Pour Some Sugar on Me

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"Pour Some Sugar on Me"
Single by Def Leppard
from the album Hysteria
B-side	"I Wanna Be Your Hero" (UK), "Ring of Fire" (U.S.)
Released	September 8, 1987 (UK), 1988 (U.S.)
Format	7", 12"
Recorded	1986
Genre	Hard rock
Length	4:25
Label	Mercury
Writer(s)	Joe Elliott, Phil Collen, Steve Clark, Rick Savage, Robert John "Mutt" Lange
Producer	Robert John "Mutt" Lange
Def Leppard singles chronology
"Hysteria" (1987) "Pour Some Sugar on Me" (1988) "Love Bites" (1987)

"Pour Some Sugar on Me" is a song by British hard rock band Def Leppard from their 1987 album Hysteria. It reached number 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It later became an MTV classic, and is generally regarded as the band's signature song.

Although the band was nearing the end of recording sessions for Hysteria in 1986, producer Mutt Lange felt that the album was still lacking a song that would have an appeal beyond the hard rock fans who had bought Pyromania. That song came to him during a 5 minute coffee break.

Origins

Singer Joe Elliott was jamming with a riff he'd come up with recently on the guitar, and Lange suggested that the riff be taken a step further. It was a risky move, as everyone in the band had been worn out by the never-ending sessions.

Within two weeks the song was completed, smoothed out and included as the 12th track on Hysteria. "Pour Some Sugar on Me" was released as the second single from the album in the UK, where it reached the top 20. The British single was accompanied by a video depicting the band playing in a house as it is being demolished and features a cameo by the members of Tesla in the outdoor crowd scenes. The other music video features the band playing live at a concert (this one was aimed at the American market). There are two intros to the song:; the first starts with "Step inside, walk this way, You and me babe; HEY HEY!!" The second, (mainly in America) starts with "Love Is Like A Bomb" (with the "Bomb" echoed), and is used on all compilation albums.

According to Joe Elliots's commets on the Vault album, he wrote that this turned to be the most important song they did, since it is about sex.

Reception

By the spring of 1988, Hysteria had sold 3 million copies, but it still wasn't enough to cover the album's production costs (the most expensive ever at the time). 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 video instantly gained heavy MTV airplay. The song itself caught on with pop radio with an arena rock anthem feel in the style of Queen's "We Will Rock You" and Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'N Roll" (in fact, the verses of Pour Some Sugar On Me strongly resemble the verses from We Will Rock You, while the chord progression of the chorus of Pour Some Sugar On Me is exactly the same as the one in I Love Rock 'N Roll).

In VH1's list of the 100 Greatest songs of the 80's, this was listed at number two.

Pour Some Sugar on Me - 7": Bludgeon Riffola / Mercury / 870 298-7 (USA) - Single Cover

Success

The somewhat delayed success of "Pour Some Sugar on Me" (due to the new promo release) would send sales of Hysteria higher than the band ever imagined. It finally reached number 1 on the Top Pop Albums (now the Billboard 200) a year after release, and sold four million copies during the single's run. The video remained at number 1 on the request show Dial MTV for 68 days (one of the longest runs to date). The song became a #1 hit in Canada and also charted at #94 in The Netherlands and #26 in Australia. ^[1]

MTV would rank "Pour Some Sugar on Me" #1 in its "Top 100 Videos of All Time" Countdown in 1991. In 2006, VH1 ranked the song #2 on its list of the "100 Greatest Songs of the '80s".

Popularity

In 2005, the single was awarded RIAA Gold certification for digital downloads of over 500,000 units, despite the fact that it was not commercially released that year. It is one of very few songs recorded before 2004 to accomplish this feat.

Throughout America the song has long been a favorite at strip clubs, a fact confirmed by Howard Stern when Def Leppard were guests on his radio show, probably due to the nature of the vocals and tempo of the guitar solo in the middle of the song.

In an episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends titled "Patrying Is Such Sweet Soiree", Mac, one of the lead characters screams "Pour some sugar on Mac!" in a reference to the song.

In 2007, the song was featured in the credits of Balls of Fury.

The alternative-rock band The Maine (band) is going to release a cover of this song on their deluxe edition of Can't Stop Won't Stop.

Music video

There are two different music videos to the song. The first version shows the band playing inside a derelict Irish stately home (Mount Merrion House at Stillorgan, Dublin) while it is being demolished by wrecking-balls. Members of the band Tesla appear in the crowd scenes. This version, filmed in 1986, was disliked by the band. The second version, aimed at American audiences, was a video of the band playing the song live. The American video was edited from the band's full-length 1989 video release, "Live: In the Round in Your Face", recorded at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado in February 1988. Only one laser was needed for the live performance featured in the US video. It was merely bounced off dozens of mirrors to achieve the desired effect. The music video for the song had an extended, distortion-laden intro in lieu of the album version's "Step inside, walk this way" intro. Most compilations use the extended music video-style intro.

Track listing

7": Bludgeon Riffola / Mercury / 870 298-7 (USA)

1. "Pour Some Sugar On Me"
2. "Ring Of Fire"

US Vinyl, 12"

1. Pour Some Sugar On Me [Extended Version]
2. Pour Some Sugar On Me [Album Version]
3. I Wanna Be Your Hero

Notes

References