That time Joe Elliott told me that Def Leppard wasn’t a big-hair band, and didn’t belong in “the Winger/Warrant/Ratt category”

By Steve Newton

Joe Elliott is the fourth Def Leppard member I’ve interviewed. I started off with bassist Rick Savage in 1983, hooked up with guitarist Steve Clark in ’88, and chatted with Vivian Campbell–the guy who took Clark’s place after he died–in 1992.

I didn’t get around to talking with Elliott until 2003, when the band was touring behind its X album.

At one point in the conversation I asked him how well the album was selling, which somehow led to him claiming that Def Leppard weren’t in the same hair-band category as Winger, Warrant, and Ratt.

Have a listen:

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