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Hysteria (album)




  Type Album
  Artist Def Leppard
  Cover Def Leppard - Hysteriajpg
  Released August 3 , 1987
  Recorded Feb 1984-Jan 1987, Wisseloord Studios , Hilversum , Netherlands , Windmill Lane Studio 2 , Dublin, Ireland <br> Studio Des Dames ,<br> Paris, France <br> additional mixing,<br> February-May 1987
  Genre Hard Rock
  Length 61:52
  Label Mercury / Phonogram
  Producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange
  Last Album '' Pyromania '' <br /> (1983)
  This Album '''''Hysteria''''' <br /> (1987)
  Next Album '' Adrenalize '' <br /> (1992)
  Misc {{Singles
  Name ''Hysteria''
  Type studio
  Single 1 Animal
  Single 1 Date July, 1987 (UK)<br />September, 1987 (US)
  Single 2 Women
  Single 2 Date August, 1987 (US only)
  Single 3 Pour Some Sugar On Me
  Single 3 Date September, 1987 (UK)<br />April, 1988 (US)
  Single 4 Hysteria
  Single 4 Date November, 1987 (UK)<br />January, 1988 (US)
  Single 5 Armageddon It
  Single 5 Date April, 1988 (UK)<br />November, 1988 (US)
  Single 6 Love Bites
  Single 6 Date July, 1988 (UK)<br />August, 1988 (US)
  Single 7 Rocket
  Single 7 Date February, 1989 (UK, US)




''Hysteria'' is the fourth album by British Hard Rock band Def Leppard , released in 1987. It is the band's best-selling album to date, selling over 18 million copies worldwide, and spawning seven hit singles. It was produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange .

The album was the follow-up to the band's 1983 breakthrough '' Pyromania ''. Its creation process was one of the longest ever for a rock album, taking over three years, and was plagued by many trials, such as the December 31 , 1984 car accident that cost Rick Allen his left arm.




HISTORY


Initially, ''Hysteria'' was to be named "Animal Instincts" by Lange, but he dropped out after pre-production sessions, citing exhaustion from a grueling schedule from the past few years. Meat Loaf songwriter Jim Steinman was brought in. Then the band tried to produce the album themselves with Lange's engineer Nigel Green with no success, as initial recordings sessions were entirely scrapped at this point.

On during 1986.

The final recording sessions took place in January 1987 for the song " Armageddon It ", but Lange spent another 3 months mixing the tracks. The album was finally released worldwide on August 3 , 1987 , with " Animal " as the lead single in most countries except for the US where " Women " was the first single.

Fortunately for the band, their popularity in their homeland had significantly grown over the past four years, helping ''Hysteria'' to top the charts in Britain in its first week of release. The album was also a major success in other parts of Europe.

In the United States though, the band at first struggled to regain the momentum of '' Pyromania '' that was lost from such a prolonged absence, but the success of " Pour Some Sugar On Me " would turn both the band and the album into a worldwide phenomenon.


CONCEPT


The album's goal, set out by Lange, was to be a hard rock version of Michael Jackson 's '' Thriller '', in that every track was a potential hit single. Songs were therefore written with this concept in mind, disappointing heavy metal fans who clamored for a straight sequel to ''Pyromania''.

Indeed, while ''Pyromania'' contained traces of heavy metal, "Hysteria" removed them in favor of the latest sonic technology available at the time (best displayed on "Rocket", " Love Bites ", "Excitable", and "Gods of War").

As with ''Pyromania'', every song was recorded by every member in the studio separately instead of the whole band. The multiple vocal harmonies were enhanced by Lange's techniques, even pitching background vocals on all tracks. Guitar parts were now focused more on emphasizing melody than hard rock's more basic and cliched riffs.

This unique approach sometimes led to painstaking lengths of time in the recording studio. The smash single, " Pour Some Sugar On Me ", was the last song written but was quickly finished within two weeks. In sharp contrast, the final version of "Animal" took almost a full three years to be developed but did become one of the bigger hits from the album.

The end result was an album that improved in almost every musical aspect from ''Pyromania''. The tighter construction, state-of-the-art production and futuristic sound on all twelve tracks was a revolutionary concept for hard rock, and the music carried a near-perfect crossover appeal by tapping into the mainstream without losing much of the hardcore fanbase.

It was a formula (and success) that Lange would later repeat with his wife Shania Twain in Country Music with the albums '' The Woman In Me '' and '' Come On Over ''.

''Hysteria'' went on to dominate album charts around the world for three years. At 14 times Platinum in America alone and another 8 million copies sold outside the US, ''Hysteria'' currently sits as the 51st Best Selling Album of all time in the US.


MISCELLANEA


  • In 1988 ''Q'' Magazine readers voted ''Hysteria'' as the 98th Greatest Album of All Time.

  • In 2004, the album was ranked at number 472 on Rolling Stone 's list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time .

  • The leadoff track, "Women", was selected as the first single for the US, instead of "Animal", in July 1987. Then-manager Cliff Bernstein reasoned that the band needed to reconnect with its hard rock audience first before issuing more Top 40-friendly singles. The strategy backfired somewhat as "Women" did not make a large impact on the rock charts.

  • On " Rocket ", unintelligible words that are sampled at the very beginning (and repeated several times throughout the track) are actually a Backmasked message. When played backwards, one hears "We're fighting with the gods of war", from the track "Gods of War", also on the album. However, this sample is omitted from the single version, released in 1989.

  • The song "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.

  • " Love Bites " was already mostly written in the vein of a country ballad by Mutt Lange when he brought it to the band's attention.

  • 11 of the 12 songs on "Hysteria" appeared in one form or another on single releases throughout the world; as either the principal track, as a remix or in a live version.
    The one song that did not get this treatment was "Gods of War".

  • The iconic album cover was designed by Andie Airfix of Satori, who has done other covers of Def Leppard albums before and since.

  • The title of the album was thought up by drummer Rick Allen , relating to his experiences during the time of his auto accident, and the worldwide media coverage that followed.

  • As names referring to mental conditions, the fact that '' Pyromania '' and ''Hysteria'' found themselves as back-to-back album titles were purely coincidental.
    However, it did directly inspire the title of 1999's '' Euphoria '', such as to complete that "trilogy".

  • On the Billboard magazine dated October 8, 1988, Def Leppard held the Number One spot on both the singles and album charts (with " Love Bites " and ''Hysteria'', respectively)

  • In the liner notes to this album, the band apologizes for the long wait between albums, and promises to never make fans wait that long between albums again. Later events, namely Steve Clark's death, would prove this untrue.

  • On October 24 2006, a 2-CD "deluxe edition" of the album was released, including a remaster of the original b-sides and bonus tracks from the album's period.

  • To date this album has sold more than 22 million copies

  • The 2001 , uses the album title as the title of the Film .



ORIGINAL TRACK LISTING

# " Women " – 5:41
# " Rocket " – 6:35
# " 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

Some import versions of the album include a live version of Love And Affection as a bonus track.

All songs written by Steve Clark, Phil Collen, Joe Elliott, Robert John Lange and Rick Savage.


2006 DELUXE EDITION TRACK LISTING


Disc 1

# 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

All songs written by Steve Clark, Phil Collen, Joe Elliott, Robert John Lange and Rick Savage.

#
  • Tear It Down – 3:38
    # Ride Into the Sun Re-recording - 3:12
    # I Wanna Be Your Hero – 4:29
    # Ring of Fire – 4:42


    Disc 2

    # Elected (Alice Cooper cover) in Tilburg, Holland
    # Love And Affection in Tilburg, Holland
    # Billy's Got A Gun in Tilburg, Holland
    # Rock Of Ages medley from Tilburg, Holland
    # Women in Denver
    # Animal Version
    # Pour Some Sugar On Me Version
    # Armageddon It Nuclear mix
    # Excitable mix
    # Rocket Lunar mix
    # Release Me (with Stumpus Maximus & The Good Ol' Boys) ( Malvin Mortimer {Band's Tour Manager} & Def Leppard) (Engelbert Humperdinck cover)


    CREDITS


    Def Leppard



    PRODUCTION

    • Robert John "Mutt" Lange - producer

    • Nigel Green - engineer, assistant engineer, mixing

    • Erwin Musper - engineer

    • Ronald Prent - engineer

    • Mike Shipley - mixing

    • Bob Ludwig - mastering

    • Howie Weinberg - mastering

    • Ross Halfin - photography

    • Laurie Lewis - photography

    • Mark Flannery - tape operator

    • Phil Nicholas - Fairlight



    SINGLES

    • " Animal " (July 1987 in UK) / (September 1987 in US)

    • " Women " (August 1987 in US only)

    • " Pour Some Sugar On Me " (September 1987 in UK) / (April 1988 in US)

    • " Hysteria " (November 1987 in UK) / (January 1988 in US)

    • " Armageddon It " (April 1988 in UK) / (November 1988 in US)

    • " Love Bites " (July 1988 in UK) / (August 1988 in US)

    • " Rocket " (February 1989 in UK) / (February 1989 in US)