#mutt lange

It was on August 3rd 1987 -

That Def Leppard released ‘80s era defining album, Hysteria.

It changed my life.

Billboard writes, “Lange's awesome production highlights the set, which houses plenty of meaty, accessible tracks.”

Scorpions: Savage Amusement (1988)

Talk about albums that look better than they sound!

This stunning electric blue reissue of the Scorpions' hair metal fiasco, Savage Amusement, arrived just in time (courtesy of a loyal friend) to spare my wallet from disbursing another cent for an album I hated in 1988, but was tempted to revisit to "complete the set," as they say.

So allow me to repurpose some words I put together for Ultimate Classic Rock, a few years ago, since I was at least forced to be civil by my editors, when I wrote that "the Scorpions lost their venom with the disappointing Savage Amusement."

Until then, Germany’s favorite hard-rock sons had enjoyed considerable success since the start of the decade, going toe-to-toe with America's biggest contenders thanks to hit-filled, platinum-selling albums like 1982's Blackout and '84's Love at First Sting.

Not bad for a band formed way back in 1965 by the guitar-playing Schenker brothers, Rudolf and Michael (later poached by British rockers UFO), and that, with vocalist Klaus Meine and guitar wizard, Uli Jon Roth, spent the entire '70s establishing a solid career in Europe and Japan.

But the commercial rise of heavy metal in the 1980s really blew America's doors open for the Scorpions, who started packing arenas and blazing up the charts with heavy rock anthems like "No One Like You," "Rock You Like a Hurricane," and "Big City Nights."

Along the way, they became Germany's best-selling rock export ever!

There seemed to be no reason to tinker with this prosperous formula when the band began work on its tenth studio album, Savage Amusement, with longtime producer Dieter Dierks faithfully directing things from behind the studio console.

The only problem was that uber-producer Robert John 'Mutt' Lange had just raised the pop metal bar with Def Leppard's Hysteria, which quite literally redefined the state-of-the-art for hard rock production on its way to selling an astounding 10 million copies.

And unfortunately, despite his long and impressive career resume, Dierks was no Mutt, and so Savage Amusement ended up sounding like a pale imitation of this new standard for pristine song-smithing and synthetic technological wonders.

Ok, so lobotomized cock rock fans still heard something in chosen singles like "Passion Rules the Game," the big ballad "Believe in Love," and even the comatose "Rhythm of Love," whose lyrics were painfully banal even by the Scorps' charmingly cheesy standards.

But, for the band’s more discerning, oftentimes older faithful, synth-slathered robo-rock of this sort -- plus "Don’t Stop at the Top," "Walking on the Edge," and Hysteria wannabe "Media Overkill" -- felt more painful than, well, a real scorpion's sting.

Speaking for my teenage self, the only consolation for my wasted pocket money lay in the comparatively stripped-down "Every Minute, Every Day," and the ballsy head-banging of "We Let it Rock … You Let it Roll" and "Love on the Run," but these couldn't salvage what I like to call "Dieter Dierks' folly."

And there was no sugar-coating Savage Amusement's commercial performance, as it quickly plummeted from its Top 5 chart peak and achieved "merely" a Platinum sales certification, while its predecessor, Love at First Sting, had done triple the business.

More significantly, the album severed the Scorps' fruitful, decade-long relationship with Dierks, and saw him replaced by Keith Olsen (and noted song doctor Jim Vallance, of Bryan Adams fame) for 1990's much improved Crazy World.

The Cars' 5th studio album was released on 13 March 1984.

After the commercial "disappointments" of Panorama (1980) and Shake It Up (1981) - which sold 1 million and 2 million copies respectively - the Cars parted with producer Roy Thomas Baker and brought on "Mutt" Lange (who had brought commercial success to AC/DC, Foreigner, and Def Leppard).

boygenius covering the Shania Twain hit "You're Still The One". ______________________ You're Still The One Songwriters: Mutt Lange and Shania Twain