Def Leppard originally worked with Jim Steinman as Hysteria’s producer. Is it true he was rejected because he thought everything the band was recording at the time sounded good?
Yeah. We originally got in touch with him because of his reputation as a vocal guy. We expected him to bring something to us, to learn stuff [from], not just because we wanted to do a recording, but because we wanted the songs to sound timeless, so Mutt came back in. [Steinman] wasn’t the right choice; we made a mistake with that and it didn’t work out at all.
Did any recordings survive from the Steinman sessions?
I think there’s probably some demos floating around; they’re definitely are on a cassette somewhere.
How long did you work with Steinman in the studio?
Probably about six months, I would think.
That’s definitely long enough to know whether it’s a good fit or not.
Yeah. Well, we went in there trying to get the sound. Actually, it was less than that, since it was a while ago, like 26 years ago. It was probably just three months, since we would have known straightaway. Just working on the songs, and actually trying to get some new songs, as well. We actually had finished all the songs for the record, so we trying to come up with some new stuff. Even as a songwriter, [with Steinman] it was just the wrong fit. The chemistry wasn’t there.
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