Looking for something to listen to this morning for my commute to work, I pulled out the old Def Leppard album Hysteria. It's been a while since I'd listened to it, but it was one of the largest albums of my high school tenure. I know every beat, nuance, and grunt by heart, embedded somewhere deep in the back of my brain. I'd say I know every word, except that I never could understand what he was saying. I used to make up whole lyrics out of soundalikes that I still can sing to this day, obviously having nothing to do with the real lyrics. Regardless, it was a fun remembrance of my youth. I can still remember sitting on the tall stool next to the old, crusty topped bar that served as my closet of my room in my parents' basement, busily doing my homework all spread out over the bar while listening to the album and singing along. Yes, I was a BIG Def Leppard fan.

Side note: Listening to their song "Gods of War" (which I used to insist was entitled "Miracles" because that's what I thought they were singing but have since learned they were singing "Here it comes" during the chorus) I was confronted with their use of Reagan's voice during several segments of the song and his passages about taking on terrorists and that America would not back down and stuff like that. The album was from the mid-80's, you know. It reminded me so much of our current situation and sounded so similar to Bush's stances and sayings these days. And now we're again creating a large military build-up and fighting terrorists. So it's the 80's all over again, complete with the television show out to remind us of our haughty days. Why do I feel myself cringing now? Ah, but, let's get back to the music.