Their third one (Pyromania) is their best, in my opinion.
But I think I'll go with Van Halen.
I think Def Leppard's first three albums are excellent...but their catelog went downhill after that.
Van Halen has some dull albums too (ie: "III")...but I think Van Halen has a larger number of great songs than Def Leppard does.
And Van Halen's image is cooler, I think (although the way they treated long-time original bassist Michael Anthony (dropping him after he was in the band for the first 30 years so that Eddie Van Halen's son could have a place in the band) was out of line).
Across the board... Van Halen. Def Leppard's first two albums are great... yet Van Halen I and Van Halen II are greater for me... in my "personal" opinion.
This was a "tough" one man. Gee Metal whiz. If I said a "tie" that would have been corn dog.
On through the night is good and High-n-Dry and Pyromania are great. After that I could care less about Def Leppard. For Van Halen the first two, Fair Warning and 1984 are great. Women and children first and Diver Down are good. After that I could care less about them too. Still that equals out to more great and good albums for Van Halen plus I listen to them more often. So Van Halen it is.
I'll go with VH. Of course, EVH's guitar inspired every hard rock band to center their music around guitar solos even though few guitarists are good enough to carry the weight of their band. If VH loses points for creating George Lynch and Warren Dimartini and Jake E Lee and all the other hacks that followed, I might have to change my vote.
Influence certainly plays a role. An innovator gets credit for good innovations. I was actually questioning whether EVH should lose credit for influencing a whole genre of bad guitarists that followed.
Both are very similar in many ways. Both started out as straightforward heavy metal bands, but neither of them really wanted that label. Both eventually went towards poppier directions that only barely even passed as hard rock. Both are well respected in the rock and metal scenes.
Overall I have to go with Van Halen. Their first four albums helped set the standard for rock and metal in the 1980's. They were also much heavier and much catchier than any of Def Leppard's albums. In fact, they could probably even be compared to Judas Priest's and Iron Maiden's early efforts as far a heaviness goes. I honestly feel that early Van Halen is much closer to those bands than it is to AC/DC or Led Zeppelin.
Also, Van Halen still managed to sound somewhat good even when they went pop and replaced David Lee Roth with Sammy Hagar. Seriously, Def Leppard's Hysteria was one of the worst albums I've ever heard in my life while 5150 and OU812 are still somewhat decent for poppy hard rock records.
the first 2 def leppard albums blow away anything that van halen could ever put out.
ReplyDelete>the first 2 def leppard albums
ReplyDeleteTheir third one (Pyromania) is their best, in my opinion.
But I think I'll go with Van Halen.
I think Def Leppard's first three albums are excellent...but their catelog went downhill after that.
Van Halen has some dull albums too (ie: "III")...but I think Van Halen has a larger number of great songs than Def Leppard does.
And Van Halen's image is cooler, I think (although the way they treated long-time original bassist Michael Anthony (dropping him after he was in the band for the first 30 years so that Eddie Van Halen's son could have a place in the band) was out of line).
Across the board... Van Halen. Def Leppard's first two albums are great... yet Van Halen I and Van Halen II are greater for me... in my "personal" opinion.
ReplyDeleteThis was a "tough" one man. Gee Metal whiz. If I said a "tie" that would have been corn dog.
Stone.
On through the night is good and High-n-Dry and Pyromania are great. After that I could care less about Def Leppard. For Van Halen the first two, Fair Warning and 1984 are great. Women and children first and Diver Down are good. After that I could care less about them too. Still that equals out to more great and good albums for Van Halen plus I listen to them more often. So Van Halen it is.
ReplyDeleteI'll go with VH. Of course, EVH's guitar inspired every hard rock band to center their music around guitar solos even though few guitarists are good enough to carry the weight of their band. If VH loses points for creating George Lynch and Warren Dimartini and Jake E Lee and all the other hacks that followed, I might have to change my vote.
ReplyDeleteOh, PUHLEEEZ !!! Van Halen BY FAR.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Def's first two were pretty good, but they've SUCKED GOAT BALLS ever since then.
oh, it's the old "they were influential so they're better" rule. got it.
ReplyDeleteInfluence certainly plays a role. An innovator gets credit for good innovations. I was actually questioning whether EVH should lose credit for influencing a whole genre of bad guitarists that followed.
ReplyDeleteVan Halen over Def Leppard, but the first album from either band are the only ones I'll listen to.
ReplyDeleteBoth are very similar in many ways. Both started out as straightforward heavy metal bands, but neither of them really wanted that label. Both eventually went towards poppier directions that only barely even passed as hard rock. Both are well respected in the rock and metal scenes.
ReplyDeleteOverall I have to go with Van Halen. Their first four albums helped set the standard for rock and metal in the 1980's. They were also much heavier and much catchier than any of Def Leppard's albums. In fact, they could probably even be compared to Judas Priest's and Iron Maiden's early efforts as far a heaviness goes. I honestly feel that early Van Halen is much closer to those bands than it is to AC/DC or Led Zeppelin.
Also, Van Halen still managed to sound somewhat good even when they went pop and replaced David Lee Roth with Sammy Hagar. Seriously, Def Leppard's Hysteria was one of the worst albums I've ever heard in my life while 5150 and OU812 are still somewhat decent for poppy hard rock records.