Def Leppard News - JOE ELLIOTT On DEF LEPPARD's Collection Volume 1 Box Set

Monday, 16th April 2018

JOE ELLIOTT On DEF LEPPARD's Collection Volume 1 Box Set

By Sally J

Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott was interviewed on BBC 2 Radio earlier today and the full audio is available.

Joe spoke to the Steve Wright In the Afternoon show on BBC Radio 2.

Joe talked about forming the band in 1977, other bands/influences, the Hysteria album, band longevity, pop sound, rock band having hits, Rick Allen's accident/Making Hysteria, band friendship, Collection Volume One box set, Release Me and similar melodies in music.

He commented briefly on the upcoming box set Collection Volume 1 and retold the story of the Release Me B-Side.

Listen to the full 9 minute interview via the link below. For the main programme link it starts at 1 hour 40ish. The other link has the interview in full.

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Steve Wright In The Afternoon - Joe Elliott Interview Quotes

Hysteria

"1987. August of 1987. Listen to me I'm like Mr. Fact Finder. Yes it is, Sugar and Animal. Animal was our first ever hit in the UK. Yeah we waited ten years for that."

Rick Allen's Accident/Making Hysteria

"Yeah but we can't blame Rick for that. It was mostly my fault!. No the thing about the album. It was recorded over a three year period, but it didn't take three years to record. But we kept scrapping it. We weren't happy with the way it was. But it coincided with the fact that when Rick lost his arm the only back in for him was to be digital and electronic. And that just coincided with the 80s where everything was going digital and electronic. And we started playing with all these new toys that were coming to the studio. Synclaviers and Fairlight Computers where - what does that button do? - It plays it backwards. Oh that's fun. But that gave us the technology for Rick's kit to be divised around the music that we were writing. So he fitted in perfectly."

"And it sounds kinda weird but the timing of his accident couldn't have been better if it was ever gonna happen. It didn't actually harm the band. It harmed him, of course it did, 'cause you know he's forever now a limb down. But he took this up as a challenge and the fact that the door was left wide open for him."

Band Friendship

"You see this has never been a business plan. We're not contracted to each other. We were five guys that got together and said do you wanna for a laugh put a band together. Bur we were always just mates first and musicians second. So when it came to is he still in the band?. It's like well, I'm not firing him. I'd be too cowardly to suggest he couldn't do it any more. And once he said I can do this then there was nothing's gonna change."

Collection Volume One Box Set

"Originally titled Volume One. Well it's everything from the 80s basically. On Through The Night, High 'n' Dry, Pyromania, Hysteria and all the bonus B-Sides. Including one that I believe you actually commented on on Top Of The Pops."

Was it a nice comment?

"Yes it was. It was "And going in at Number Nine this week is Rocket and check out the B-Side it's really weird". And it's the first time a B-Side's ever been mentioned."

Release Me Cover

"And what it was is we got together one day in the studio in Holland messing around. We'd finished the album, we were doing all these spare songs for the B-Sides. Our then guitar tech Malvin was always singing Release Me by Engelbert Humperdinck. So we recorded a rock version f it while he went out to fetch the papers and he came in and sang it but we never told him the key changes and as he kept going up his head got more purple and theveins started popping more. Till right at the end it just gets...it's hilarious and we actually put that as the last track on the rarities disc. But credited to Stumpus Maximus An the Good Ol' Boys."

"We've always had one foot in pop because we grew up watching Top of The Pops"@DefLeppard's Joe Elliott tells Steve Wright: "We wanted to be the biggest band in the world."https://t.co/ddSiOMUFRV pic.twitter.com/Bd6Oy3ePxo
— BBC Radio 2 (@BBCRadio2) April 16, 2018