JOE ELLIOTT Explains Why DEF LEPPARD Wouldn't Collaborate With BON JOVI

In a recent interview, Joe Elliott revealed why DEF LEPPARD wouldn't collaborate with BON JOVI. He told Rolling Stone that his band's 2008 collaboration with Taylor Swift was a more valuable exercise. Elliott explained: "The whole thing came together because somebody walked into our dressing room with a laptop. He goes, 'It's Taylor Swift, she's doing this interview, and she said there was only band that she would ever do a 'Crossroads' with, and it was DEF LEPPARD.' We went, 'Wow, okay, get in touch with her, see what she thinks.' Lo and behold, couple of months go by and, all of a sudden, we're doing this show."

He continued: "We've always been that poke-noses-out-of-joint kind of band. I loved the idea of something that's gonna either piss people off or they go, 'Good for you for doing something different.' If you're gonna do collaborations, I don't see the point in us doing a song with BON JOVI… It's like, I'd prefer the idea of Jon Bon Jovi doing a song with like, Tom Waits. Us doing something with Loudon Wainwright III or Leonard Cohen. Somebody completely off the wall. Or Elvis Costello and MOTÖRHEAD. Can you imagine what that would sound like?"

Ahead of DEF LEPPARD's confirmation of induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Elliott recalled the advice Bon Jovi gave him about the experience, saying: "It's not really gonna change my life, really, one way or the other — but Jon Bon Jovi has been telling me for at least 12 months that yes, it will."

The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony with take place on March 29 at Brooklyn, New York's Barclays Center. HBO will broadcast a truncated version of the ceremony later in the year.

One of the top-selling rock acts of of all time, DEF LEPPARD has been eligible for the Rock Hall since 2004.

DEF LEPPARD's brand new greatest-hits collection titled "The Story So Far - The Best Of", was released on November 30.