Greg Prato of Bravewords spoke with Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen about the 30th anniversary of the band’s multi platinum selling album, Hysteria. Highlights from the interview appear below.
BraveWords: Was there any point during the recording of Hysteria that it got a bit maddening or frustrating working with Mutt Lange?
Phil Collen: No. All the stuff with Mutt was a joy and totally inspirational. It was all the stuff that we did prior to that. Jim Steinman and different kind of engineers and doing all of that stuff – that was the frustrating part. You’ve got to understand – we wrote all the songs with Mutt, and the vision of the album, and the whole concept of it, was his. And when other people were around, they couldn’t do that, because they had no clue. But when he was involved…he had to do a Cars album [1984’s Heartbeat City], he was committed to doing it, and had to disappear for like a year. So, when he came back, that was a joy, I’ve got to say. Because all of a sudden, it all started flowing, and it was so inspiring. And we were doing something we had never done before – or anyone has. It’s almost like creating a new genre of music. It was like a rock band, but it had all these different elements in it. Elements from new wave, punk, funk, rap music – Pour Some Sugar On Me was almost like a rap lead vocal kind of meter…It was a wonderful hybrid. And when Mutt was around, he could be part of that thing. It was enthusiastic, it was totally inspired. Yeah, it was a lot of hard work obviously, and I’d been there the whole time. It was grueling, but like I said, with Mutt at the helm, it was great – because you had this faith in this guy. It was really cool.
BraveWords: After all the tragedy, drama and studio time, when Hysteria was unleashed upon the world, it fell flat – the lead-off single/video, Women, seemed to go over people’s heads. Was the band worried out of the gate?
Phil Collen: What happened was our record company in America wanted to release Animal [as the first single]. But Cliff Burnstein – our manager at the time – was scared that it was such a departure from Pyromania and everything else that we’d done, that we would need a bit of credibility. So, he said, “I think we should release a rock song first.” Hence, Women came out. It was great in that respect – keeping the credibility. But from a commercial point of view, yeah, it wasn’t the best move. It ended up working great, anyway, because obviously, the single that eventually followed, Pour Some Sugar On Me, changed the whole scenery. Completely. So, it wasn’t a worry – it was disappointing for us. Y’know, playing half-empty arenas after we’d just done the Pyromania tour three years prior, and we were jam-packing them out. That was a struggle – we had to claw our way back up. But when the fourth single came out, Sugar, it all changed. And then all of a sudden, everyone is loving us. It’s an interesting portrayal of human behavior and how people react to that. It’s a very interesting thing.
BraveWords: How different would you say the rock scene was, from say, the end of the Pyromania tour to when Def Leppard started touring behind Hysteria?
Phil Collen: Ironically, all the stuff that came out after Pyromania – to me – sounded directly influenced by that album. All of a sudden, you had bands…everything from the Scorpions, Bon Jovi, Ratt – everything was influenced by that. Drum sounds, all the engineers and producers were trying to recreate that. When we started to do Hysteria, Mutt said, “Look. Everybody else is doing Pyromania Part II – we have to do something drastically different. But it’s going to take a lot of hard work. And it means we’re going to have to do more than we normally do, the songs have got to be better, and it’s going to be some different kind of music.” That’s really what we did. And I think you could hear that. You could hear that on other albums – as you did after Hysteria. After it broke, then everyone is trying to do that. There were a million Pour Some Sugar on Mes, there was a million Love Bites, there was a million Hysterias, there was a million Women. The snare sound and the kick – all of that. I even heard my voice sampled on other records. From the “Step inside, walk this way…” – all of that stuff, you could hear it on other records. “Hey!” – all of that stuff. It was like, “Wow, I’m on this album, I’m on that album. This is interesting!”
Read more at Bravewords.
In celebration of the 30th anniversary, Def Leppard will re-release Hysteria on August 4th. It will be come in various formats-Super Deluxe Edition, Deluxe Version, 1 CD Vanilla Version, 2-LP Black Vinyl Version, & limited edition 2-LP Colored Vinyl Version. The reissue boasts B-sides and live tracks, plus the audio for In The Round In Your Face (Live) on CD for the first time.
To read more about this special release, please click here.
source: bravewords.com
27 Responses
I recognize that HYSTERIA was a huge album for Def Leppard, but it is most definitely not a favorite of mine. That album basically turned me off to the band. PYROMANIA was a big change from HIGH AND DRY, but it still had some metallic elements to it. But HYSTERIA was full blown pop, as far as I was concerned. I can give them credit for the great production, and the song writing was terrific is you like pop music. But there just wasn’t enough “crunch” to keep me interested. I hoped that ADRENALIZE would bring them back to the more rock side of things, but it was just as poppy as HYSTERIA. So, I stopped following them. I can’t blame them, since they all became super rich off the change to a more pop style of music. And they are still out touring and putting out new music, so what do I know? It’s just not for me!
Keith,
I ❤️❤️❤️ Pyromania. For me, it only beats out, High N’ Dry, by mere centimeters. I just think, overall, the song selection is slightly better. Yes, it has a far slicker production than HN’D, but it does have plenty of heavy moments, such as Die Hard The Hunter and Billy’s Got A Gun.
Now, Hysteria? There is no arguing that is a poppy, commercial record. Furthermore, Mutt Lange admitted that he wanted to make a rock version of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, with hit song after hit song. They definitely achieved their goal, and Hysteria, even knocked Michael Jackson out of the number one slot, for many weeks.
I always referred to Hysteria, as Def Leppard’s version of Turbo. Even though Collen says, in this interview, that after they released Hysteria, all of these other bands started to copy that sound. Well, Hysteria was released in ’87 and Turbo in ’86, so maybe everyone was really influenced by Priest? 😉
I was not a fan of either album, I actually loathed Turbo even more, because Priest was always a far heavier band, but in time, I have come to appreciate both records. Are they the first records I reach for when I want to listen to either of these bands? No, but I do get in a mood, every once in a while, to play them.
Ironically enough, Def Leppard used to be my favorite band, until Judas Priest usurped them. It was all the Metal God’s fault, that voice. 😉
D 🙂
I agree, Dana. I hated TURBO when it came out, as well. I’ve always been a bigger Judas Priest fan than I was a Def Leppard fan. So, when TURBO came out, I was definitely more disappointed. But, like you, I’ve come to enjoy many of the tunes on TURBO, even “Turbo Lover”! Definitely not my favorite Priest album, mind you, but I can definitely listen to it once in a while.
I wanna know why Def Leppard gave up the high n dry/on through the night sound??my favorite two albums,n pyromania!!!its a different band now,sorry Phil!!!
Keith, I agree with your comments about Pyromania being a big change from High N Dry. High N Dry was a much heavier rock album compared to Pyromania, IMO, it’s not even close. Even HN’Ds ballads were heavier. Pyromania was the beginning of the band’s slide into pop rock and more radio friendly music.
Dana, I understand your Turbo comments and needing to be in the mood to hear it. Turbo was a huge change from Defenders of the Faith. I felt the same way with Point of Entry, as I thought it was a huge change from British Steel. It took me a while to warm up to Turbo and POE. And while I listen to them periodically, I prefer to listen to Unleashed in the East. And while Unleashed is a live album, its my favorite Priest album. Unbelievable that it was released in 1979, it is such a heavy album for that time period.
Screaming For Vengeance is my favorite Priest album, and my favorite record, period. So imagine, after listening to Bloodstone a million times, suddenly hearing these pop synths, with only Defenders bridging the gap? I was infuriated. LOL!!!
D
Rattlehead, you are completely on point concerning POINT OF ENTRY. I actually enjoy that album even less than TURBO, if you can believe that! It’s probably because it was such a huge change from BRITISH STEEL, which is probably my favorite Priest album of all time! And Priest knew it, because they bounced back with the classic SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE album (my second favorite Priest album). “Desert Sands” is the only song on POINT OF ENTRY that I find as great. Again, I will listen to this album once in a great while, but it’s definitely not one that I crave when I want to hear some Judas Priest. Odd thing though, that it’s not my LEAST favorite Judas Priest album. That would be a more recent one, NOSTRADAMUS. I just could not get into that one at all!
Keith,
I think you mean Desert Plains 😉 ,and that is a GREAT song. I also enjoy, Turning Circles and Heading Out To The Highway, from that record.
D
My favorite song off Point Of Entry is Solar Angels. Love the way is kicked off side 2 of the LP.
Eddie really digs that song too.
Dana, you are correct. Don’t know how I came up with “Desert Sands”, but I do like “Desert Plains”. “Heading Out to the Highway” is okay, but I think I’ve just heard it too many times over the years. “Solar Angels” is pretty good, too. To each their own!
My wife, son, and I saw Leppard on their most recent tour. They played a lot of songs off Hysteria, and I enjoyed the songs. While I think Leppard’s first two albums are their best rock albums, Hysteria is a good pop album. I just prefer my Leppard to be more \m/ \m/ \m/, rather than pop.
I lost interest in Def Leppard when Hysteria came out. The record had no balls, no crunch, no heaviness to it. I’d like Phil to identify what other albums his voice was sampled on as I don’t ever recall hearing it. Joe Elliot, is he carrying a baby in that group photo lmao
Oh my God, enough of this pop talk bullsh-t! Pop in the 80’s was Duran Duran, NOT Hysteria! Of course Hysteria was no where near as hard or heavy as the first 3 DL albums, so f-cking what?! Hysteria was NOT a pop album, it WAS and IS a rock album! If you want pop, listen to ’87’s “Sign ‘O’ The Times” by Prince, now that’s POP!!! Anyway, 1 more complaint, I wish rockers would stop mentioning rap like as if it’s a good thing, because it AIN’T! Stop comparing talking to rapping and insulting your songs AND yourselves! Okay, now I’m done, I think…
Respectfully disagree, Doug. I consider Hysteria a pop album. I enjoy it, but its pop. And rap sucks….always has, always will. Worst “music” (if you want to label it as such) there is out there. I hate it.
That’s cool, Rattle, as always to each their own, I mean you can call Hysteria whatever kind of genre of music you want, bottom line is it’s just a great piece of MUSIC! 😉 And as far as that rap sh-t goes, I agree 100%, anybody that refers to rap as music, doesn’t know what music is! I don’t think anybody hates that crap more than me, same goes for hip-hop, it’s all the same big pile of sh-t!!
Doug,
You mean you don’t consider Kayne West the genius he seems to think he is? LOL!! No talent hack.
D
Who? They’re all the same, glorified gangster punk asses!! Give me, James Brown and Motown any day! 😉
Damn right, Doug! Motown stuff is awesome!
Totally agree with the comments on rap and hip-hop! My God, but that stuff sucks! My 15 year old son listens to some of this s–t, and I can’t stand it! The only rapper that I can even tolerate a little bit is Kid Rock, and that’s because most of his music (especially the recent stuff) is much more southern rock and country. When he goes into full rap, I skip to the next song! I am trying to introduce my son to some good, classic rock and metal. He likes AC/DC and some KISS, but I can’t get him to sit down and try and appreciate Led Zep or Sabbath. Oh well, I guess my Dad couldn’t get me to appreciate his music either, back in the day!
Since this story is about them, have you tried Def Leppard? They were the first hard rock/metal band I loved, try classic Leppard.
D 🙂
Dana, I played the crap out of ON THROUGH THE NIGHT, HIGH AND DRY, and PYROMANIA. Still listen to those three albums on a regular basis. But, after HYSTERIA and ADRENALIZE, they are just not on my radar anymore. Again, I respect the fact that the band is still successfully out there touring and putting out new music. But, for me, they stopped being a hard rock (they were never metal) band after those records. To each there own!
No, I meant have you tried playing those classic Leppard albums for your son? He might like them, and maybe he will spurn his interest towards hard rock and away from c-Rap.
D