Hysteria (album)

Hysteria is the fourth album by British hard rock band Def Leppard, released in 1987 (see 1987 in music). The band initially set out to record it without direct involvement of Mutt Lange due to scheduling conflicts. However, as the band struggled with the recording process and drummer Rick Allen's auto accident, Lange would eventually join the project full-time. He recommended that they scrap most of the previous recording sessions and start largely from scratch.

Related Topics:
British - Hard rock - Def Leppard - 1987 - 1987 in music - Mutt Lange - Rick Allen - Recording session

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The resulting album was a departure from the hard rocking sound of Pyromania. The summer 1987 release was a tight set of rock songs that were heavy on effects, keyboards and synth lines.

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It's arguable that these elements combined with the killer ballads "Love Bites" and "Hysteria" are what helped the band really break into the mainstream in the States. The singles taken from album also featured remixes, which was generally unheard of for metal bands at that time.

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Near the end of the recording process for Hysteria, singer Joe Elliott picked up an acoustic guitar for fun during a break. When Mutt Lange heard the riff that Joe was playing, he thought it was a great hook and should be used on the album. This simple guitar riff became the chorus of Pour Some Sugar On Me.

Related Topics:
Joe Elliott - Mutt Lange - Riff - Hook

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The band worked mostly out of Wisseloord studios in the Netherlands. In the end, Def Leppard spent several million dollars to produce Hysteria.

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At 12x platinum, Hysteria currently sits as the 50th best selling album of all time in the USA. In 1998 Q magazine readers voted Hysteria the 98th greatest album of all time.

Related Topics:
Platinum - Best selling album - 1998 - ''Q'' magazine

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By mid-1989, more than half the album's tracks had been released as singles somewhere around the world. The exceptions being the epic "Gods Of War", "Don't Shoot Shotgun", "Run Riot", "Love And Affection" and "Excitable". The latter track appeared on a 12" single as the "Orgasmic Mix" and a live version of "Love and Affection" appeared on the "Hysteria" single.

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