Band:	Def Leppard
Album:	Hysteria
Style:	Hard rock
Release date:	August 1987

01. Women
02. Rocket
03. Animal
04. Love Bites
05. Pour Some Sugar On Me
06. Armageddon It
07. Gods Of War
08. Don't Shoot Shotgun
09. Run Riot
10. Hysteria
11. Excitable
12. Love And Affection

All the pieces fall into place.

How do you follow up a smash hit record? Why, with an even bigger smash hit record if you follow the Def Leppard route. Hysteria is the crowning glory in an otherwise jewel-studded career, cementing the band's legendary status in style only four albums into their career. This, however, nearly didn't happen; following Allen's tragic car accident that resulted in the loss of his arm, the band looked likely to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory following Pyromania, robbing them of the momentum and hidden weapon that was Allen's drum work. Luckily for all involved and for fans of Def Leppard, Allen was able to find a work around solution to enable him to continue playing, thus allowing Hysteria to be born.

Hysteria followed in the footsteps of the two preceding records, but took several steps further down the path they had been heading in for a while now; while their songs were of a rock orientation, their presentation and production highlighted the encroaching pop sound that had been slowly coming to the fore with each subsequent release. The guitars have traded bite for polish, the drums sound more gated than propulsive and everything is scrubbed with a fine tooth comb lest a few specks of dirt belie the band's down and dirty rock past.

Where prior albums had lacked a little something here and there, Hysteria was the culmination of the pros and the edging out of the cons that had existed prior to become the complete package. Songwriting, production and performance all interlink to create an album where each song could (and to varying degrees did) stand on its own and become a hit in its own right. While this is often disregarded in a genre more album-focused, it shouldn't be overlooked for the achievement it is, having a cohesive unit that works as one but can also be broken down into its constituent parts without the tracks paling in isolation from each other.

At times the band do overstep the mark and venture into the realm of pop a bit too much; though it's not a complete separation from their roots, if the band were tethered to the rock genre then they were straining at the leash. It was a gamble that the band took and paid off in spades, as the quality of the album overshadows what was a big risk, to potentially become too pop for the rock crowd and too rock for the pop crowd.

Of course, all this means nothing if the music is not there and wow, the lads were on their a-game here; the album maintains a very high level of quality, and though it does hit the odd bump, it isn't a derailing level of failure.

Stand out favourites among the collection are the double entendre-laden "Armageddon It", with its catchy nature belieng the winking nod to its clever and humourous center, as well as "Animal" and "Love Bites", which serve as the other two key tracks for me. The former is an anthemic guitar-driven track that harkens back to the guitar driven rock of the 70's but wraps it neatly in a new package before drenching it in melody; the latter is a slower and more emotive track that implants itself somewhere in your brain, replaying itself at quiet moments before you realize you can recall the track with precision after only one or two listens.

Even the non-single tracks like "Gods Of War", "Excitable" and "Run Riot" could have been singles owing to their quality; when what is essentially the filler of a record is of this high quality, then you know you've struck gold. Lesser pre-eminent singles like "Rocket" and "Hysteria" kick ass, "Rocket" being a slow building but, ahem, explosive rocker once it kicks into gear (though I must admit preference for the radio-edited version, which chops off a lot of the build, letting you get to the good parts sooner), while "Hysteria" is a morose piece that is built around a haunting but catchy riff.

Almost heretically I deviate from the norm and think "Pour Some Sugar On Me" is overrated; sure it's catchy, but then so is the common cold. It is the weakest track on the album and often erroneously chosen as a track to represent it at the expense of other, better tracks. The vocal phrasing and minimal guitars sound like an unfinished demo that is given a gold standard production job; nevertheless, 11 out of 12 is still an insane hit ratio.

This record should be mandatory listening for anyone wanting to know more about 80's rock or post-NWOBHM British rock; Def Leppard may have only had one more good album in them after this, but damn did they give themselves a pass for the rest of their careers with Hysteria.