Pour Some Sugar on Me

{{Infobox song

| name = Pour Some Sugar on Me

| cover = Def-Leppard-Pour-Some-Sugar-On-Me Single.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Def Leppard

| album = Hysteria

| B-side =

"I Wanna Be Your Hero" (UK)
"Ring of Fire" (US)

| released =

7 September 1987 (UK)
April 1988 (US)
4 June 2012 (re-recorded version)

| recorded =

December 1986 – January 1987 (original)
2012 (re-recorded version)

| studio =

| genre =

| length =

4:27 (album version)
4:24 (single version)
4:52 (Hysteria video edit version)
5:35 (extended version)
4:21 (2012 re-recorded version)

| label = Mercury

| writer =

| producer = Robert John "Mutt" Lange

| prev_title = Women

| prev_year = 1987

| next_title = Hysteria

| next_year = 1987

| misc = {{Audio sample

| type = single

| file = Pour-some-sugar-on-me.ogg

| description = "Pour Some Sugar on Me"

}}

{{External music video

| type = single

| header = Music videos

| 1 = {{YouTube|UrZRpXoKoFQ|"Pour Some Sugar on Me" (UK version)}}

}}{{External music video

| type = single

| header = no

| 1 = {{YouTube|0UIB9Y4OFPs|"Pour Some Sugar on Me" (U.S. version)}}

}}

"Pour Some Sugar on Me" is a song by the English rock band Def Leppard from their 1987 album Hysteria. It reached number two on the US US Billboard Hot 100 chart on 23 July 1988. "Pour Some Sugar on Me" is considered the band's signature song,{{cite magazine| url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/readers-poll-the-best-hair-metal-songs-of-all-time-20120620/1-def-leppard-pour-some-sugar-on-me-0313847 | magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=12 March 2020 |title=Readers' Poll: The Best Hair Metal Songs of All Time |date=20 June 2012}} and was ranked number two on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the 80s" in 2006.{{cite web|url=http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/2006/vh180s.htm|title=Rock On The Net: VH1: 100 Greatest Songs of the 80's: 1–50}}

Musical style

"Pour Some Sugar on Me" has been labelled as a glam metal,{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/readers-poll-the-10-greatest-hair-metal-songs-11547/3-def-leppard-pour-some-sugar-on-me-231823/|title=Readers' Poll: The 10 Greatest Hair Metal Songs|date=5 February 2014|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=17 February 2019}}{{Cite book|last=Popoff|first=Martin|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/858901054|title=The big book of hair metal : the illustrated oral history of heavy metal's debauched decade|date=2014|isbn=978-0-7603-4546-7|location=Minneapolis, MN|oclc=858901054|pages=146}}{{Cite web|title=The Ultimate Hair Metal Party Playlist|url=https://www.kerrang.com/features/the-ultimate-hair-metal-party-playlist/|access-date=4 March 2021|website=Kerrang!|date=5 April 2018 }}{{Cite web|last=Matt|first=Metal|date=21 February 2014|title=Achy-Breaky Too: Five Hair Metal Jams Destined For Rap Redux|url=https://www.metalsucks.net/2014/02/21/achy-breaky-five-hair-metal-jams-destined-rap-redux/|access-date=14 March 2021|website=MetalSucks|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=2 May 2012|title=Tom Cruise to sing Guns N' Roses, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi on 'Rock Of Ages' soundtrack|url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/guns-n-roses-137-1284060|access-date=28 June 2021|website=NME|language=en-GB}} hard rock,{{cite magazine|last=Wiederhorn|first=Jon|date=27 March 2020|title=Def Leppard Reflects on the 'Early Years' and Why Those Iron Maiden Comparisons Were 'Tiresome'|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/9344191/def-leppard-reflects-on-early-years-interview|access-date=12 February 2021|magazine=Billboard}} arena rock,{{cite web|date=13 January 2016|title=Top 80 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 1980s|url=https://loudwire.com/top-hard-rock-metal-albums-1980s/|access-date=12 February 2021|website=Loudwire}} and pop rock{{cite web|date=12 July 2015|title=Top 100 '80s Rock Albums|url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/80s-rock-albums/|access-date=12 February 2021|website=Ultimate Classic Rock}} song with elements of industrial rock and electropop.{{cite web |website=Consequence |last=Brennan |first=Collin |url=https://consequence.net/2018/02/10-hair-metal-albums-that-dont-suck/3/ |title=10 Hair Metal Albums That Don't Suck |date=5 February 2018 |access-date=1 January 2025}}

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 Robert John "Mutt" Lange, expressing great liking of it, suggested that it be developed into another song.{{cite web |last1=McDonald |first1=Dani |title=How We Made: Def Leppard's singer reveals Pour Some Sugar On Me was an accident |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/104604941/how-we-made-def-leppards-singer-reveals-pour-some-sugar-on-me-was-an-accident |website=Stuff |date=14 June 2018 |access-date=12 January 2019 |language=en}}

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.{{Citation needed|date=October 2017}} Within two weeks the song was completed, smoothed out, and included as the fifth track on Hysteria.{{cite magazine |last1=Newman |first1=Melinda |title=Def Leppard's 'Hysteria' Turns 30: An Oral History of the Album's Painful Path to Victory |url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/7882158/def-leppard-hysteria-album-anniversary |magazine=Billboard |date=August 2017 |access-date=12 January 2019}}

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.{{cite magazine |last=Johnston|first=Maura |author-link=Maura Johnston |title=Def Leppard's 'Hysteria': 10 Things You Didn't Know |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/def-leppards-hysteria-10-things-you-didnt-know-253377/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=12 January 2019 |date=3 August 2017}}

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."{{cite web |title=Twitch |url=https://www.twitch.tv/videos/44819327 |website=Twitch |access-date=12 January 2019}} (However, some of the key lyrics as well as the overall theme of the song are similar to those of the song "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies.)

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

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.

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, number 18 in the UK Singles Chart and number 26 on the Australian Singles Chart.[http://finnishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Def+Leppard&titel=Pour+Some+Sugar+On+Me&cat=s Chart positions @ Finnishcharts.com] Retrieved June 2009{{cite book |first1=Neil |last1=Warwick |first2=Jon |last2=Kutner |first3=Tony |last3=Brown |year=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ib4MyAIpe3MC&pg=PT268 |title=The complete book of the British charts: singles & albums |publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn=9781844490585 }}

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."

In 2012, due to royalty conflicts{{cite web |last1=Halperin |first1=Shirley |title=Pour Some Sugar Again: Why Def Leppard is Rerecording Hits |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/def-leppard-universal-recording-hits-356397 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |date=August 2012 |access-date=12 January 2019 |language=en}} 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).

The song is a mainstay of classic rock and classic hits stations. In the 2010s, it was added to some adult contemporary stations despite never hitting that chart.{{efn|Their song Two Steps Behind in 1992, however, did hit the AC chart}}

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 played by Rosemary Henderson, who at the time was appearing on Saturday morning children's television in Ireland.

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 listings

7": Bludgeon Riffola / Mercury / 870 298-7 (US)[http://www.defleppardworld.info/7_kuvat_singles_pour_some_sugar_on_me_us_8702987.html Def Leppard Discography - Pour Some Sugar on Me 870 298-7 (USA)]

"Pour Some Sugar on Me"
"Ring of Fire"

US 12"

"Pour Some Sugar on Me" (extended version)
"Pour Some Sugar on Me" (album version)
"I Wanna Be Your Hero"

CD single: Bludgeon Riffola / Mercury / 8724872 (Germany){{cite web|url=http://www.defleppard-discography.com/results.asp?show=items&format=5|title=Def Leppard website|access-date=14 May 2011|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002154221/http://www.defleppard-discography.com/results.asp?show=items&format=5|archive-date=2 October 2011}}

"Pour Some Sugar on Me" (extended version)
"Release Me"
"Rock of Ages" (live medley)

Personnel

Joe Elliott – lead vocals
Phil Collen – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Steve Clark – lead guitar, backing vocals
Rick Savage – bass, backing vocals
Rick Allen – drums

Charts

This song is notable for being the only Def Leppard song to get airplay on adult contemporary stations despite not registering at all on the AC charts while "Two Steps Behind" did, reaching No. 29.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/music/def-leppard|title=Def Leppard Chart History|magazine=Billboard}}

=Weekly charts=

scope="row"\|Canada 30 Retail Singles (RPM){{cite magazine\|url=https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.8731.pdf\|access-date=20 June 2023\|title=RPM 30 Retal Singles 1987\|magazine=RPM\|date=12 June 1987}} \|16
class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" !Chart (1987–1989) !Peak position
{{single chart\|Australia\|26\|artist=Def Leppard\|song=Pour Some Sugar On Me\|rowheader=true\|access-date=20 June 2023}}
{{single chart\|Canadatopsingles\|22\|chartid=8588\|rowheader=true\|access-date=20 June 2023}}
{{single chart\|Ireland2\|8\|artist=Def Leppard\|song=Pour Some Sugar On Me\|rowheader=true\|access-date=20 June 2023}}
{{single chart\|Dutch100\|94\|artist=Def Leppard\|song=Pour Some Sugar On Me\|rowheader=true\|access-date=20 June 2023}}
{{single chart\|New Zealand\|16\|artist=Def Leppard\|song=Pour Some Sugar On Me\|rowheader=true\|access-date=20 June 2023}}
{{single chart\|UK\|18\|date=19870927\|rowheader=true\|access-date=20 June 2023}}
{{single chart\|Billboardhot100\|2\|artist=Def Leppard\|rowheader=true\|access-date=20 June 2023}}
{{single chart\|Billboardmainstreamrock\|25\|artist=Def Leppard\|rowheader=true\|access-date=20 June 2023}}
{{single chart\|West Germany\|50\|artist=Def Leppard\|song=Pour Some Sugar On Me\|songid=25317\|rowheader=true\|access-date=20 June 2023}}

class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

!Chart (2019)

!Peak
position

{{single chart|Billboardrocksongs|10|artist=Def Leppard|rowheader=true|access-date=7 May 2019}}

=Year-end charts=

class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" !Chart (1988) !Position
scope="row"\|US Billboard Hot 100{{cite web\|url=http://blog.xuite.net/kanlen/tw/56220281-1988-Billboard%20Year-End%20Hot%20100%20(1988%E5%B9%B4%E5%91%8A%E7%A4%BA%E7%89%8C%E5%B9%B4%E7%B5%82%E6%8E%92%E8%A1%8C%E6%A6%9C)\|title=1988-Billboard Year-End Hot 100 (1988年告示牌年終排行榜)\|first=Kanlen\|last=(kanlen)\|date=11 January 2012}} \|19

class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

!Chart (1988)

!Position

scope="row"|US Billboard Hot 100{{cite web|url=http://blog.xuite.net/kanlen/tw/56220281-1988-Billboard%20Year-End%20Hot%20100%20(1988%E5%B9%B4%E5%91%8A%E7%A4%BA%E7%89%8C%E5%B9%B4%E7%B5%82%E6%8E%92%E8%A1%8C%E6%A6%9C)|title=1988-Billboard Year-End Hot 100 (1988年告示牌年終排行榜)|first=Kanlen|last=(kanlen)|date=11 January 2012}}

|19

Certifications

{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|type=single|artist=Def Leppard|title=Pour Some Sugar on Me|award=Platinum|number=3|relyear=1987|certyear=2024|source=radioscope|access-date=28 January 2025}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Def Leppard|title=Pour Some Sugar on Me|award=Platinum|relyear=2012|certyear=2022|id=14505-2066-1|access-date=16 December 2022}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=single|artist=Def Leppard|title=Pour Some Sugar on Me|award=Gold|relyear=1987|certyear=2005|digital=true|access-date=7 August 2020}}