Def Leppard "Hysteria (Single & Video)"

"Hysteria" is a love song by the English glam metal band Def Leppard. It is the tenth track on their 1987 album of the same name and was released as the third single from that album in November 1987. On VH1 Storytellers: Def Leppard, lead singer Joe Elliott revealed that the song title came from drummer Rick Allen. The song peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100, but did not crack the year-end, despite the fact that some of the band's songs that did not crack the top 10 have made appearances in the year-end.

The song features a clean guitar melody and heavily multi-tracked vocals in its chorus. The "extreme" nature of producer Mutt Lange's recording methods is also exampled in the chorus, where the clean guitar chords were recorded one note at a time as opposed to the traditional method of strumming them, in effect "building" a chord by recording the notes that make them up. The melody was also derived from Pink Floyd's "Goodbye Blue Sky". An acoustic rendition of the song was performed by Elliott and guitarist Phil Collen on the Hysteria edition of VH1's Classic Albums.

Track listing

7": Bludgeon Riffola / Mercury / 870 004-7 (USA)

1. "Hysteria"
2. "Ride into the Sun"

12": Bludgeon Riffola / Phonogram (UK)

1. "Hysteria"
2. "Ride into the Sun"
3. "Love And Affection" (Live)

CD: Bludgeon Riffola / Phonogram / U.K. LEPCD3 / INT. 870 004-2 (UK)

1. "Hysteria"
2. "Ride into the Sun"
3. "Love And Affection" (Live)
4. "I Wanna Be Your Hero"

A music video was made for the song.

Def Leppard re-recorded the song and released it digitally on 19 March, 2013.

An acoustic rendition of the song was performed by Joe Elliott and Phil Collen on the Hysteria edition on VH1's Classic Albums.