Thursday, 21st January 2016
Joe Elliott/Ken Bruce 2015
Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott appeared on the Ken Bruce show today for day four of the Track Of My Years feature.
Ken Bruce plays two tracks each weekday chosen by different guests and Joe is featured this week.
On the fourth show today Joe played songs by Sparks and Thin Lizzy.
Read his comments about each artist and song below.
A further two songs are being played each day this week. Joe is pictured above at the BBC Radio studios with host Ken Bruce.
The appearance was recorded and announced in December 2015.
Listen to today's show via the BBC iPlayer link - Joe's part starts at 2hrs 10:23mins in.
The full 10 track show will be available on its own on 22nd January and the playlist is shown below.
Ken Bruce Presents Track of My Years - Joe Elliott Day Four
Sparks
"1974 I think it was. Sparks came out of nowhere for me and they'd had a couple of albums out in the States or if they were even released in England I didn't know about then until a way later. But I remember hearing this song on the radio and thinking when the intro came in the piano sound being very unusual. And then this voice. the voice of Russell Mael comes out of nowhere. This falsetto operatic guy singing pop rock. But the band were all fired up and there was guitars and drums and it was like the format was almost the same as most rock bands but the gloss on the top, which was the piano and the singing, was extremely different. It did the same thing to me that Virginia Plain did in '72. It's like aliens again. There's more aliens coming down playing music. And of course by the time I saw them on Top Of The Pops you're looking at basically either Charlie Chaplin or Adolf Hitler on the piano. And then this beautiful pretty guy singing this really high falsetto stuff. You're thinking they really are from another planet. But it's such a catchy song. It's a fantastic - it's got the cliche of the gunshot at the front. Which is something that most people would never do but they did it and made it work. And it's just very, very memorable from a fantastic album called Kimono My House. It was the first single and again to this day it's on my playlist. Once a week that song gets played - because it's so different. It never aged."
Thin Lizzy
"Yeah bit more of a standard rock song I suppose to everything else I've been picking. The summer of '76. Punk rock was a bit slow to make it up the M1. But there was a whole new kind of generation of - music was kicking into three minute short bursts. And it needed it. You know it didn't matter whether it was punk. It could've been the Buzzcocks, the Pistols, The Jam and The Clash. Or it could have been Eddie And The Hotrods. Or Dr. Feelgood. There was also like AC/DC and Thin Lizzy who were moving more into the concise songwriting kind of way of working. And it was the summer of '76 and the tarmac was melting and you know I think I'd probably started work by then but still it was summer. This song came on the radio and I remember thinking it was so celebratory. Everything about it lyrically, musically it was happy. It was jaunty but it still rocked. It had all the ingredients of a classic rock single if you like. Lizzy kind of brought the rock back to the chart."
Ken Bruce Presents Track of My Years - Playlist
- 01 - Ian Hunter - Once Bitten Twice Shy - 18th January
- 02 - T. Rex - Metal Guru - 18th January
- 03 - Queen - Now I'm Here - 19th January
- 04 - David Bowie - Starman - 19th January
- 05 - Slade - Coz I Love You - 20th January
- 06 - Mott The Hoople - All The Young Dudes - 20th January
- 07 - Sparks - This Town Ain't Big Enough - 21st January
- 08 - Thin Lizzy - The Boys Are Back in Town - 21st January
- 09 - Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Judy Teen - 22nd January
- 10 - The Clash - London Calling - 22nd January
- Listen to today's show at - bbc.co.uk
- Full show will be available at - bbc.co.uk (on 22nd Jan)
- Def Leppard - Ken Bruce 2016 Show Page 4
- Def Leppard - Radio 2016
- Previous News - 20th January 2016 - Day Three