This 80s #1 was NUTS! Band Had to Sell 5 million to BREAK EVEN...Did 20 million! | Professor Of Rock

Coming up, it’s a landmark album that is all killer and no filler. Def Leppard Hysteria… This 80s hard rock masterwork was so epic that not even two car crashes, the brave drummer who lost his arm, and millions of dollars of debt could stop it from dominating the airwaves. Actually, when today’s band got started on it, they were intentionally trying to beat out the biggest selling album of all time. Michael Jackson Thriller, who actually kept their last album 1983’s Pyromania out of #1. But that’s not all. We’re also giving you the story behind its Top 10 title track, the Pink Floyd like power ballad Hysteria A song that perfectly sums up the magic that went into the making of this seminal record with A cameo interview part form lead singer Joe Elliot… it’s the story of Gen X’s greatest 80s rock blockbuster.

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So, it’s time for another edition of #1 in Our Hearts. This show honors songs that were so unbelievably great, they absolutely should've been #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. But for whatever reason, be it radio play, lack of marketing, label support or just sheer stupidity, the song came up short. On previous episodes we have covered Free Fallin’ by Tom Petty, Sowing the Seeds of Love by Tears for Fears, and Your Love by the Outfield

So I’m excited today to get into the story behind Def Leppard’s Top 10 hit Hysteria the title track from their 1987 record of the same name. Making a mega-hit album had always been in Def Leppard’s sights. It had been in their plans from the beginning of the band. So after the breakout success of 1983’s Pyromania, a record that the band said they were trying to create Star Wars for the ears, the lead singer Joe Elliot, guitarists Phil Collen and Steve Clark, bassist Rick Savage, and drummer Rick Allen were poised to finally do it. The idea for their epic fourth studio album was to create the first hard rock album of its kind… the Thriller of rock, with every track strong enough to be a blockbuster single. Michael Jackson’s Thriller had released seven hit singles and Def Leppard was keen to do the same.

Incidentally, it had been Thriller that kept Pyromania from reaching the top of the Albums Chart back in 83 and the guys wouldn’t forget that. Even so, Pyromania sold 6 million copies in America, eventually becoming a diamond album, making it the biggest selling album by a hard rock band that year and arguably making Def Leppard the biggest British rock band since Led Zeppelin. By the mid 80s Def Leppard seemed positioned for even greater success…

And honestly, with the return of legendary producer Robert “Mutt” Lange who had helmed Pyromania, how could they not continue to rise? After all, Lange was on a massive hot streak… Besides his work with Def Leppard, he had captained three massive AC/DC albums: Highway to Hell, Back in Black and For Those About to Rock… Foreigner’s #1 smash 4… and The Cars #3 masterpiece Heartbeat City.