Def Leppard on Top of the Pops in 1987: "Animal" becomes their first UK Top 10 hit
Summer 1987: with "Animal", the first single from "Hysteria", Def Leppard appeared on the BBC's Top of the Pops – the song climbed to No. 6 in the UK.
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The clip shows Def Leppard on Top of the Pops, the BBC's legendary music show. In July and August 1987 the band presented its new single "Animal" there and on ITV's "The Roxy". The song had been released in the UK on 20 July 1987 as the first single from the album "Hysteria", which followed on 3 August 1987.
The line-up of those years was singer Joe Elliott, guitarists Phil Collen and Steve Clark, bassist Rick Savage and drummer Rick Allen. Allen had lost his left arm in a car crash near Sheffield on 31 December 1984. Together with the Simmons company he developed a kit with electronic triggers, in which foot pedals fire the sounds he would otherwise have played with his left arm – he first used it on "Hysteria". Joe Elliott felt the TV performance captured exactly the style the band was aiming for.
The TV exposure paid off: "Animal" entered the chart at No. 34 on 1 August 1987 and reached No. 6 on 22 August – the band's first UK Top 10 hit. In the US the single climbed to No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Hysteria" topped the album charts in both the UK and the US, spawned seven singles and has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.