DEF LEPPARD's PHIL COLLEN Once Again Credits 'Strippers In Florida' With Making 'Hysteria' Album A Massive Success

September 8, 2019

During a recent interview with "The Mike & Carla Morning Show", DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen once again recounted how the band's three-decade-old, career-defining anthem "Pour Some Sugar On Me" started an explosion of over a million copies of the "Hysteria" album to be shipped in a single day.

"Actually, the album came out, 'Hysteria' — our biggest album — and it tanked initially," Phil said. "'Cause we spent so much money on it, and it didn't make it back. And we were, like, 'Oh, man.' We're on tour, and it's half-empty arenas. And this song starts getting requested by strippers in Florida, 'cause they're performing to it. So then people are requesting it on the radio, and it kind of snowballs, or fireballs, if you want, from that point on. And then the second place was Canada — a lot of strip bars, apparently. And it just went on, and it honestly caught on from there. And then the album went to No. 1 three times and ended up going 13 times platinum in the U.S. So, yeah, it was 'cause of the strippers in Florida."

"Pour Some Sugar on Me" was the last song written for "Hysteria". It reportedly came together when singer Joe Elliott took a break from recording the vocals for another song from the same album, "Armageddon It", to play around with a song idea on acoustic guitar, which caught producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange's attention. Lange told him it was "the best hook I've heard for years."

DEF LEPPARD has just completed its second Las Vegas residency. Some of the final shows at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino were filmed for an upcoming DVD.

DEF LEPPARD played its first Las Vegas residency six years ago at the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel, a pioneering effort for a rock band.

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