Def Leppard Experienced Constant Misfortune While Making This Album, but It Still Became Their Most Popular Record

If the members of Def Leppard were more superstitious, their fourth studio album might have never come to be. After all, if a superstitious person ran into that many misfortunes and setbacks, they might assume the universe is trying to tell them something. In this case, maybe that “something” was that Hysteria shouldn’t come out at all.

Fortunately, Def Leppard wasn’t going to let a setback—or two or three—stop them from putting out Hysteria, which would become one of their most enduring albums.

The Mid-1980s Were a Tumultuous Time for Def Leppard

The making of Def Leppard’s Hysteria was plagued with traumatic events. The most notable, by far, was the car accident that took drummer Rick Allen’s arm when his Corvette flipped on a rural backroad. Allen insisted on relearning how to play his instrument with only one arm, using an acoustic drum kit and electronic MIDI pedals. This incredible feat of endurance took time to develop. That inevitably delayed the recording process while Allen honed his new technique.

Just when Allen was getting back into the swing of things, producer Robert “Mutt” Lange got into a car accident that injured his legs. Lange recovered, but this was yet another anchor slowing the band down. On top of that, Joe Elliot came down with a case of the mumps. The infectious disease affects the upper respiratory tract, salivary glands, and lymph nodes—virtually the entire singing apparatus.

As the cliché goes, when it rains, it pours, and that was undoubtedly true of Hysteria. The previous three misfortunes would have been harrowing enough on their own. But to make matters worse, both car accidents and the bout of mumps came on the heels of tumultuous personnel changes. Lange had originally backed out of the project, forcing Def Leppard to find a new producer.

That replacement didn’t pan out. Thus, production slowed to a crawl until Lange returned in 1985 (just before his car wreck would put him out of commission).

Fortunately, the Band Persevered, and ‘Hysteria’ Was Released

If someone was trying to look for red flags from the universe, they could easily find them in the rollercoaster that was the mid-1980s for Def Leppard. Nevertheless, though, the band persisted. They pushed through the setbacks, eventually releasing Hysteria in August 1987. The album topped the Billboard 200 and the U.K. Albums chart and broke into the Top 10 around the world.

With songs like “Pour Some Sugar On Me” and “Women”, Hysteria has since become synonymous with Def Leppard’s musical legacy. A legacy that could have been changed forever had fate pushed the musicians down a different path in the mid-80s.

Photo by Paul Natkin/WireImage

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