THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

479-Def Leppard-Animal.

1987-Number 6 single.

Best Bit-At 3.54. The band play a very well deserved encore.

Def Leppard were formed in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, in 1977, originally calling themselves ‘Atomic Mass,’ at the time of writing they remain active, with two of the founding members Rick Savage, and Joe Elliott being the bands two constants. It was the groups lead singer Joe Elliott who suggested the bands name ‘Deaf Leopard,’ which was modified to ‘Def Leppard’ by Tony Kenning, who was a a band member in the original line up, and stayed with the group until 1978. The other founding member was Peter Willis, who remained with the band until 1982, and was then replaced by Phil Collen. Rick Allen joined as the drummer in 1978, the same year as Steve Clark (1960-1991) joined as a guitarist, after Clark’s death, Vivian Campell became his replacement. On March 29th, 2019, Rick Savage, Joe Elliott, Rick Allen, Phil Collen, Vivian Campbell, Peter Willis, and Steve Clark were inducted into the ‘Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.’ Def Leppard whose musical style has been described as ‘Glam Metal,’ ‘Hard Rock,’ ‘Heavy Metal,’ ‘Arena Rock,’ and ‘Power Pop,’ are one of the best selling groups of all time, with sales in excess of 100 million records sold worldwide. Two of their studio Albums ‘Pyromania,’ (1983) and ‘Hysteria,’ (1987) have both been certified ‘Diamond’ by the ‘Recording Industry Association of America’ (‘RIAA.’) making them one of only five ‘Rock’ bands with two original studio Albums selling over 10 million copies each in the United States, alongside the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Van Halen.

Rick Allen who was born Richard John Cyril Allen, on November 1st, 1963, in Dronfield, Derbyshire, England, has been the drummer with Def Leppard since the age of 15, when his mother replied on his behalf to an advertisement placed by a band called ‘Def Leppard’ looking for a drummer to replace Tony Kenning, the advertisements headline read, ‘Leppard loses skins.’ He celebrated his 16th birthday with a performance at the ‘Hammersmith Odeon,’ London, when Def Leppard opened for AC/DC. (see also best songs 797-245 and 170.) On the afternoon of 31st December 1984, Allen was involved in a car crash when a car in front of his deliberately slowed for Allen to catch up, only to speed up as he tried to pass. This went on for several miles until, in frustration, Allen accelerated to finally pass, at which point he lost control of his left-hand-drive ‘Corvette C4,’ which hit a dry stone wall and entered a field. His left arm was entangled in the seat belt and severed, remaining in the car while Allen was flung out. Doctors initially re-attached the arm, but it was later amputated due to an infection. After receiving hundreds of thousands of letters from all around the world, Allen eventually decided that he wanted to continue playing drums with Def Leppard, and adopted a specially designed electronic drum kit. He uses four electronic pedals for his left foot to play the pieces he used to play with his left arm, which from left to right trigger sounds of a closing hi-hat, bass drum, snare drum, and a tom drum. On the British ‘Gigwise’ website, Allen is ranked Number 7 on the their ‘Greatest Drummers of All Time’ list.

The discography of Def Leppard includes 12 studio Albums released between 1980-2022, and 60 singles released between 1979-2024, there are also four extended plays, (EP’s) 11 box sets, six official compilation Albums, and four live Albums available. In the UK, 19 of their singles have reached the top 40, with both ‘Let’s Get Rocked,’ (1992) and ‘When Love & Hate Collide,’ (1995) peaking the highest at Number 2, while in America on the Billboard Hot 100, they have had 15 top 40 hits, with ‘Love Bites,’ (1988) reaching Number 1, while ‘Animal’ made Number 19.

‘Animal’ was the first of seven singles released from ‘Hysteria,’ the fourth studio Album by Def Leppard from August 1977, the song was co-written by Joe Elliott, Phil Collen, Steve Clark, and Rick Savage, of Def Leppard, along with Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange, (see also best songs 632-314 and 170) who was also the songs producer. Prior to the release of ‘Hysteria,’ Def Leppard had become superstars in America, due to the success of their previous Album ‘Pyromania,’ although they had a following in the UK, it wasn’t until ‘Animal’ and the more commercial ‘Pop/Rock’ production on ‘Hysteria,’ which brought them success in Europe. Phil Collen the groups guitarist who had written the original demo for ‘Animal,’ a while earlier has said, ‘We’d revisit it, and I remember we were recording vocals in Paris for something and one day Joe (Elliott) had done this vocal and Mutt Lange had said, ‘Wow, this vocal’s killer. Let’s rewrite the song around that.’ So we did and it was our first English top 10 single, so it was worth waiting.’ Phil Collen has credited the songs producer Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange for taking the song to the next level. ‘He said, ‘Yeah, this is okay but this can be great.’ That’s always his thing. ‘Yeah, it can be alright and it can be an okay song but we want to make it great.’ And I think we achieved that. Certainly with the album, Hysteria. It had a different kind of response to it than if we had just sat there and released the first draft.’

‘Animal’ is a song about lusting after another, the narrator compares himself to an animal who is stalking his prey. The line, ‘Like the restless rust, I never sleep,’ is a reference to Neil Young’s 1979 live Album ‘Rust Never Sleeps’ (see also best songs 602.)

‘A wild ride, over stony ground, such a lust for life, the circus comes to town. We are the hungry ones, on a lightning raid, just like a river runs, like a fire needs flame, oh I burn for you.’