Def Leppard News - DAVID FRICKE On DEF LEPPARD'S HYSTERIA Album/ANIMAL INSTINCT BOOK

Saturday, 16th December 2017

DAVID FRICKE On DEF LEPPARD'S HYSTERIA Album/ANIMAL INSTINCT Book

Animal Instinct

Rolling Stone magazine's senior editor David Fricke played Def Leppard's Hysteria album in full on Chile radio in September and a transcript of the audio is available.

The one hour special was broadcast in September by Radio Futura FM in Santiago, Chile.

The full Hysteria album was played in sequence with David talking about had time interviewing the band for the 1987 'Animal Instinct' official biography book.

David talked about his work on the 'Animal Instinct' official biography book from 1987 and his time with the band as they wrote and recorded the 'Hysteria' album in Hilversum, Holland and promoted the Santiago Rock City/STGO festival (which DL ended up headlining).

David appeared in the Classic Albums Hysteria TV show in 2002 which the screenshot below is taken from. He also interviewed the band in 1992 for their Rolling Stone magazine cover issue.

Visit the Album News section. For more news on new music (based on band member quotes) dating back to January 2011.

Screenshot

Radio Futura FM - David Fricke Transcript

Love Bites Intro

"Time flies when the rock is good. Hysteria was a record that I got to experience first hand when I was commissioned to write a biography of Def Leppard that eventually came out called 'Animal Instinct'. I spent a good couple of weeks with Def Leppard at Wisseloord Studios in Holland where they were making Hysteria with the producer Robert John Lange. Mutt Lange as they all call him or simply Mutt."

"And they were working on this thing everyday. I remember Phil Collen coming back from one session and just being ecstatic that he actually got two seconds of a guitar lick down because they were cutting this thing so precisely. Just almost lick by lick. And yet when you heard the final record it sounded like a band in the performance. They really worked out the songs as a band then cut everything in a way that it was both precise and exciting.

"And the amount of work and labour they put into that record. You can read about it. It's in the book that I wrote 'Animal Instinct', but you can't really. You can't really know it until you saw the look on their faces when they actually got a track down or they felt they had a song that was really gonna work. I remember Joe Elliott, the singer, telling me about how much work he out into this next track which was the really big power ballad from the record. I'm not a big fan of power ballads. I'd rather hear things fast and loud. But this was an example of that they combined their pop instincts as young British kids growing up in the 70s on things like T. Rex and David Bowie and Sweet. And then applying that to the heavy metal and hard rock they loved. Bands like Thin Lizzy and even Lynyrd Skynyrd in the States and certainly Led Zeppelin. This was the result. This is Def Leppard from Hysteria and Love Bites."

Gods Of War Intro

"Def Leppard's 1987 album Hysteria on Radio Futura, La Radio Del Rock. Def Leppard is gonna be here in Santiago as part of Santiago Rock City. The two day festival also with Guns N' Roses and The Who, but on September 30th Def Leppard shares the bill with Aerosmith at Estadio Monumental."

"And Hysteria is a record, they play a lot of this record live. They've got hits from Pyromania, from the first two albums. They've got a rich, rich catalogue and they play it all for ya. And they play it they way I always saw it. On stage, starting from my first tour with them in Britain in 1980. Then being on the road with them for Rolling Stone for Pyromania. Covering Hysteria for writing the book Animal Instinct. And then when Vivian Campbell joined the band after the passing of Steve Clark."

"I was actually at Vivian Campbell's audition and sat in on one of the meetings as they discussed the future of the band and really settled on Vivian as the guy they felt was going to carry the band forward and carry Steve's memory as well. Vivian, Joe Elliott, Rick Allen, Rick Savage and Phil Collen. Def Leppard they are at Estadio Monumental on September 30th."

"Def Leppard are here right now as we flip to side two of Hysteria on Radio Futura and we get right into Gods Of War."

After Hysteria

"That was the title track Hysteria from Def Leppard's 1987 album Hysteria. Their fourth studio album. A record that took them something like three and a half years to make. It was actually twice as long as it took Fleetwood Mac to make Rumours and Tusk. But the work really paid off."

"This is Radio Futura. Def Leppard in Santiago on September 30th at Estadio Monumental for Santiago Rock City with Aerosmith."

Outro

"We're gonna go out with a bit more of this record. A record that Def Leppard play, pretty much most it today along with all of the hits from Pyromania and before and after. They are still one of my favourite bands to see live and they've always been great friends and it's always been a pleasure to write about them. And I'm really pleased that, you know, with everything they have been through. Losing Steve Clark, obviously Rick Allen's accident and so many other dramas that went into the making of this record and just their climb to the top. And their battle to, you know, stay alive and relevant and rocking. They never quit and they're gonna show you that at Estadio Monumental on September 30th."

"We're gonna go out with the rest of Hysteria by Def Leppard. This is Radio Futura. I'm David Fricke. Senior writer for Rolling Stone. Thanks for having me here. This is Excitable. Just like me."

Hysteria 2017.