Def Leppard released the 1987 album Hysteria after the 1983 album Pyromania boosted the band’s popularity throughout North America and Europe in the wake of several more modest album releases. Given the sustained heavy rotation of its other singles (“Photograph,” “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak,” “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” etc.), it’s surprising that “Love Bites” was the UK band’s only US #1 pop hit.
Songfacts details that “Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen … said of this song, ‘It was just a standard rock ballad but it had something else going for it. Lyrically, it kind of painted a picture, and in a song you always want to do that, paint a picture. On a dark desert highway, the first line of Hotel California, great song, it just paints an image for you straight off the bat and that’s the sign of a really good song. It takes you right there.” The emphasis on multi-layered vocals and glossy textures is the work of producer Mutt Lange, who stole the show with his trademark arena-friendly sound — just as he did with his 1990s chart-topping production of his then-wife, country star Shania Twain.
Starting in F major, the pre-chorus shifts to Eb major at 1:07; verse 2 brings a return to F major at 1:59 — with both keys placing ample emphasis on their respective relative minors.
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