Def Leppard: Joe Elliott (vocals); Steve Clark, Phil Collen (guitar); Rick Savage (bass); Rick Allen (drums). Additional personnel: The Bankrupt Brothers (background vocals). Recorded at Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum, Holland; Windmill Lane Studio 2, Dublin, Ireland; Studio Des Dames, Paris, France. Four years after PYROMANIA, Def Leppard were a comparative write-off. Dismissed by critics, seemingly dogged by bad luck, with drummer Rick Allen losing an arm in a car accident, HYSTERIA had to be an album to turn heads. In retrospect, it sounded like the first true hard rock record for the CD generation. Ambitious arrangements and remixes on songs such as "Rocket" and "Armaggedon It," a crisp single in "Animal," and a dense paean to love with "Love Bites," all bets were off. Def Leppard had created an intriguing language of ideas that still speaks volumes more than a decade on.
