Joe Elliott of Def Leppard on Feeling Like a Fraud and Taylor Swift’s ‘Insanity’

Joe Elliott is sitting in a room at the Four Seasons in downtown Minneapolis, eight or nine hours before he takes the stage with his band, Def Leppard, for a performance at the Minnesota Twins’ baseball stadium.

“See it over there?” he asks on a Zoom call, tilting his laptop to reveal Target Field through a large window behind him. “Green Day was there on Saturday. And over here,” he adds, swinging the camera across downtown to U.S. Bank Stadium, “is where Metallica just did two nights. Crazy weekend here.”

Twenty years ago, few would’ve predicted that Def Leppard would still be sharing such prominent stages. The British pop-metal band saw meteoric success with 1983’s ten-times-platinum “Pyromania” and its twelve-times-platinum follow-up, 1987’s “Hysteria,” both polished to perfection with their meticulous producer, Mutt Lange. Inevitably, their career cooled in the ’90s and early 2000s as grunge and pop-punk took over.

But then things started heating up again for Def Leppard. They eventually found their way back into arenas and stadiums with enduring hits like “Photograph,” “Love Bites,” “Rock of Ages,” and “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” Now, they are on tour with Journey, another band famous for its ’80s rock-radio hits, and will be performing at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium.

“We get onstage and wink at each other and go, ‘Can you believe this?'” says Elliott, 65. “Forty-seven years in, and we’re playing places this big after everybody said we were done.” Elliott, wearing a black Taylor Swift T-shirt, recalls introducing his eight-year-old daughter to Swift during the Eras Tour in Dublin, describing it as a magical moment for which he will always be grateful.

Reflecting on a 2008 episode of CMT’s “Crossroads” with Swift, Elliott acknowledges Swift’s phenomenal rise to stardom, surpassing even the Beatles and the Stones in certain respects. “But I always knew she’d be big,” he says. “She’s a fantastic role model for a generation of kids.”

Elliott also recounts his early struggles with anxiety and self-doubt, which led to boisterous warm-up routines. “I used to test myself before I could put myself in front of an audience,” he says. Vocal coach Roger Love, introduced by guitarist Vivian Campbell in 1992, helped Elliott refine his techniques. Elliott and Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant often chat about soccer, and Elliott mentions he owes Plant a birthday text.

Discussing the band’s enduring lineup, Elliott marvels at their stability compared to other legacy acts. “We fight tooth and nail to keep this band together,” he says. Despite lineup changes, the current group has been together for 32 years—four times as long as the Beatles were together. He emphasizes that the song, not individual band members, is the true star. “It’s the song that matters,” he insists, recalling a performance with Foreigner where none of the members had played on their original records, yet the crowd was fully engaged.

Elliott cherishes shared changing rooms with bandmates, recalling a recent illness that forced him to isolate. “I hated it,” he says. “We share the same room, and we always have for 40-odd years.”

When it comes to hearing their hits on the radio, Elliott enjoys hearing Def Leppard songs sandwiched between classics like “Gimme Shelter” and “Kashmir.” Reflecting on their ’80s success, he takes pride in their unique position on singles charts dominated by artists like Michael Jackson and New Edition. “That always made us smile, like we’d infiltrated the chart we don’t belong on,” he says.

Elliott is unapologetic about the band’s highly polished sound. “Nobody made records that sounded as good as ours,” he asserts, crediting their innovative use of technology. He compares their approach to that of ZZ Top, who similarly combined guitar music with synths around the same time.

When asked which album is better, “Pyromania” or “Hysteria,” Elliott merges the two, celebrating the ’80s as a remarkable era. “The ’80s were great,” he concludes.

Source: Los Angeles Times