Def Leppard's Joe Elliott looks back on the story behind their first UK and US hit single, Animal, from 1987.
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00:00Music
00:16My recollection of animals is fading somewhat because it's a long time ago.
00:22Music
00:28Music
00:36The one thing about that song, as opposed to everything else on the album, or anybody that's ever been in a band and had a song that they've lived with for a while but then ended up rewriting parts of it, I sang the lead vocal to a completely different backing track. It was vastly different.
00:53Music
01:33When I did the vocal we spent a couple of days just experimenting with it and then nailing it down. And then when we took the tapes back to Holland where we went to finish the album off, between Holland and Dublin, we kind of grew tired of the backing track.
01:47But everybody was commenting on how much they liked the lead vocal so, I think it would have been much, just said, well look what I'm going to do is I'm going to strip all the track off and just leave the vocal playing against the drums.
01:57I want you guys to just play underneath and see what you come up with. And totally updated the song to the point where it's almost timeless now. It was starting to age even before it was released in its original form.
02:11And I want, and I need, and I love, anymore. And I want, and I need, and I love, anymore.
02:27I want, I want, and I love, anymore. I'm going to kick you everywhere.
02:45Oh, my God.