[11] Near the end of recording the album Hysteria, during a production break, lead singer Joe Elliott was jamming with a riff he had come up with two weeks earlier on an acoustic guitar.

Producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, expressing great liking of it, suggested that it be developed into another song.

[13] Elliott claims the song was at least partially inspired by the Aerosmith and Run-DMC version of "Walk This Way", which made him realize the potential of the mixing of rap and rock.

In the Hysteria episode of the Classic Albums documentary series, Elliott said he thought he heard the phrase "love is like a bomb" on Lange's tape "and that set the whole tone for the lyric.

and then cuts immediately to the guitar, while the single version has "love is like a bomb" and a slightly longer progression.

Thus, the band edited footage from an upcoming concert film to make a new promo clip for "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and finally released it as the fourth single in North America.

The first version (directed by Russell Mulcahy) shows the band playing inside a derelict Irish stately home (Mount Merrion House at Stillorgan, Dublin) while it is being demolished by a wrecking ball and a burly, sledgehammer-wielding, female construction worker played by Rosemary Henderson, who at the time was appearing on Saturday morning children's television in Ireland.