UMUR "Hysteria" is the 4th full-length studio album by UK hard/heavy rock act Def Leppard. The album was released through Mercury Records in August 1987. "Hysteria" is one of those albums with a really interesting recording history. Right after coming home from a one year long tour supporting "Pyromania (1983)", the band moved in together and imidiately starting writing material for their next album. The writing sessions were under the supervision of producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, but when it became time to record the album Lange bailed out because he felt exhausted. The band brought in Jim Steinman (Meat Loaf) to produce the album but after working with Steinman for many months and recording almost a full album´s length of material, the band fired Steinman because they didn´t agree with his vision, and decided to start from scratch. The band wanted a more polished and accessible sound compared to Steinman´s vision of a more raw and unpolished rock´n´roll sound. After firing Steinman the band opted to produce the album themselves with Robert John "Mutt" Lange´s recording engineer Nigel Green, but that turned out fruitless too. It´s wasn´t until Lange returned to produce the album that things started to happen, and they actually happened pretty fast.

So the band had a lot of trouble with the production of the album but in addition to that drummer Rick Allen was also struck with a personal tragedy on the 31st of December 1984, when he lost his left arm in an auto accident. Not only was the recovery process hard, but he also had to learn to play on a new special designed drumkit. "Hysteria" is definitely one of those albums which had a painful birth, which must have made it even more satisfying for the band when the album spawned no less that seven hit singles and sold millions of copies (estimated around 20 million copies worldwide).

The music on the album is an accessible, melodic and catchy type heavy rock. You won´t find much of a heavy metal edge here, but it´s damn catchy material. It´s obvious that everything has been thought through in detail. The sound production is big, layered and polished. The choruses generally feature a lot of AOR type layered choirs and they are easy to sing along to. There is no doubt the band got exactly what they wanted with "Hysteria": "A rock album that could hit the pop charts". With an album where seven out of twelve tracks are hit singles it´s almost ridiculous mentioned specific tracks, but I guess tracks like "Pour Some Sugar On Me", "Love Bites" and "Women" still deserve a mention.

No one can question the popularity of "Hysteria". It´s through and through a successful album. It sold incredibly well and the band were excited and happy about it. People into softer heavy rock will probably agree with the band, but if your preference is for more raw type of heavy rock/hard rock, this is probably not the best investment. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is warranted.

Sinkadotentree I still remember buying this cassette in the city of Barrie and popping it into the cassette player in my car as i took the 35 minute drive home.I got a lot of mileage out of that cassette over the years.And while i prefered the earlier "Pyromania" recording there's just too many great tunes on here to dismiss it.I went and saw them on that tour down in Hamilton,Ontario where QUEENSRYCHE opened up for them.It was a great show although i must admit i was wired for sound that night.On a side note i would write off my TransAm in a car accident in 1988 and bought a pick-up truck.I wanted to put "Comfortably Numb" on the sides of the truck but thought that would draw too much attention to me from the cops so i put "Hysteria" on it.Looking back i'm not sure why i did that because this wasn't even close to being my favourite album.I guess i just thought it sounded cool. Three great tunes to start in "Women" , "Rocket" and "Animal".They're all so catchy and easy to "rock out" to."Animal" especially did a lot for me.A feel good tune if there ever was one. "Love Bites" was the ballad and "Pour Some Sugar On Me" the big single.Not too impressed with either but at the time they were okay. "Armageddon It" was great.Some attitude there and so catchy. "Gods Of War" was well done with the affects early on then this beat that was addictive.Good song. "Don't Shoot Shotgun" never did a lot for me. "Run Riot" was better.Lots of energy. "Hysteria" makes me smile.Those were the days with that green eyed blonde at my side."Hysteria when your near"."Excitable" was hard not to bob your head to. "Love And Affection" was okay. A good Pop-Metal album that i still get a kick out of.

topofsm To the pop music world in the 1980s, Def Leppard were darlings of MTV (when they still played music videos of course) and 'metal' radio. While their sex symbol status and popularity were nothing to scoff at, this doesn't entirely translate to music. For the average music fan, the singles like "Pour Some Sugar on Me", "Love Bites", and "Animal" are great for the random shuffled song on your iPod. For metalheads, though, anything past High n' Dry is not worth much time.

For one thing, this is one of those albums that are closer to a collection of songs rather than one cohesive work. The band was working to create something like Michael Jackson's Thriller where every song was a potential hit single. This is good for a singles band such as Def Leppard, but after a while listening to the album the songs tend to lose their luster.

That being said, there are some downright catchy riffs to be found. The singles previously mentioned are worth every minute on a classic rock radio station due to their ear-worm melodies. Also worth mentioning is "Rocket", with a bouncy little ditty firing off of pop culture references.

Metal? Not to be found here. There's little development, no heaviness, and while metal prides itself on basing its music on elements not found in pop music, Hysteria is one of those albums that sucks all those elements up and rolls around in them.

That being said, metalheads should enjoy the song "Gods of War", which starts off with an atmospheric aura and builds into a fantastic riff in a way that bands like Def Leppard don't really do. It's not a prog song in any respect of the word, but the intro develops in a way that prog and metal fans should appreciate it.

Overall, Hysteria is a (good) collection of pop/rock singles that was caught up in the 'hysteria' of glam metal in the 80s. It was everything a radio station wanted in the day: it was filled with tons of hooks and sugary melodies played by a band that they could call metal. Unfortunately, these elements translate poorly overall to the real metal community and it is hardly a recommended album in that respect.

Stephen Def Leppard's history is like a Hollywood fictional movie. As soon as they released “Pyromania", Rick Allen was involved in a car accident that caused him his left arm. Allen was in a depressive state when singer Joe Elliot came and encouraged him to continue playing with a special drumset designed for him. Def Leppard then returned to the scene with this fourth album in 1987 and went on to become their biggest selling album with over 20 million sales worldwide. And just when they think the worst is over, the original guitarist and songwriter, Steve Clark, was later found dead in 1991 because of drug overdose.

The concept of "Hysteria" is to create an album with as many singles as possible, and the band achieved a record-breaking milestone by putting seven hit singles to the chart. This objective marked a change on their musical style by incorporating a heavier pop element which alienated some fans demanding a consistent heavy metal sound. Despite that many singles, some tracks here are quite average. "Women" and "Rocket" are even a decent opener, "Don't Shoot Shotgun" and "Excitable" are totally fillers, but "Animal" and "Armageddon It" are very good with Leppard's harmonic chant trademark and anthemic hooks.

"Love Bites" is a good ballad and "Pour Some Sugar On Me" is a classic party tune that inspired many newer songs, from Warrant's "Cherry Pie" to Reckless Love's "Love Machine", but those hits aren't really my favorite. I think the non-single tracks, "Gods of War" and "Love And Affection", are even better. The best track of the album is definitely the title track, from the memorable picking intro, the dense verse, to the fantastic chorus and harmonic guitars, this track is just flawless.

In my opinion, "Hysteria" and "Adrenalize" are very similar in songwriting structure and approach, fans who like this album won't have any difficulty enjoying the follow-up, and vice versa. This album is highly recommended for fans of mid-80s glam/pop metal, melodic hard rock, AOR, or Def Leppard's hardcore.

Time Signature Shoot shotgun...

Genre: (pop) metal

Compared to any of Def Leppard's previous releases, "Hysteria" is very polished in sound and very poppy. Still, I think it's a very good album. I like how Def Leppard make use of muliply layered effects on this album, and the layered vocals and vocal harmonies. There is a lot of focus on melody, and a number of the songs would probably count as power ballads. Still, compared to a lot of other poppy metal of the day, "Hysteria" is very original, and I think the band deserves credit for that.

... and then there are some very impressive guitar solos by Phil Collen on this album.

I think this album will appeal mainly to those who prefer light metal and poppy metal, and, given its use of effects and the like, fans of 80s pop might like it, too.