DEF LEPPARD - "We are Rock"

Joe Elliott, the singer of the band, who belongs to the squad of eloquent English rock stars who radiate glamour and down-to-earthness at the same time, made sure in November 1977 that the band, which he joined at the age of 18, chose "Deaf Leopard" as its name. As a reference to Led Zeppelin, the musicians quickly renamed themselves Def Leppard and in 1980, during the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM), were flushed to the top of the movement together with Saxon and Iron Maiden. But while their supposed musical companions, with the exception of Maiden, could not spread their success beyond the old continent, the Leps took a full approach to the rock throne and released "Pyromania" (1983) and "Hysteria" (1987), two of the most successful rock albums of all time. The two works produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange (including AC/DC, Foreigner, Bryan Adams) sold 22 million copies in the USA alone.

eclipsed: Def Leppard confuse as part of the NWOBHM for years with statements in which they reject Metal...

Joe Elliott: All we ever said was that we weren't or aren't a metal band. We're Rock. I'm not saying we find metal shit. There are good metal bands like Motörhead and Judas Priest, but also great pop bands. But just because Saxon or Tygers Of Pan Tang just came out back then doesn't mean we belonged. At that time, Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran also came to the top. And we don't belong in one corner or the other. We set out our roots on our album "Yeah!" almost ten years ago.

eclipsed: The coveralbum has been torn to pieces in our latitudes.

Elliott: I know. Because you have this NWOBHM misunderstanding. But we covered our heroes there, and that's not Black Sabbath, but Mott The Hoople, Thin Lizzy, The Kinks, David Essex, Sweet, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Free, the Electric Light Orchestra or the Faces. They accepted that in the USA and the album was very well received there.

Lesen Sie mehr im eclipsed Nr. 176 (Dez. 2015/Jan. 2016).