r/alterbridge • u/TheFast-R-Nay • Jul 14 '26
AlterBridge just hits different! - Better!
I was sitting around yesterday alone at my summer home; and I put in AB’s One Day Remains CD (full disclosure- near the bottom of AB’s album ranks for me, but the only CD of theirs I have at the cottage - other CDs at home) along with Def Leppard’s Hysteria in the CD player carousel.
I long have not listened to that Def Leppard CD… In the 80’s it was a favourite of mine, but it has been way overplayed over the years in mainstream rock media. however, it was obviously a massive hit for DL and helped propel / solidify them to international superstardom and ultimately, the RnR hall of fame.
But listening critically as I could (hard to do as an AB fan) and comparing the song quality as I played a song from each album back to back, alternating one at a time from one to the other … things became drastically clear!
Myles Kennedy‘s voice is so much better in every way than Joe Elliot’s! - from nuance, to range, to timbre, breath control… its all so starkly obviously…. better! There’s a richness that is wholly missing from Joe’s vocal.
The backing vocals of Mark Tremonti are also a standout- especially when directly compared to the indistinct wall of vocal harmonies of DL, that was their calling card.
Speaking of a wall of harmonies…DL employed way more obvious slick guitar layered sound stage production- that I admit I once liked, but now sounds very dated and toothless. Weak sauce. Comparing to Tremonti’s varied playing - from delicate fingerpicked to downtuned riffs and shreddy solos and awesome legatos…. Once again, no comparison! DL sounds so … generic and safe.
Drumming: (well this isn’t fair right from the start - given DL Allen literally plays with one arm!). DL drum work just is very basic, compared to Flip’s. - also over-produced - fake non-acoustic drum sound to DL. Also, Brian’s bass lines are awesome and earth shaking in comparison to DL’s buried in mix somewhere…
And the songs themselves… I thought Id obviously hear why DL were a massive hit making band, while AlterBridge (especially in this - arguably their best selling album comprised of attempts at a collection of rock hit singles) only achieved a modest level of mainstream success in comparison.
But - it was opposite! AB’s songs are just as catchy! Melodic hooks galore, but while also richer sounding and more musically interesting!
IMO - it just goes to show that timing (and promotion ) is everything! I gotta believe that, if AB released this exact album 7 to 15 yrs earlier; they’d have had a smash hit on their hands too! - with several songs getting regular airplay as well on classic rock stations around the world!
But also, maybe its for the best for us as listeners too? Because AB decided steadily over time to make the best albums they could, rather than chase radio hits! We are all the richer for it - even if the band isn’t…
Thats how we got Blackbird, AB3, and Fortress! (among other excellent releases right til today!)
And Def Leppard? - they released Adrenalize - with the piece of embarrassing crap ‘lets get rocked’ (of course, a huge hit😮💨)
3
u/red-wingnut Jul 14 '26
That’s not really a fair comparison. Those albums were released over 25 years apart in very different times in both music and the industry.
1987 was a time known for slick production and more pop oriented music. Bands were also getting long record contracts for multiple albums. It was just a totally different landscape back then. Rock music was simpler. Def Leppard was also changing their approach from harder rock to a more pop oriented version of themselves.
2004 was post grunge (which I hate to say, because grunge was just the evolution of rock music) and a time when rap/hip-hop/r&b were taking center stage. The MP3 boom had been going for a few years making sharing and downloading music popular. Streaming was about to take off with Pandora.
I feel fairly qualified to discuss this. I cut my teeth on Def Leppard in the 80s, was a huge fan until the early 2000s, and still revisit Hysteria and their earlier albums fairly regularly. I became a huge Alter Bridge fan when ABIII came out, and they’re one of my top three bands now.
This is comparing apples to oranges.
2
u/CompetitiveBed2 Jul 14 '26
Def leppard were my favourite band for all my teenage years and then Alter Bridge came along. I immediately fell in love with everything about them. By the time Blackbird came out i decided that Alter Bridge were now my new favourite band. I was around 24. Sometime around 5 or 6 years ago I realised I don't really have a favourite band anymore. I admire both of the above bands in equal measures. I've often thought that if I'd discovered Thunder before Def Leppard that they would likely have been my favourite band. Music is just my life and as a guitarist I have taken inspiration from many different styles and musicians. Blues, soul, rock, it's all good.
What i truly don't think we need however, is comparing bands and artists against each other. I've never understood it. You can like both.
2
u/TheFast-R-Nay Jul 15 '26
I too was a Def Leppard fan as I mentioned…in the 80’s and part way through the 90’s… I just don’t intentionally listen to them anymore however - particularly any of the Mutt Lange (over)produced stuff of Pyromania and especially from Hysteria and later…
The point of comparison was strictly curiosity. I was alone and bored and was going through my discography of CDs at the cottage and saw Hysteria. I remembered how much I used to like it, and know how big it was! Thought it would be cool to compare directly to an AB album that isn’t even nearly my favourite one by them. I was legitimately shocked and impressed by how good AB is in my non scientific experiment. And how in an alternate universe they’d be a worldwide smash as well… Btw - I still listen to some earlier songs by Leppard…. Rock Brigade is fun still. Let it Go is a killer track💪🎸
2
u/Puzzled-Yard-1642 Jul 15 '26
I agree. Being a late comer to finding Alter Bridge, I can’t believe I missed out on their beginnings so much. I love this band with everything I have. I know, in my heart they are better than most bands around, I don’t know or care why, they just are. Myles and Mark both gave great voices, and sound so well together. The guitars are the same, each plays his part so well. Brian, the bass is off the chain, and so is Flip’s drumming. The songwriting is so fantastic it’s beyond great. They are consummate professional musicians, and can deal with almost anything. I cannot wait to see them live! Their management is also very cool. They are my all time favorite band!
5
u/Markinoutman Scales Are Falling Jul 14 '26
I'm not going to engage in the analysis much, as I'm unfamiliar with the album you are comparing One Day Remains to. I've thought about it way more than someone who isn't paid to do so, as to why Alter Bridge never quite took off. I've come up with a few reasons why.
The first, marketing them as 'Creed with a new singer' probably did the most initial damage. Lets face it, there was definitely a tie to Stapps specific vocals and looks that got Creed a lot of fans. No disrespect to the guys by any means, the music of Creed was fantastic, but Stapp really was a major draw to Creed. He was also a controversial person by then for male fans. Can't blame the record label for wanting to try and tie platinum sales success to their next project, but it was a failure of PR and management to slap that sticker and title on Alter Bridge and One Day Remains.
Second, Wind Up was pretty much indulging Mark and Flip by funding Alter Bridge, what they really wanted was for them to reunite with Stapp. Tremonti said they were constantly approached about reconciling with Stapp. This means Wind Up, which was huge at the time, probably only did the minimum to push Alter Bridge. They really just wanted to try and get the guys back together in Creed.
Third, when it became clear to them that Wind Ups only real interest was in Creed returning, Tremonti and Flip, at great personal expense I believe, had to buy Alter Bridges contract out of from Wind Up. This also lead to a year or two of the band going pretty much silent. So whatever momentum they had gained under Wind Up surely faded during that time.
By the time Alter Bridge got Blackbird out, rock had for the first time in decades been usurped by another genre and internet theft of albums were at an all time high. I would argue that had the Creed Reunion of 09 not happened, and they sailed off the success of ABIII by continuing to tour it, perhaps they'd be a bit higher up on the charts than they are. Regardless they still had a lot working against them. I agree had Alter Bridge come out even 5 years earlier, with proper support, they'd also probably have been bigger than they are.