(Credit: Alamy)
Wed 18 June 2025 13:00, UK
It’s never easy to get any classic album off the ground. It’s practically a miracle for anyone to get some of their finest records to sound halfway coherent under the right circumstances, and when you throw in label pressure, fan expectations, and trying to serve your creative intent, it can be impossible to please every single person. And in the midst of the hair-metal movement, Def Leppard had their backs against the wall long before they dropped one of the finest albums of their career.
Then again, hair-metal albums were never meant to sound pristine. Although there was attention to detail and a need to make everything sound slick and glossy at the time, it’s not like there weren’t some botched jobs, either. Whitesnake may have sounded angelic, but the lesser bands coming out of Los Angeles only worked with what they had, meaning getting Van Halen-style chops with garage band-level production.
But Leppard at least had one giant in their corner. Mutt Lange was practically the sixth member of the band when he started working with them, and hearing his touch on Pyromania is half the reason why the band whipped themselves into shape. However, before Hysteria properly started, Lange said he wouldn’t be around to produce the record, leaving them without their secret weapon.
No matter, though. They already had another surefire ace in the hole when they tried working with Meat Loaf’s songwriter, Jim Steinman. Again, note that qualifier there. SONGWRITER. Steinman did phenomenal work for Meat Loaf on Bat Out of Hell, but he was far from the most esteemed producer, so as the band were blowing through money in the studio, they had someone trying to give them advice without knowing what to do.
Joe Elliott remembered the final nail in the coffin being when Steinman tried to get a take when they were playing out of tune, where sacking him would have meant them having to sell millions of records to make up that money. And since Pyromania had become one of the biggest records of its time, that also meant having to sell platinum numbers to come close to breaking even.
They were already hard at work trying to find the right riffs, but after how much they had spent and losing two producers, drummer Rick Allen’s car accident was the real nightmare. It’s one thing for rock stars to get into hairy situations, but after walking away from the car crash without one of his limbs, Allen would set the band back even longer when trying to relearn drums with his left foot instead.
Allen’s tale may be one of the greatest comeback stories in music history, but it was also enough to melt Lange’s heart a little bit, eventually returning properly to turn songs like ‘Love Bites’ and ‘Animal’ into masterpieces. But even when they had a surefire hit on their hands, they also had one last hurdle to jump over when putting out their first singles. Because out of all of Leppard’s greatest hits, who remembers ‘Women’?
You know, ‘Women’, the opening track off of Hysteria? Don’t know it? Well, the management sure hoped that everyone would, considering they put it out as the first single and made the album feel like a blatant retread of what they had done before. Once everyone realised the potential of ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’ on pop radio, though, the album sold in droves, nearly earning a gold certification in 24 hours.
It may not have been the optimal way for Leppard to become one of the biggest bands of the 1980s, but that’s how it sometimes goes for people to reach the big time. They had to go through the biggest barrage of setbacks and see one of their bandmates nearly die in the process, but as long as there are sports stadiums around the world, people will always find time to include at least a few of their songs in regular rotation.
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