Hysteria (album)
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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 (done at great expense with Jim Steinman in the producer chair) and start largely from scratch.
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.
It's arguable that these elements combined with the killer ballads "Love Bites" and "Hysteria" are what helped the band achieve massive success in the States. The singles taken from album also featured remixes, which was generally unheard of for metal bands at that time.
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.
Most of the album was written during the period 1984-1986 in Dublin, Ireland. Most of the production work was eventually done in Wisseloord studios in the Netherlands. In the end, Def Leppard spent several million dollars to produce Hysteria.
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. In 2003, the album was ranked number 472 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
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.
Trivia
- On the album version of "Rocket", the unintelligible words sung at the very beginning of the track (which are also repeated several times throughout the break) are actually a backmasked message. When played backwards, the band sings "We were fighting with the gods of war", a lyric from another song on the same album. However, this intro and most of the break were omitted from the single edit.
- At the very end of "Love Bites", after vocalist Joe Elliott says "watch out, love bites", producer Mutt Lange can be heard saying "Yes it does, bloody hell". Some people believed this line was actually "Jesus of Nazereth, go to hell", a claim denied by the band.
- "Gods of War" features audio clips of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and U.S. President Ronald Reagan, both of whom were in office at the time of the album's release.
- The song "Love Bites" was already mostly written (as a country ballad) by Mutt Lange when he brought it to the band. They deconstructed it and gave it the Def Leppard feel.
Track listing
- "Women" – 5:41
- "Rocket" – 6:34
- "Animal" – 4:02
- "Love Bites" – 5:46
- "Pour Some Sugar on Me" – 4:25
- "Armageddon It" – 5:21
- "Gods of War" – 6:32
- "Don't Shoot Shotgun" – 4:10
- "Run Riot" – 4:38
- "Hysteria" – 5:49
- "Excitable" – 4:19
- "Love and Affection" – 4:35
Personnel
- Rick Allen – drums
- Steve Clark – guitar
- Phil Collen – guitar
- Joe Elliott – vocals
- Rick Savage – bass guitar
Production
- Producer: Robert John "Mutt" Lange
- Engineers: Nigel Green, Erwin Musper, Ronald Prent
- Assistant engineer: Nigel Green
- Mixing: Nigel Green, Mike Shipley
- Mastering: Bob Ludwig, Howie Weinberg
- Fairlight: Phil Nicholas
- Tape operator: Mark Flannery
- Photography: Ross Halfin, Laurie Lewis
Singles
- "Women" (1987)
- "Animal" (1987)
- "Pour Some Sugar on Me" (1987)
- "Hysteria" (1987)
- "Armageddon It" (1988)
- "Love Bites" (1988)
- "Rocket" (1989)
Charts
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | The Billboard 200 | 1 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | "Women" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 80 |
| 1987 | "Women" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 7 |
| 1987 | "Animal" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 19 |
| 1987 | "Animal" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 5 |
| 1987 | "Animal" | UK Singles Chart | 6 |
| 1987 | "Hysteria" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 10 |
| 1988 | "Hysteria" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 9 |
| 1987 | "Hysteria" | UK Singles Chart | 26 |
| 1988 | "Pour Some Sugar on Me" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 2
|
| 1988 | "Pour Some Sugar on Me" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 25 |
| 1988 | "Pour Some Sugar on Me" | UK Singles Chart | 18 |
| 1988 | "Love Bites" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| 1988 | "Love Bites" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 3 |
| 1988 | "Love Bites" | UK Singles Chart | 11 |
| 1988 | "Armageddon It" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 3 |
| 1988 | "Armageddon It" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 3 |
| 1988 | "Armageddon It" | UK Singles Chart | 20 |
| 1989 | "Rocket" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 12 |
| 1989 | "Rocket" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 5 |
| 1989 | "Rocket" | UK Singles Chart | 15 |
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