DEF LEPPARD Frontman: 'We Don't Get The Credit We Deserve In Britain'

Andrew Williams of Metro.co.uk recently conducted an interview with DEF LEPPARD frontman Joe Elliott. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Metro.co.uk: What's happening with DEF LEPPARD?

Joe Elliott: We're taking a year off. I'm doing this [DOWN 'N OUTZ, a project fronted by Elliott, backed by THE QUIREBOYS and playing rare tracks connected only by MOTT THE HOOPLE] because I have the time. After you have a hit like "Hysteria" and you're signed to the corporate machine it becomes an albatross around your neck. As much as our music is anthemic rock'n'roll it's a business at the end of the day. It's stressful and gets harder each time you make a record. No one's comparing this to "Hysteria", it's got nothing to do with it. It's a refreshing change. It's like being a teenager in a 50-year-old body.

Metro.co.uk: What's been your biggest moment of rock'n'roll excess — have you ever thrown a TV out of a window?

Joe Elliott: When I was young enough to want to do something as stupid as that I couldn't have afforded to. People who did that only did it because Keith Moon did it first. We were only getting $50 a week when we started touring so I didn't want to get into debt paying for TVs. There are lots of great rock bands who have never thrown a TV through a window. It's not a prerequisite. I've always been more into the music than the groupies, drugs or smashing up hotel rooms. I wanted to be in the biggest band in the world. And we were a couple of times. People in Britain don't realize. We don't get the credit we deserve in Britain.

Metro.co.uk: Is it frustrating?

Joe Elliott: It's nice to walk down Oxford Street without being recognised but then again when music magazines write about us they take the piss because we're not as cool as Johnny Marr, who isn't as successful as us by a million miles. Jools Holland won't have us on his show because we're not cool enough.

Metro.co.uk: Is that because people look down on rock?

Joe Elliott: Rock's ploughed its own furrow for 30 years but still music magazines don't give rock its due and still rave on about Nick Drake. How many more front covers do Paul McCartney and Morrissey need? Our album will sell more than Morrissey's so why don't we get the same kind of respect? There are more people than Bono and Michael Stipe to put on the cover of a magazine. Whether it's Simon Le Bon, Gary Kemp, Bruce Dickinson or me, there are more musicians out there. It's not just Lennon and Jim Morrison. Bands who have sold shitloads of records, whether it be us or DEPECHE MODE, are becoming footnotes.

Read the entire interview from Metro.co.uk.