RockStories: Def Leppard's 'Hysteria'

In 1984, few rock bands were riding higher than Sheffield, England-based quintet Def Leppard. But then, things got very low on December 31, 1984, when their drummer, Rick Allen, lost his arm in a very serious car crash. But instead of looking for another drummer, Def Leppard found a way to help their bandmate and brother return to a new, modified drum kit. And then, they recorded the most popular album of their entire career: Hysteria. On this episode of RockStories, hear about the triumphant return of the ‘thunder god’ and the three-year process of making a genre-defining masterpiece that sold over 25 million copies.

Transcript

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Welcome to Rock Stories. The albums you know, the stories you don't, with your host, Dave Manick. It started out as a cold, crisp afternoon on New Year's Eve, 1984. Def Leopard drummer Rick Allen was out for a drive in his Corvette C4 Stingray with then-girlfriend Miriam Baronson cruising along the A57 road in the countryside of Sheffield, England. Though the A57 is mainly a two-lane winding road, that didn't stop a driver in an Alfa Romeo from coming up hard on Rick, challenging him to a race. For miles, Rick wasn't having it, but the Romeo driver kept egging him on. Finally, Rick took the bait, revved his Corvette's powerful 5.7-liter V8 engine, featuring crossfire, throttle body ejection, and took on that Alfa Romeo. It's difficult enough to race on the A57 in England, but Rick's Corvette and the Alfa Romeo came upon a particularly dangerous part of the road called the Snake Pass. It's even more difficult to negotiate such a road when you've been drinking, which, unfortunately, Rick had been. Alan's Corvette hit a dry stone wall, spun out of control at a very high rate of speed, and flew into a nearby field. His left arm became entangled in the seatbelt, and upon crashing, that arm was completely severed. In fact, the arm remained in the car while his body was flung from the vehicle. While his girlfriend thankfully endured minor injuries, Rick Allen's situation was much more dire. After all, he was the drummer in a platinum selling rock band at the height of their popularity. He needed his arm. After being rushed to the hospital, doctors attempted to reattach his left arm. Initially, the operation was a success until infection set in, and Rick Allen's left arm was amputated. As Def Leopard entered 1985, neither Rick Allen nor his bandmates knew what their future would be. And yet, two and a half years later, they'd record and release an album, Hysteria, that would make them the most popular rock band in the world. This is rock stories, the albums you know, but the stories you don't. In 1984, few rock bands were writing higher than Sheffield England-based quintet Def Leppard. Formed in 1977, the band was considered part of the new wave of British heavy metal when their first album On Through the Night was released in 1980. They enjoyed more success with their second album, High and Dry, which boasted the power ballad Bringin' On the Heartbreak. But everything changed for Def Leppard in 1983 with the release of Pyromania. Produced by John Mutt Lang, Pyromania boasted such massive hits as Rock of Ages, Foolin' and Photograph, which peaked at number 13 on the Billboard chart and went to number one on Billboard's top rock tracks. Def Leopard was no longer England's best kept secret. They were now a band that could fill arenas around the world, and anyone watching MTV at that time could hardly miss frontman Joe Elliott, guitarists Steeman Steve Clark and Phil Collin, bassist Rick Savage, and drummer Rick Allen, decked out in their leather, studs, and Union Jack attire. Pyromania would eventually peak at number two on the U.S. Billboard chart and sell over 6 million copies worldwide, which kept Def Leopard on the road for a full 12 months and include 180 shows around the world. Needless to say, there was a massive amount of hype for Def Leopard in 1984, and it led to a singular question. How could they possibly top Pyromania? That, of course, was the expectation of their record label Mercury Records. Not surprisingly, the Leps wanted to work with Muttlang once again, a man who enjoyed a well-earned reputation as one of the most talented producers in the world. So a mere weeks after finishing the Pyromania tour, the band relocated to Ireland in February 84 with Muttlang to begin writing the follow-up. Unfortunately, after several months together, Muttlang left the project due to exhaustion. In August 84, Def Leopard brought in producer Jim Steinman, a successful songwriter and producer who was best known for his work with Meatloaf on the acclaimed Bat Out of Hell Record. Steinman later won a Grammy in 1997 for his work producing the Celine Dion album Falling Into You. But as Steinman's work did skew towards adult contemporary, it wasn't long before the Leps figured out he wasn't Muttlang and thus was not the right guy for the job. And then, on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1984, Def Leopard's world came to a very sudden and very tragic halt. Rick Allen was, by all accounts, a drumming prodigy. He joined Def Leppard at the age of 15. You heard that correctly. I mean, what were you doing during your freshman or sophomore year of high school? Me, I was dreaming of the day I'd get my driver's license. And yet, on November 1st, 1978, Rick Allen's parents co-signed his contract to join Def Leopard, which was on the verge of recording their major label debut. Rick celebrated his 16th birthday playing the famed Hammersmith Odeon, opening for their heroes ACDC. How is that for a very sweet 16? Flash forward to New Year's Eve 1984, and Rick Allen is lucky to be alive. But he no longer has a left arm, his snare drum arm, and the rest of Def Leopard have no idea what their future holds. Not surprisingly, Rick was terribly depressed after the incident, assuming that his career in music was over. Rick has revealed in more recent interviews that he also had a badly broken right arm during the crash, and for a period of time the doctors told him he could lose that arm as well. Thankfully, the right arm did fully heal, and as he sat in that hospital room recovering as best he could, his deaf leopard bandmates visited him daily, assuring him that they'd be there for him no matter what. And what's more, and much to Rick's surprise, they told him they had no intention whatsoever of replacing him. Come hell or high water, they were going to find a way for him to continue as the band's drummer. They also told him they'd give him as much time as he needed to recover, both physically and mentally. The unofficial sixth member of Def Leopard, producer Mutt Lang, also spent time with Rick after the accident. As told to a UK media outlet in 2024, Rick said of Mutt Lang, Mutt came in to see me and he just lifted me up, and he turned my attention to what I could do, whereas I was sort of obsessing on everything that I couldn't do. He helped me really dig in and find the power of the human spirit, and that's what kind of lifted me out of it. While today's technology would have made it less challenging for Rick to continue drumming even after the loss of his arm, in 1985 no such technology existed. Instead, the guys in Def Leopard were left with a task of creating the technology from scratch. Rick and singer Joe Elliott began working with engineers and designed a drum set that would fully utilize Rick's three available limbs and would compensate for his missing left arm. Fellow drummer Jeff Rich of the UK rock band Status Quo joined Rick and Joe Elliott as they worked with Simmons, then a well-known electronic drum manufacturer to design the custom kit that Rick would ultimately use. Said Rick of his transition to this new half-electronic and half-traditional drum kit. I was fortunate and it was almost like this natural thing. All the information that used to go to my left arm kind of went to the rest of my limbs, so I was able to express myself even though it was in a different way. But I was still able to emulate a lot of the things that I did prior to losing my arm. After several months of perfecting this hybrid kit and several more months of rehearsing both by himself and with the band, Rick Allen made his official live debut on August 16, 1986, in front of 80,000 fans at the Castle Donington Music Festival in England. The night was dubbed as the quote, Return of the Thunder God, unquote. And upon his introduction to the crowd, Rick reportedly received a standing ovation that lasted over 10 minutes. The Thunder God, indeed. And that's where the story of hysteria finally begins. Who would have guessed that Rick Allen's new electronic drum kit would help revolutionize the band's sound and propel them to a level of popularity that few rock bands have ever witnessed? Now that Def Leopard was operating at full strength, and with Mutt Lang back at the helm, it was time to get down to the task at hand. That is, writing the follow-up to the mighty Six Times Platinum Pyromania. Thanks to the songwriting sessions that lasted through much of 1985, the band had the skeletons of many tracks that would make their way onto the new album. The band headed to Paris this time, to Studio de Dame, where Mutt Lang challenged the band with a completely different approach to recording. Though typically drums are the very first instrument to be recorded in a studio, bands almost always opt to record the guitar and bass parts later. Lang had the band record the rhythm and lead guitar parts first to a click track. The guitar tracks were recorded raw, compressed, and layered, thanks in large part to the Rockman, a device invented by the legendary founder of the band Boston, Tom Scholes. This allowed for several layers of guitar tracks, many of which had subtle differences, which helped create a true wall of sound. Rick Allen's half electronic, half-traditional drums, and Rick Savage's bass parts were added later, which left Lang open to change the sounds, tempos, and arrangements as he saw fit. However, this type of recording, guitars first, drums and bass last, was uncharted territory for a rock album and it was seen by some as a huge risk. But there was more uncharted territory being explored on hysteria than just the way it was being recorded. Though Rick Allen's car accident had forced the band to go on a hiatus, they stayed busy, you know, watching the new MTV revolution and the songs and music videos that were exploding in popularity. As stated in several interviews over the years, members of Def Leopard noted that they were open to embracing the electronic sounds of the mid-80s pop music and were not going to apologize for taking a commercial approach to hysteria, which also would include not one but two power ballads. They may have started off as a quote, heavy metal band, but with hysteria, this English quintet proved that a leopard can, in fact, change its spots. Ever the taskmaster and perfectionist, producer Mutt Lang had grand ideas for hysteria. One take was never enough, and sometimes eight or even ten takes weren't enough. Several interviews given by band members note that during the process of recording hysteria, nerves were frayed and frustrations mounted. The songs on hysteria feature literally hundreds of stacked vocal melodies from singer Joe Elliott, with additional harmonies provided by Phil Collins, Steve Clark, and Rick Savage. One track on the album, Animal, reportedly took three years to perfect, as Mutt Lang and the band tinkered with different arrangements, vocal melodies, and guitar sounds. And yet, as often is the case in the history of rock music, genius can strike in a matter of moments. When the band wrapped up the recording of the track Armageddon in January 1987, everyone involved assumed that was it. The final track. But on a coffee break, Joe Elliott went into the control room and picked up an acoustic guitar, started noodling around with this little tune he'd been working on for a few weeks. Mut Lang heard what Joe was playing and immediately flew back into the control room. Wait, he said, what was that? Joe said, Uh, nothing. It's you know, it's no big deal, just a little idea I had. No big deal, Mutt said. No. That's the best song I've heard in five years. We need to finish this song right now. Joe thought there was no way the guys in the band were gonna go for it and work on another song when they think this album is finally finished. But Mutt knew the album wasn't done and he knew this song needed to make the album. Have you figured out what song I'm referring to yet? If you guessed pour some sugar on me, give yourself a gold star. The song that would eventually rocket hysteria to worldwide popularity was written and recorded on a whim at the 11th hour. More on this song a little bit later in the episode. After four months of mixing and mastering at Mutlang's home studio in Hindhead, a village in Surrey, England, hysteria was ready to be unleashed on the world. After everything they'd been through, after the years they'd spent writing, recording, and perfecting this new album, and with every reason to expect that rock fans were eagerly awaiting the band's return, expectations for hysteria were incredibly high. If Def Flappard didn't know expectations were high, their record label Mercury Records made sure to tell them. Between the recording of the album and the music videos they'd already filmed, Mercury had sank nearly five million dollars into hysteria, and that's 12 million by today's math, making it one of the most expensive rock albums ever made. Mercury representatives told the band they needed to sell five million copies of Hysteria just to break even. No pressure, right? Hysteria was released on August 3rd, 1987. To the sound of crickets. In their home in the UK, they were returning heroes and the album was well received. But here in America, Hysteria wasn't building any buzz. The first single and video they released from the album was Animal. That one didn't hit. Next up was Women, the album's opening track. Nothing. Next up was the release of Pour Some Sugar on Me on September 7, 1987. And though the song made it to number 18 on the UK charts before the end of the year, its initial release in the US didn't move the needle at all. But then things changed. Let's take a quick dive into the three tracks that turned hysteria into a worldwide sensation. The first song to finally get U.S. fans interested in hysteria was, not surprisingly, one of his power ballads, the title track. Released on November 16th, 1987, the song Hysteria became the band's first top 10 U.S. hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 10. Though the song itself is your fairly standard 80s rock ballad, with lyrics like. Once the power ballad Hysteria cracked the Billboard Top 10, the band's next move was simple: release another power ballad. That song, of course, is Love Bites, which boasts a haunting melody and a powerfully emotive multi-layered chorus. Interestingly, Love Bites initially began as a country song. Says guitarist Phil Collin, when we brought it in, it was pure country. It definitely had a twang to it, and actually it sounded more like a Don Henley song or something. But after putting it through the Mutt Lang and Def Leopard blender, Love Bites had everything necessary to become not only a successful power ballad, but one that is recognized as one of the best power ballads of all time. Accordingly, after the further attention the song drew from its music video, Love Bites would eventually become Def Leopard's first and only number one hit. Just when the band thought things couldn't get any bigger or better for hysteria, they did. What happened next, no one could have predicted. Though it had already been released as a single and music video, Pour Some Sugar on Me literally became the soundtrack for the summer of 1988. Though the track was released in September 1987, it skyrocketed all the way to number two on the US Billboard chart on July 23rd, 1988, almost a full year later. Why exactly did this happen? According to the band, it all had to do with strippers in Florida. And no, I'm not joking. In an interview with iHeartRadio in 2024, Phil Collin acknowledged that exotic dancers in Florida were constantly requesting pour some sugar on me with their local radio stations. As Colin put it during that interview, this is the God's honest truth. It became a massive hit down there, while singer Joe Elliott added, it spread like wildfire after that. Now arenas were full so much so that Def Leopard stayed on tour for hysteria for 16 months and included over 230 shows across Europe, North America, and Asia. Eventually, Def Leopard's Hysteria would go on to sell almost 25 million copies. 12 million in the US alone. Not only did those bean counters from Mercury Records recoup their investment, Def Leopards solidified themselves as the most popular rock band of the late 1980s. What's your favorite song on Def Leopard's Hysteria? For me, it has to be the epic track Gods of War, which the band has described as their cashmere. I'll also give a nod to love and affection as well. This has been Rock Stories, the albums you know, the stories you don't, with your host, veteran music journalist Dave Manic. Rock Stories is available on all major podcast platforms, and if you like what you've heard, add a like, tell a friend, and find me on Instagram at Rock Stories Pod. You can also email me at rockstoriespod at gmail.com. Until next time, watching out for those little bites.