Hysteria is the fourth studio album by English rock band Def Leppard, released on 3 August 1987,[4] by Mercury Records.

Hysteria's creation took over three years and was plagued by delays, including the aftermath of drummer Rick Allen's accident that cost him his left arm on 31 December 1984.

The title of the album was conceived by Allen referring to his car accident, the amputation of his arm, and the ensuing worldwide media coverage surrounding it.

[7] Although initial sales stalled outside the band's devoted fanbase, it soon became a worldwide commercial success, reaching number one on both the Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart.

Soon after completing the Pyromania tour in February 1984, the band commenced writing and pre-production for what became Hysteria in Dublin, using Fostex 4-track cassette recorders to capture ideas.

[10][11] Lange joined them to help with writing and arrangements, but at late notice informed the group he could not commit to producing the album due to burnout from a gruelling schedule from the past few years.

[16] However, the sessions were further delayed by Lange's own auto accident (sustaining leg injuries from which he quickly recovered) and a bout of the mumps suffered by singer Joe Elliott in late 1986.

[17] The final recording sessions took place in January 1987 for the song "Armageddon It" and a last-minute composition "Pour Some Sugar on Me", though Lange spent another three months mixing the tracks.

The album's goal, set out by Lange, was to be a hard rock version of Michael Jackson's Thriller, in that every track was a potential hit single.

[2][18] Songs were therefore written with this concept in mind, disappointing heavy metal fans who clamoured for a straight sequel to the band's previous album, Pyromania.

[citation needed] One song, "Love Bites", was already mostly written in the vein of a country ballad by Mutt Lange when he brought it to the band's attention.

[19] While Pyromania contained traces of Def Leppard's original traditional heavy metal sound found on their first two albums, Hysteria removed them in favour of the latest sonic technology available at the time (best displayed on "Rocket", "Love Bites", "Excitable", and "Gods of War").

In sharp contrast, the final version of "Animal" took almost a full three years to be developed but was not as successful as other singles, only reaching number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100.

[22] The popularity of Def Leppard in their homeland had significantly grown over the previous four years, and Hysteria topped the charts in Britain in its first week of release.

Then-manager Cliff Burnstein reasoned that the band needed to reconnect with their hard rock audience first before issuing more top 40-friendly singles.

In the Billboard issue dated 8 October 1988, Def Leppard held the number one spot on both the singles and album charts with "Love Bites" and Hysteria, respectively.

The 1988 demo version, which includes Steve Clark on guitar, was eventually released on various CD singles, album deluxe editions and box sets.

AllMusic's Steve Huey awarded it five stars, stating, "Pyromania's slick, layered Mutt Lange production turned into a painstaking obsession with dense sonic detail on Hysteria, with the result that some critics dismissed the record as a stiff, mechanized pop sell-out (perhaps due in part to Rick Allen's new, partially electronic drum kit)."

[50] All tracks are written by Joe Elliott, Rick Savage, Phil Collen, Steve Clark and Robert John "Mutt" Lange, except where noted.On 4 August 2017, the band released 30th Anniversary editions of the album.

This release omits four songs from the concert: "Don't Shoot Shotgun", "Let It Go", "Tear It Down" and "Travelin' Band" (a Creedence Clearwater Revival cover) as well as a Steve Clark guitar solo.