Mercury 830675
Producer: John “Mutt” Lange
Track listing: Women / Rocket / Animal / Love Bites / Pour Some Sugar on Me / Armageddon It / Gods of War / Don’t Shoot Shotgun / Run Riot / Hysteria / Excitable / Love and Affection
July 23, 1988
6 weeks (nonconsecutive)
By 1984, a young five-piece British and rock band called Def Leppard had arrived. Pyromania, the group’s third album peaked at number two — only Michael Jackson’s Thriller could keep it from the top spot — and spent 92 weeks on the chart, securing the band a position as one of the most popular rock acts in the world. “With Pyromania we set out to make our version of Sgt. Pepper’s,” says vocalist Joe Elliott. “We didn’t achieve that, but we made a damn good rock record. With the next record, we attempted to take it a step further.”
In their quest for sonic perfection, Def Leppard went through a number of different studios, a few producers, and spent four years making Hysteria. At first, in August 1984, the band attempted to work with Meat Loaf producer/songwriter Jim Steinman, but nothing from those sessions ever saw the light of day. “It was a complete mismatch. It was like going from a Rolls Royce to a bicycle,” says Elliott, comparing the production styles of Pyromania producer John “Mutt” Lange and Steinman.
Then, on New Year’s Eve 1984, drummer Rick Allen had his left arm severed in an auto accident. “We all went visit him in the hospital and it was such a traumatic thing. We figured if we just sat around and waited for him to get well, we’d all just start cracking up,” says Elliott. “We figured the best way to get around it was to go back to work.”
Following the accident, the band attempted to produce itself, as Allen recuperated, using the drum tracks that had been recorded with Steinman. In April 1985, Allen rejoined the band, using a custom electronic drum kit equipped with foot pedals, allowing him to drum one-handed. “It gave us a good lift when Rick came back,” says Elliott.
By the summer of 1985, Lange was ready to work with the band again and the sessions proceeded. The turning point came when the band recorded “Animal.” Says Elliott, “We wanted the vocal to be really attention-grabbing. I thought it would take a long time to record it, but I nailed it in two days, which for me is damned quick. That was a very inspiring moment. It gave me the confidence to carry on with the rest of the record.”
Hysteria also marked a dramatic change in the way the members of Def Leppard wrote their songs. “Everyone always commented when we first started out about how great our songs were,” says Elliott. “But there was always an element of the songwriter missing.” For much of Hysteria, the band wrote around Elliott’s vocal lines, rather than “writing a piece of music and letting me scream over the top in whatever fashion I could muster.”
The new writing style led to the creation of “Love Bites.” For the ballad, the group borrowed the lyrics from another of its songs. (The original track, retitled “I Wanna Be Your Hero,” was subsequently released on Retro Active, a 1993 album of rarities.)
Yet Def Leppard’s troubles weren’t over. In November 1986, Elliott came down with the mumps and spent nine days in bed, while Lange was hospitalized for three weeks in December after a car accident. The album was mixed in the spring of 1987 and finally released in August. Hysteria debuted at number 36 and took 49 weeks to hit the top, but for Elliott and Def Leppard it was worth the wait. “It was a nightmare to make, but I still enjoy listening to it today,” he says. “I’d rather have it that way than have an album that I had a great time making, but I can’t listen to.”
THE TOP FIVE
Week of July 23, 1988
1. Hysteria, Def Leppard
2. OU812, Van Halen
3. Dirty Dancing, Soundtrack
4. Appetite for Destruction, Guns N’ Roses
5. Faith, George Michael