Pour Some Sugar on Me

"Pour Some Sugar on Me" is a song by the English rock band Def Leppard from their 1987 album Hysteria. It reached number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on 23 July 1988, behind "Hold On to the Nights" by Richard Marx. "Pour Some Sugar on Me" is considered the band's signature song,[2] and was ranked #2 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the 80s" in 2006.[3]

"Pour Some Sugar on Me"
Single by Def Leppard
from the album Hysteria
B-side
  • "I Wanna Be Your Hero" (UK)
  • "Ring of Fire" (US)
Released8 September 1987 (UK)
16 April 1988 (US)
4 June 2012 (Re-recorded version)
RecordedDecember 1986 – January 1987 (original)
2012 (re-recorded version)
Genre
Length4:27 (album version)
4:24 (single version)
4:52 (Hysteria video edit version)
4:21 (2012 re-recorded version)
5:35 (extended version)
LabelMercury
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Robert John "Mutt" Lange
Def Leppard singles chronology
"Hysteria"
(1987)		 "Pour Some Sugar on Me"
(1987)		 "Love Bites"
(1988)
Audio sample
"Pour Some Sugar on Me"
  • file
  • help

Production

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 Mutt Lange, expressing great liking of it, suggested that it be developed into another song.[4]

Although already behind schedule, Lange felt that the album was still missing a strong crossover hit and that this last song had the potential to be one. Within two weeks the song was completed, smoothed out, and included as the twelfth track on Hysteria.[5]

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.[6]

The song's lyrics were written after Elliott and Lange went to opposite ends of the studio control room and delivered stream-of-consciousness words into a pair of dictaphones while the song's backing track played. They then swapped dictaphones and tried to determine what each other's words were. 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."[7]

Two intros were recorded for the song. The studio version which has "Step inside, walk this way, you and me babe, hey hey!" and then cuts right to the guitar; and the single version which has "love is like a bomb" which has a slightly longer progression to it.

By the spring of 1988, Hysteria had sold 3 million copies, which was not enough to cover the album's $5 million production costs. 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.[8]

Reception

The somewhat delayed success of "Pour Some Sugar on Me" (due to the new promo release) helped send Hysteria to number 1 on the Top Pop Albums chart (now the Billboard 200) a year after release, selling four million copies during the single's run. The song reached number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 (denied the top spot by "Hold On to the Nights" by Richard Marx), number 18 in the UK Singles Chart and number 26 on the ARIA charts (Australia).[9][10]

MTV ranked "Pour Some Sugar on Me" number 1 in its "Top 300 Videos of All Time" countdown in May 1991. In 2006, VH1 ranked the song number 2 on its list of the "100 Greatest Songs of the '80s."[3]

In 2012 due to royalty conflicts[11] with their record company regarding profits from online sales, the band re-recorded the song, along with "Rock of Ages", under the title "Pour Some Sugar on Me 2012" and released both digitally in June 2012 (similarly, a re-recorded version of the single "Hysteria" entitled "Hysteria (2013 Re-Recorded Version)" was also released online the following year).

Music video

Two different music videos for the song were produced. 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. Filmed before the song became a hit in the United States, a second video simply of the band playing the song live was released for American MTV. The American video (directed by Wayne Isham) was edited from the band's full-length 1989 video release, Live: In the Round, in Your Face, recorded at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, CO, in February 1988. 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"

CD single: Bludgeon Riffola / Mercury / 8724872 (Germany)[12]

  1. "Pour Some Sugar on Me" [Extended Version]
  2. "Release Me"
  3. "Rock of Ages" [Live Medley]

Personnel

Def Leppard

Charts

Weekly charts
Chart (1987–89) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[13] 26
Canada 30 Retail Singles (RPM)[14] 16
Canada 100 Singles (RPM)[15] 22
Ireland (IRMA)[16] 8
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[17] 94
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[18] 16
UK Singles (OCC)[19] 18
US Billboard Hot 100[20] 2
US Album Rock Tracks (Billboard)[21] 25
West Germany (Official German Charts)[22] 50
Chart (2019) Peak
position
US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)[23] 10

Year-end charts
Chart (1988) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100[24] 19

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[25] Gold 400,000
United States (RIAA)[26] Gold 500,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Notes
  1. "Readers' Poll: The 10 Greatest Hair Metal Songs". Rolling Stone. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  2. "Readers' Poll: The Best Hair Metal Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  3. "JdjdjRock On The Net: VH1: 100 Greatest Songs of the 80's: 1–50".
  4. McDonald, Dani. "How We Made: Def Leppard's singer reveals Pour Some Sugar On Me was an accident". Stuff. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  5. Newman, Melinda. "Def Leppard's 'Hysteria' Turns 30: An Oral History of the Album's Painful Path to Victory". Billboard. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  6. Johnston, Maura (3 August 2017). "Def Leppard's 'Hysteria': 10 Things You Didn't Know". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  7. "Twitch". Twitch. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  8. "Def Leppard "Pour Some Sugar On Me" Single Anniversary". Def Leppard Report. 17 April 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  9. Chart positions @ Finnishcharts.com Retrieved June 2009
  10. Neil Warwick, Jon Kutner, Tony Brown (2004) The complete book of the British charts: singles & albums Omnibus Press, 2004
  11. Halperin, Shirley. "Pour Some Sugar Again: Why Def Leppard is Rerecording Hits". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  12. "Def Leppard website". Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2011.
  13. "Australian-charts.com – Def Leppard – Pour Some Sugar on Me". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  14. "RPM 30 Retail Singles" (PDF). RPM. Ottawa: Library and Archives Canada. 48 (24). 1 October 1988. OCLC 352936026. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  15. "RPM 100 Singles" (PDF). RPM. Ottawa: Library and Archives Canada. 48 (18). 20 August 1988. OCLC 352936026. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  16. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Pour Some Sugar on Me". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  17. "Dutchcharts.nl – Def Leppard – Pour Some Sugar on Me" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  18. "Charts.nz – Def Leppard – Pour Some Sugar on Me". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  19. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  20. "Def Leppard Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  21. "Def Leppard – Chart history". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  22. "Offiziellecharts.de – Def Leppard – Pour Some Sugar on Me". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  23. "Def Leppard Chart History (Hot Rock & Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  24. (kanlen), Kanlen. "1988-Billboard Year-End Hot 100 (1988年告示牌年終排行榜)".
  25. "British single certifications – Def Leppard – Pour Some Sugar on Me". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  26. "American single certifications – Def Leppard – Pour Some Sugar on Me". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 7 August 2020. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH. 
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