

Between the releases of Retro Active and Slang, Def Leppard endured hardships including guitarist Phil Collen's divorce from actress Jacqueline Collen, bassist Rick Savage's battle with Bell's palsy and the death of his father, and the arrests of both drummer Rick Allen and lead singer Joe Elliott for spousal abuse and assault, respectively. Though the band says Adrenalize was recorded during a bleaker time, the absence of Mutt Lange (for the first time on a Def Leppard album since 1980) made it possible for the band to show what they were really feeling. Said Elliott, "There was a period with Mutt where if you came out with anything slightly negative, it was 'Fuck it!' and it was gone!" Collen continued: "We've all got personal things that have happened during the recording of Slang, and we've just ploughed on and some of it has come out on the record."

Doing without Lange's services, the band changed another habit by recording together, in a townhouse in Marbella, Spain. Slang would feature less production in favour of a more organic sound, catalysed by Allen's reversion to a semi-acoustic drum kit. "We'd got so sick of recording the old way. We didn't want to do it any more. We wanted the music to be more personalised and let the character of the individuals come out," explained Savage. Campbell also cited Soundgarden's album Superunknown (1994) as a major influence on the album's style, saying that it "was the record that we referenced in terms of the sonics and the mood of it when making Slang." The album included 19 additional tracks, made up of various early versions of songs on the original, as well as previously unreleased material.

As of 2023, Slang remains the only album in Def Leppard's discography to not receive a re-release on vinyl outside of its inclusion in the "Volume 2" boxset in 2019, even after other albums from the 1990s such as Adrenalize, Retro Active and Euphoria were reissued in the preceding year.

Reception

Slang received mixed reviews. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic rated the album three out of five, writing that the band's change in their approach with Slang was "apparent and welcome -- Def Leppard hasn't sounded so immediate since Pyromania." He further adds that the band "expand their musical vocabulary slightly, working elements of R&B and funk into the rhythms." Erlewine concludes that "Slang would have been even better if they had come up with a set of hooks that sounded as alive as their performance, but the album is a much-needed return to form for the group."

Conversely, Sputnik Music was more critical of the album, rating it two and a half out of five. They criticized Slangs seeming lack of direction and how "the veteran Sheffield outfit (alongside new co-producer Pete Woodroffe) decide to throw absolutely everything at the wall to see what sticks." They further added that "in progressing outside of their comfort zone, their limitations have become a little too apparent." Sputnik Music was, however, more positive towards "All I Want is Everything", "Work It Out", "Breath a Sigh" and "Deliver Me", deeming them to be "a solid and workmanlike mid-album quartet of tracks which make the album passable." They concluded that Slang "may be a passable release (if only just), but it leaves Def Leppard’s future very much up in the air."

"The whole thing is potty," David Quantick wrote in Q, "but in a supple and melodic way – even the ballads lack the usual Def Leppard sense of having been written for lead-lined hippos to sing. Slang is the sound of a band doing something fast and interesting, at the exact point in their lives when most bands are taking up golf and inhaling the contents of aquariums in country manors."

In rankings of the band's albums, it was ranked sixth by Chad Childers of Loudwire, and eighth by Nick DeRiso of Ultimate Classic Rock. Childers called it one of the more polarising Def Leppard albums, in which "[the] band pushed the boundaries of their sound further than ever, experimenting with more industrial and electronic sounds." He added that while Slang was largely overlooked upon release, it has "aged quite well, with the catchy title track, the electronic 'All I Want Is Everything' and the snappy ballad 'Breathe a Sigh' among the standout tracks. The album showed the group willing to take risks and venture beyond the "Mutt"-mastered sound that had shot them to fame."

| title1 = Truth?

| note1 = demo version) (B-Side from "Work It Out" UK single

| writer1 =

| length1 = 4:56

| title2 = Work It Out

| note2 = original demo) (B-Side from "Work It Out" UK single

| writer2 = Campbell

| length2 = 3:33

| title3 = All I Want Is Everything

| note3 = demo version

| writer3 = Elliott

| length3 = 5:03

| title4 = Move with Me Slowly

| note4 = 1st draft

| writer4 = Collen

| length4 = 6:22

| title5 = When Saturday Comes

| note5 = from the film When Saturday Comes and "All I Want Is Everything" single

| writer5 = Elliott

| length5 = 4:21

| title6 = Jimmy's Theme

| note6 = from the film When Saturday Comes and "All I Want Is Everything" single

| writer6 = Eliott

| length6 = 3:20

| title7 = Cause We Ended as Lovers

| note7 = from the Jeff Beck tribute album Jeffology: A Guitar Chronicle and "All I Want Is Everything" single

| writer7 = Stevie Wonder

| length7 = 6:04

| title8 = Led Boots

| note8 = from the Jeff Beck tribute album Jeffology: A Guitar Chronicle and "All I Want Is Everything" single

| writer8 = Max Middleton

| length8 = 4:03

Personnel

Def Leppard

  • Joe Elliott – lead vocals, additional guitar and bass on "Pearl of Euphoria", production
  • Phil Collen – guitars, mandolin, backing vocals, production
  • Vivian Campbell – guitars, dulcimer, backing vocals, production
  • Rick Savage – bass, acoustic guitars, synth bass, backing vocals, production
  • Rick Allen – drums, percussion, production

Additional personnel

  • Gloria Flores – Spanish voice on "Slang"
  • Ram Narayan – intro sarangi sample on "Turn to Dust"
  • Craig Pruess – string and percussion arranging and conducting on "Turn to Dust"
  • Av Singh – dohl on "Turn to Dust"
  • Shyam Vatish – outro sarangi sample on "Turn to Dust"
  • Pete Woodroffe – piano on "Blood Runs Cold", keyboard strings on "Where Does Love Go When It Dies", production, engineering, mixing
  • Gavyn Wright – string leader on "Turn to Dust"

Technical personnel

  • Ger McDonnell – engineering, programming on "Truth?"
  • Matt Pakucko – mixing assistant
  • Bob Ludwig – mastering
  • Brad Buxer, Bobby Brooks – programming on "Slang" and "Breathe a Sigh"
  • Hugh Drumm – programming on "Truth?"
  • Jeff Murray – art direction
  • Jager di Paola – design
  • Cynthia Levine, Jeff Rooney – photography

Charts

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!Chart (1996)

!Peak<br />position

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!scope="row"| French Albums (SNEP)

| align="center"| 24

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!scope="row"|Japanese Albums (Oricon)

| align="center"| 38

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|-

|-

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{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

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!Chart (2014)

!Peak<br />position

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Certifications

References

Notes

  • (Deluxe Edition)