DEF LEPPARD FANS WERE NEVER TOO EXCITED ABOUT 'EXCITABLE' OFF 1987'S HYSTERIA

Tim Badrick still knows how to party hard now and then and he knows good no nonsense old fashioned party rock when he hears it. Which is why i have always been amazed that this funked up party rocker off the hugely popular DEF LEPPARD album HYSTERIA in 1987, EXCITABLE, was not only never released as a single but has never caught on even with the most hardened of Def Leppard fans in the years following the album's release.


EXCITABLE has all the hallmarks of an album track that should have gained some kind of cult status for one main reason other than it's lack of popular appeal - that being the song was a real diversion for the band, kinda like a mixture of hard rock and dance, in much the same vein as PRINCE and LETS GO CRAZY.


Although it lacks the amazing pyrotechnic guitar work of that particular song from Prince, EXCITABLE would still have to rate as being in the Top 10 dance rock songs of all time.


HYSTERIA was the first album Def Leppard recorded following a horrific New Years Eve 1983 car accident which left drummer Rick Allen with only his right arm, and some of the tracks on HYSTERIA noticably compensated for his physical limitations playing drums with only one arm by substituting traditional percussion with electronic percussion.


Out of all the songs on HYSTERIA, EXCITABLE is the full realization of that change. Essentially Rick Allen could have recorded the same drum track with PRINCE or even PSEUDO ECHO and it probaly would have sounded just as impressive and catchy.


There would have been at least 100 80`s pop bands who would have killed to have written a song like EXCITABLE, the reason why this dance party rock gem has been inexplicably brushed aside for 25 years is probaly because it just doesn't fit in on what is still regarded as the greatest pop metal album of all time.


Normally I disagree with music critics, this is one of those rare occasions where i think the fans have got it wrong. By the way, the late Steve Clark never sounded more playful and exuberant on guitar than he did performing EXCITABLE.