Adrenalize

Work began at Wisseloord Studios in November 1988 with engineer Mike Shipley, who was now co-producing with the band, and Lange was credited as executive producer. In spring 1989 the band moved to Studio 150 in Amsterdam for six months, and most of the rest was made in Joe Elliott's home studio in Dublin. Steve Clark had writing credits on six of the ten tracks. He died in January 1991, and Elliott has said that 90 percent of the finished album was recorded between April and December 1991. White Lightning is dedicated to his memory.

Collen redid the guitars at least three times, playing all of them, and described working from Clark's original parts as playing along to a ghost. The album entered at number one in the UK, then the next week on the Billboard 200, where it stayed five weeks. Let's Get Rocked, Make Love Like a Man, Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad and Stand Up (Kick Love into Motion) were the major hits. Reviews were mixed. Rolling Stone's J.D. Considine gave it four stars and said it was so catchy it seemed ready to abandon its metal roots for hard pop. Elliott likened it to Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, with Hysteria as their Dark Side of the Moon.