Taylor Swift made headlines this week for being the first artist to claim the entire top 10 singles chart with tracks from her latest album Midnights.
While impressive, an arguably bigger achievement occurred 35 years ago when Def Leppard's blockbuster album Hysteria spawned seven hit singles.
Not only was this the pre-streaming era, when music had to be physically bought, it was 1987 and Def Leppard’s exuberant rock was a far cry from the sounds of that era’s pop stars, such as Madonna and Michael Jackson.
Coming off the back of their successful 1983 predecessor, Pyromania, the UK group aimed for an impact of which Jackson would have been proud.
“We wanted to make the rock version of Thriller,” guitarist Phil Collen tells The National before the band’s Abu Dhabi F1 race day concert on November 20.
He is referring to Jackson’s 1982 album, which sold 70 million copies and is one of the best-selling albums of all time.
With Hysteria registering more than 20 million copies in sales, it remains a monumental achievement in presenting hard rock’s commercial clout, in addition to being a new high-water mark for the genre's production.
It is also a good news story.
Hysteria’s buoyant anthems were laced by personal tragedy and a budget blowout.
The drama began at the onset of the recording process in 1984, when a horrific New Year's Eve car accident involving drummer Rick Allen resulted in the amputation of his left arm.
While heroically returning behind a specially designed electronic drum kit a year later, Def Leppard were also stuck in a creative cul-de-sac.
With Pyromania they reached a commercial ceiling with their brand of heavy metal.
Keen to expand their reach and follow heroes such as The Beatles and Queen in playing arenas, the group wanted to release a supremely polished album full of earworm melodies.
Another obstacle arose when producer of choice, South Africa's Mutt Lange (who also guided Pyromania), was initially unavailable.
By the time his calendar was clear, the group had already burnt through their budget by hiring and effectively firing (they bought out his contract) Meat Loaf producer Jim Steinman.
“We wanted that Mutt Lange sound,” Collen says. “He pretty much taught us how to sing. We knew we had OK voices but he knew how to combine them all together and make us sound great.”
A notorious taskmaster, Lange’s inclusion meant the band jettisoned their hard-partying ways to focus on the work at hand.
“We didn't really go out. There was no partying. We were in the studio and supremely focused,” Collen says.
“While we perhaps missed out on some of the crazy stuff other bands go to, we ended up finishing what we wanted to do.”
And that is an album warranting the weathered adage: all killer, no filler.
Hysteria is full of tracks defining the rock sounds of that era.
The bass lines are muscular, the riffs come thick and fast and frontman Joe Elliott's vocals evolved from the whiny castrato of previous releases to take on a richer and deeper timber.
This is exemplified in marauding opener Women and the stomping glam-rock of Rocket.
Def Leppard's investment in melody also shines in the majestic power ballad and wonderful three-part harmonies of Love Bites.
Global hit Pour Some Sugar On Me is also indicative of the group's desire to please the masses.
Beginning with a squall of guitar riffs before moving on to a verse featuring Elliott's snarling vocals, the song could easily have settled into being a pretty decent hard rock tune.
However, it is that wondrous and surprising major key change in the chorus elevating the song to the kind of pop anthem used in film montages Coyote Ugly and Rock of Ages and heard in baseball stadiums across the US.
That nous is also heard in the work of guitarists Collen and the late Steve Clark.
Hysteria is marked by their exhilarating counter melodies and arpeggios which provide powerful songs such as Gods of War and the album's title track with added emotional resonance.
Of course, it was Lange, the band’s Svengali, piecing it all together immaculately.
Lange's meticulous approach allows listeners to appreciate the detail of Hysteria's interlocking guitar parts, highlighted in Animal, and the intricate harmonies such as in of Gods of War.
The fact that the follow-up album, 1992’s disappointing Adrenalize, was Def Leppard and Lange's last collaboration, is no surprise.
Hysteria is more than the sound of a band reaching new creative heights. It also captures the kind of kinetic energy and synergy between band and producer hard to find and harder to maintain.
For an album reportedly costing an eye-watering $3.5 million to make — it remains one of the most expensive rock albums yet produced — Hysteria easily recouped the costs.
While Def Leppard would never match that album’s critical and commercial success, it laid the groundwork for other big-selling titles from the likes of Bon Jovi and Poison.
Def Leppard's deft blend of melody and powerful sonics also influenced many of today’s leading pop stars, with Lady Gaga, Maroon 5 and John Mayer listing the band as an influence.
Such enduring appeal not only maintains Hysteria’s place as one of rock'n'roll's most influential albums, but also provides the songs that will contribute to what should be an awesome concert in Abu Dhabi.
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
57%20Seconds
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Rusty%20Cundieff%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJosh%20Hutcherson%2C%20Morgan%20Freeman%2C%20Greg%20Germann%2C%20Lovie%20Simone%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2%2F5%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
The five pillars of Islam
Results
Stage 5:
1. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) Team Jumbo-Visma 04:19:08
2. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 00:00:03
3. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers
4. Sergio Higuita (COL) EF Education-Nippo 00:00:05
5. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:00:06
General Classification:
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 17:09:26
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers 00:00:45
3. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:01:12
4. Chris Harper (AUS) Team Jumbo-Visma 00:01:54
5. Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo 00:01:56
Brief scores:
Toss: Kerala Knights, opted to fielf
Pakhtoons 109-5 (10 ov)
Fletcher 32; Lamichhane 3-17
Kerala Knights 110-2 (7.5 ov)
Morgan 46 not out, Stirling 40
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Defending champions
World Series: South Africa
Women’s World Series: Australia
Gulf Men’s League: Dubai Exiles
Gulf Men’s Social: Mediclinic Barrelhouse Warriors
Gulf Vets: Jebel Ali Dragons Veterans
Gulf Women: Dubai Sports City Eagles
Gulf Under 19: British School Al Khubairat
Gulf Under 19 Girls: Dubai Exiles
UAE National Schools: Al Safa School
International Invitational: Speranza 22
International Vets: Joining Jack
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
