Hysteria is the fourth studio album by English hard rock band Def Leppard, released on this day in 1987. It is the band's best-selling album to date, selling over 20 million copies worldwide, including 12 million in the US, and spawning seven (7!) hit singles. The album charted at #1 on both the Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart. Clocking in at 62 and a half minutes, the album was, at the time, one of the longest albums ever issued on a single vinyl record.
Hysteria was produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange. The title of the album was thought up by drummer Rick Allen, referring to his 1984 auto accident and the ensuing worldwide media coverage surrounding it. It is also the last album to feature guitarist Steve Clark before his death, although songs co-written by him would appear in the band's next album, Adrenalize.
The album is the follow-up to the band's 1983 breakthrough Pyromania. Hysteria's creation took over three years and was plagued by delays, including the aftermath of the car accident that cost drummer Rick Allen his left arm. Subsequent to the album's release, Def Leppard published a book entitled Animal Instinct: The Def Leppard Story, on the three-year recording process of Hysteria and the tough times the band endured through the mid-1980s.
The album currently sits as the 51st best selling album of all time in the US.
It might be easier to list the songs that were not hits (all five of them) instead of the seven that were, but here goes: "Women" (#80), "Animal (#19), "Pour Some Sugar on Me" (#2), "Hysteria" (#10), "Armageddon It" (#3), "Love Bites" (#1), and "Rocket" (#15).
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