Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen recalled their initial fear when their track “Love Bites” became their only No.1 hit single on release in 1987.
The track had been composed in the studio with producer Mutt Lange, and released on blockbuster album Hysteria, but the band had never given thought to how they might perform it live, as Collen told Uncle Joe Benson on the Ultimate Classic Rock Nights radio show.
“We’d done all these overdubs, these crazy guitar parts and vocal harmonies,” he said. “Then the song went to No.1 and we’d never played it live. So we had to take time off an go into a rehearsal room in Vancouver, and we were like, ‘Guys, how are we gonna do this song?’”