Def Leppard News - 29 Years Ago Def Leppard's Hysteria Single At Number 26 In The UK

29 Years Ago Def Leppard's Hysteria Single At Number 26 In The UK

Monday, 5th December 2016

Def Leppard's classic Hysteria single reached Number 26 in the UK chart 29 years ago on this day in 1987.

The third single to be released from the Hysteria album in the UK.

It was released on 16th November 1987 on two CDs, 7/12" and cassette.

It peaked at Number 26 on 5th December after rising up from 31 the week before where it debuted.

The follow up to Pour Some Sugar On Me which reached Number 18 in October 1987.

In all it spent seven weeks on the chart. Three inside the Top 40. The first chart run lasted five weeks before it re-entered for two more weeks in January 1988.

As the band were on tour in the USA they did not appear on Top Of The Pops which might have helped push the single higher.

Shown below are some quotes from Sav and Joe on how the song came about during the 'Hysteria' album sessions in Dublin, Ireland.

T'Pau were at Number One on this day with their single 'China In Your Hand'.

Other rock artists in the chart were Whitesnake at 10 with 'Here I Go Again (1987)' and Anthrax (35).

UK Singles Chart - 5th December 1987

01 - T'Pau - China In Your Hand
02 - George Harrison - Got My Mind Set On You
03 - The Proclaimers -Letter From America
04 - Alexander O'Neal -Criticize
05 - The Communards - Never Can Say Goodbye
26 - Def Leppard - Hysteria - (Peak Position)

Hysteria - Rick Savage/Joe Elliott Interview Quotes

Sav - "We'd gotten so far with the recording and writing of Hysteria and we thought that we needed about three more songs. We were looking for more straight-ahead rock songs and we all went away for a weekend and I got together with Phil the guitar player and I played him the opening riff for Hysteria."

"I said 'Look it's an idea I've had for a few months now I mean I know it's not what we're looking for but let's see what we can develop, and he had another part of the song which became bridge of Hysteria and we put the two together and all of a sudden he started coming up with melodies for the verses and the bridge and it happened very quickly and within the space of about two hours we'd got most of the song done."

"We just needed a chorus and we said look leave it 'till Monday cause we've got the germ of a good song here but we don't know whether it's appropriate we don't know whether it's what we need right now let's play it to the rest of the guys on Monday. The guys came in Monday morning and everybody loved it and it was like Wow this could be really big."

Joe - "It was like a complete team effort."

2004 Best Of Liner Notes - Rick Savage Quote

"Me and Phil wrote the verse and bridge one afternoon. Then auditioned it that night around the fire for some Irish friends. It got a surprising thumbs up. It was a great hard rock song. Side two of the vinyl edition of ‘Hysteria’ is one of the most heavy metal sides of a record we’ve ever done."

2004 Best Of Liner Notes - Joe Elliott Quote

"Rick Allen thought of the title in hospital because people were trying to climb up laundry chutes to get photos of him. If memory serves. The verse was Sav’s. Phil wrote the bridge and the chorus came from Steve. Mutt, Phil, Sav and I wrote the lyrics. There are actually 11 different guitar parts. We glued all those elements together like a model kit and they worked perfectly."