Friday, 28th May 2021
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JOE ELLOTT On DEF LEPPARD's Cover Versions And 70's GLAM ROCK

Def Leppard 2021. By dltourhistory

Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott was recently interviewed and discussed the band's cover versions and his musical influences.

Joe was interviewed by Kylie Olsson ahead of the Download Reloaded highlights special on Sky Arts TV.

Two specials are being broadcast from 9-11pm on the channel on 5th/6th June.

Joe talked about Donington 1986/Monsters Of Rock show, Rick Allen, Download 2019, festival changes, cover versions/YEAH! album, Collection Volume Three, the new Def Leppard studio album and new music.

Joe talked about the band's cover versions including playing 'Action' live, the 2006 'YEAH!' album and his love of early 1970s Glam Rock.

It was also revealed that 'Action' from 2011 and 'Pour Some Sugar On Me' from 2019 will be the two songs broadcast during the upcoming Download Reloaded TV specials on 5th/6th June.

Both were broadcast in the highlights shows from 2011 and 2019.

View the full video of the interview below and photos from Download 2019.


Visit the Tour News section. For more news on future tour plans.

Visit the Album News section for more news on new music (based on band member quotes).


Def Leppard.

Kylie Olsson/Download Reloaded - Joe Elliott Interview Quotes - (Transcribed By dltourhistory)

And so another performance that we're using of yours is from 2011. The track that we've gone for is Action. Which is a Sweet cover. And again a fantastic performance. And one thing that I kind of noticed about you guys is you still get so much like you can still see the energy and the love for the covers that you do just as much as your own songs.

Covers/YEAH! Album

"Oh look Def Leppard have never hidden the that we are such fans of music that we love doing other people's songs. We always have. We started out doing. Before we could write a song, you know, just to get something to play we did Suffragette City and we learnt Jailbreak and Only You Can Rock Me by UFO. And you know songs of that ilk just so we had something to play. And then once we'd started writing songs we were still playing them in rehearsals 'cause they're great songs you know. We're just music fans and we did the YEAH! album we actually it isn't from actually we covered Hell Raiser by Sweet on the YEAH! album. We'd done Action as a B-Side on the Adrenalize sessions. Just for fun because we loved the song so much you know."

"Andy Scott from Sweet says it's his favourite ever cover of a Sweet song because we put so much into it it's almost like one of ours. We've played it live more than some of our own tunes 'cause we love it so much. It's a great live favourite on both sides of the Atlantic you know. It got to the same chart position in the UK as the original. So it's almost like it's our song as much as it's Sweet's song you know because it's like Mott The Hoople with All The Young Dudes. It's actually a David Bowie song but Mott made it their own you know."

"So Action is very much part of our DNA. We've never once gone oh no really do we have to do that cover again. Everybody's like oh that's a great song to play. It's one of those where you say I wish we'd written it because the reason it sound so well is because it could have been a Def Leppard song. And the reason it could have been a Def Leppard song is because it was an influence on the kind of songs that we like to write."

"So all the songs that we've ever covered. It doesn't matter whether it's Under My Wheels by Alice Cooper. Travellin' band by Creedence. Hell Raiser or Action by Sweet. You know all the way to David Essex with Rock On. Which is again still in the set for most of the time since 2006 'cause it goes down so well with the crowd. But yet you know it's not really our song. We've made it our own by playing it so many times. It's fun to do. It takes the pressure off a little bit. And it gives it - for me it's an extra bit of honesty towards your audience. It's like look we're not trying to pretend that we don't listen to people's music. These are the things that influence who we are so we wear them on our sleeve. As a badge of honour you know because big fans of that kind of music."

Yeah you are and you mentioned like Bowie and Mott and Sweet. What is it about that whole you know Glam Rock 70s era that kind of really resonates with you?.

"Well mostly my age you know. I was 12. I think that between the ages of like 10 and 15. If you're musically inclined like I am, or obsessed as most people would say I am. That's when your brain is a sponge. And you remember every single note of songs that you absolutely hate because they're part of your DNA. You know when you turn on Top Of The Pops as I used to do in 1970 to '74/'75 before disco took over. You sat through Tie A Yellow Ribbon just to get to Cum On Feel The Noise. But you don't forget Tie A Yellow Ribbon. It's just always there."

"But the great thing is that the stuff that sorts the men out from the boys is that when whichever DJ introduces whichever artist your ears go up. And your heart goes boom boom boom. And that happened to me with Ride A White Swan, Hot Love and then specifically Get It On by T. Rex. It's a T show on it's own who started a band having seen Bowie do Starman. When he does the...on the beginning of the second verse. I've heard it Morrissey, Gary Kemp, Boy George, me, Phil, dozens of other people. Oh that was the moment when I went right. Next day down at the second hand store for a guitar. Or a microphone or whatever your choice of instrument was you know."

Def Leppard.

"So that music resonates because it's my music. it's my era when I was growing up you know. Yes I did listen to "album rock" because my nearest friend was three years older than me. So he was into Jethro Tull and E.L.P., And he introduced to all those bands on Island like Free and Mott and some amazing bands really. But they were his music that I liked. But then when Rod Stewart and T. Rex and Bowie and Queen, Slade you know. All those bands came along, they became my bands. I was into music before that but I think I had this guilt feeling that The Kinks, The Stones, The Who and The Beatles weren't really mine. They were the generation above me and I was coat tailing and it wasn't like I was pretending to like them 'cause I wasn't."

"My first musical experience I'm told by my parents was miming to Love Me Do with a little plastic Paul McCartney guitar when I was three years old or four years old. So I was always in it but I was always aware of the fact that they were black and white if you like. And then I, we got a colour TV just as Glam Rock kicked off. You couldn't have made it up - it was the perfect timing."

"All of a sudden everybody's wearing glitter things and they're all pink and rainbow coloured. And it did look better than The Kinks doing Waterloo Sunset in black and white. Now the song didn't ever age for me. Waterloo Sunset is one of the greatest British songs of all time. But it was - I had to play catch up whereas I was born into Glam. And so, you know, you watch the beginnings of a band like Queen doing Killer Queen on Top Of The Pops and then you're off and they're your band you know."

"You saw the demise of a band like T. Rex. And you saw the transition of an artist like David Bowie all through this medium of Top Of The Pops. And then obviously as your parents allowed you to stay up a bit longer The Old Grey Whistle Test. Which was a bit more grown up music. But of course by the time you're 15/16 you're out and about and in clubs till 2am anyway. Sowing your own wild musical oats if you like and embracing all these little bands that maybe never got anywhere. And the band so you can say oh I saw them in front of two people like The Clash. Or Adam And the Ants. Or Styx I saw in front of a hundred. I saw the Scorpions in front of 90 people at the Sheffield Top Rank you know. Everybody sat of the floor. And then you know they become this global behemoth of a band that can sell out stadiums all over the world. So it was the timing was perfect."

"And that was more - the Glam thing died when disco kicked in. And then Punk led to the Hard rock coming back into fashion. But all that whole 70s thing whether it be the early 70s. '71 to '74 or whether it be '76 to '79 were magical moments for me and the kind of college years if you like where I was learning my craft was the young kid watching Glam. But then I wanted to join the club in the late 70s which was exactly what we all did."

I'm so envious of you being part of that whole era of music. I mean it was an incredible time wasn't it?

"I saw Iron Maiden at the Retford Porterhouse you know I mean that'll never happen again. I saw so many great bands at The Limit Club. And I saw bands that should've been big but weren't. It was a great time but as soon as we started a band. That kind of sealed that whole thing for me because I stopped being a watched and become a doer."

"So I've seen astonishing amount of fantastic gigs since 1980 but I still believe I saw more gigs between '75 and 1980 than I have since because I've been too busy doing my own thing. But I've been very blessed that I've seen some amazing bands. I mean let's not forget the day before signed our record deal in Rick Allen's parents kitchen. We saw Zeppelin at Knebworth. I mean you tie all this together and it's an amazing Journey."

It is and then you come full circle and here you are now. You're one of those bands now. You are one of those bands that people talk about. You know you'll be in that list which is pretty cool.

"Yeah maybe. I haven't heard anybody, I actually haven't seen anybody for a year. So I wouldn't remember even if they had said it. But it's nice to think that our generation of fans may think about one of our performances at Download the same that we thought about watching Led Zeppelin at Knebworth. Or watching Rainbow at the first ever Monsters Of Rock. Where I do believe they played Stargazer for the very first time. You know things like that."

"That's about the only thing I remember from the gig. And that could be a phantom memory 'cause it's 40 nearly 41 years ago you know which is a long time. It is nice to think that you know we may have achieved some what what we set out to, but here's the thing."

"It's all relevant because you get to a certain level and you go OK what's next?. You don't go OK deck chair out. I'm done. It's like you've gotta re-achieve. Which is what we've been trying to do ever since the rug was pulled from under our feet from some obscure little bands in Seattle. We had to fight, swim against the tide and make sure that we stayed as relevant as we could. And things turn round. I think if you stick around long enough you fly through the turbulence and you come out into some beautiful blue skies."

"And hopefully when this pandemic is gone they'll be more ahead of us."



Def Leppard 2020.

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