Def Leppard released “Hysteria” as a UK single on November 16, 1987. It was the third British single from their fourth studio album, following “Animal” and “Pour Some Sugar On Me”. Its unhurried melody concealed some painstaking work: guitar chords assembled note by note, a solo played by both guitarists together and a central guitar part recorded by the bassist.
Producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange wanted Hysteria to be an album full of potential singles. Phil Collen told Apple Music that the band drew inspiration from records beyond hard rock, looking for ways to expand what they could do with guitars, vocals and studio production. He described the title track as “somewhere between a rock song and a ballad,” a useful description of the space it occupied within that plan.
Bassist Rick Savage had been carrying the opening idea for months when he played it to Collen during a weekend break from recording. As Savage recalled in the 2002 Classic Albums documentary, the band had been looking for more straightforward rock material. He and Collen worked on the idea anyway, combining Savage’s riff with Collen’s bridge and developing much of the song in about two hours. They left the chorus unfinished and played it for the rest of the band when work resumed on Monday.
The arrangement grew into a collaboration involving Steve Clark, Joe Elliott and Lange. Savage also stayed on guitar for the recording. In a 2018 MusicRadar interview, he explained that the other players hadn’t captured the feel Lange wanted, so the producer asked him to play his own riff. Savage described Lange’s wider role as finding connections between the band’s short musical ideas, assembling sections and introducing changes the writers might not have arrived at themselves.
Getting those parts onto tape required unusually precise decisions. Collen explained in his 2012 interview with the publication that the pre-chorus guitar chords were recorded one string at a time. Lange wanted the notes to sound together without the staggered attack that comes from strumming across the strings, and he specifically wanted that effect produced on guitar. For the solo, Collen and Clark played the same notes together in the studio. Collen used a Strat and Clark a Les Paul, both through Rockman units, with their different vibrato techniques contributing to the combined sound.
The single also reached back into the band’s earliest catalogue. Its B-side, “Ride Into The Sun,” was a new recording of a song from their 1979 debut EP, with revised lyrics and music. The UK 12-inch added a live version of “Love And Affection,” recorded in Tilburg, the Netherlands, in 1987. Those tracks gave listeners material beyond the parent album.
“Hysteria” reached No. 26 on the UK singles chart. Its American single release followed in January 1988, and it climbed to No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated March 26. “Photograph” had previously taken the band to No. 12 in 1983; “Hysteria” gave them their first top-10 hit on that chart.
