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29 Years Ago Def Leppard Release Hysteria Single In The USA

Hysteria 1987.

Def Leppard released their classic Hysteria single 29 years ago on this day in 1988 in the USA.

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

It was released on 6th January 1988 and reached Number 10 in the Billboard Top 100 chart.

The first Top 10 hit single for the band in the USA.

The second Top 20 hit from the album after 'Animal' which was in its second week at its peak position of Number 19 on this day.

The song remained on the chart for 16 weeks.

It continued the consecutive run of 'Hysteria' album singles on the Billboard Top 100 chart that began on 10th October 1987 with 'Animal' and ended on 27th May 1989 with 'Rocket' - 86 weeks in a row.

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

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."


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Phil Collen - Guitar
Phil Collen - Guitar
Phil Collen - Guitar
Phil Collen - Guitar