Now, flash forward 29 years and we already know that their Hysteria album is considered to be one of the best rock albums in history. It went 12x platinum and spawned 7 singles over the course of about 18 months. To this day, "Pour Some Sugar On Me" remains a rock party anthem that nearly everyone seems to know the lyrics to. Ironically, the album's producer, Mutt Lange set out to help the guys create the rock equivalent of Michael Jackson's Thriller, meaning that nearly every track on it could be released as a successful single. Mission accomplished.
But back in 1987 when Hysteria was first released, Def Leppard had no clue of what was really to come. Instead all that the guys knew for sure is that it took them three years to complete the album and that no one deserved the amount of bad luck that they had to persevere through in order to complete the record. It was during this time that drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm after a car accident and had to learn how to play all over again, using his left foot and pedals. That crisis was the clincher and from it the title Hysteria was born. The media was all over the group at the time of Allen's accident and it was the one word that seemed to sum up their lives.
I still love nearly every song on this album and at least half of them have a specific memory attached. While Hysteria is not my favorite track, it is a great one, especially knowing a bit of the back story.