-
When we first entered the music business, we didn't know very much about recording. Then, after working with Mutt Lange, we thought we knew everything there was about the studio. But just as we were getting cocky, along came video and we had whole new set of rules and regulations to learn about - it was a totally alien form to us. After all, we were just kids off the streets of Sheffield, what did we know about television except how to turn one on?
Steve Clark Def Leppard
-
Sometimes after a gig one of the band would say 'Did you see that girl down the front?' and somebody would say 'Do you want me to get her back?' But, generally we met them at the hotel or backstage. For a girl to get backstage in the first place, she'd probably blown half the crew - and I'm not into sharing in that respect. We had one roadie who actually had a heart attack on tour with us in 1983 - he was a big, big guy and he was doing at least four or five groupies a day!
Joe Elliott Def Leppard
-
At first all we wanted to do was be successful in our home town.
Rick Savage Def Leppard
-
My 33rd springs to mind. We were in Omaha, NE, playing in the round with the whole place singing 'Happy Birthday' - I felt like I was standing on a huge birthday cake. Very weird.
Phil Collen Def Leppard
-
We're doing what we want to do. Basically it's just down to the fact that we're all posers. We all want to go out on stage, pose, wear dinky white boots, tight trousers and have all the girls looking at our bollocks. That's us. We like showing off, we're arrogant bastards, it's just like ... over the top.
Rick Savage Def Leppard
-
Every town in America had at least one, two, or maybe three radio stations that played rock 24 hours a day. In England, we had a rock specialist on for two hours a week.
Joe Elliott Def Leppard
-
Rock and roll has always been very basic. The actual relationship between a man and a woman is different for everyone on the planet. One of the truest forms of contact is singing about boy-meets-girl. I can strut like a peacock on stage, but that's about as far as it goes. It's up to other people to see what they see. We're not overtly sexual in the sense that we go around wearing codpieces.
Joe Elliott Def Leppard
-
If you can't handle the responsibility of a hit single, don't write one.
Joe Elliott Def Leppard
-
The Vatican takes your breath away.
Joe Elliott Def Leppard
-
But it just so happens that when you're in the public eye, everything gets reported.
Rick Savage Def Leppard
-
This is very serious. We're going to stand behind the resolution of this problem as a town.
Rick Savage Def Leppard
-
We're a pretty level-headed group. Most people think that it is wild parties and girls, girls, girls every night. We only wish.
Rick Savage Def Leppard
-
I have never been one for the over-the-top.
Rick Allen Def Leppard
-
We've developed a reputation as pretty heavy drinkers. I don't know if that's really true. Sure, we enjoy hoisting a few pints. But then, who doesn't? We're surely not a bunch of alcoholics, though some guys in the papers would have you believe that we couldn't go on stage unless we were really cocked. That's a load of rubbish. When it comes to performing we're very professional, but after the show, we may let our hair down a bit.
Steve Clark Def Leppard
-
Any time I can get off is my favorite holiday. I don't pay too much attention to traditional times because we're often working on Christmas and have to celebrate in January. But I love Christmas. The old clichés are true. To watch someone's face when they're opening a present is mind-blowing really.
Joe Elliott Def Leppard
-
It was great to do something different, so mixing it all about keeps things fresh.
Rick Savage Def Leppard
-
I've always felt that I inherited an old soul, and I've tried to live my life with equality and balance. I do not, nor have I ever, considered myself anything any more or any less than a musician, and I cringe at the term 'rock star'. I suppose I'd like to be known as more than a hard rock guitarist. That was my purpose and ambition twenty years ago and there's been a lot of growth since.
Vivian Campbell Def Leppard
-
I've only ever written two or three song parts in my life ... Er, no, actually I wrote the entire Slang album, but the band will never admit to that! I don't mind carrying those deadweights - at least they're decent company. I wish I'd written 'Happy Birthday', just for the royalties.
Rick Allen Def Leppard
-
We were doing this outdoor show in Salt Lake City, we were about a mile above sea level to start with and it was about 45 minutes before I got my first break. During the sound check they didn't have a drape up but for the show they put it up right behind the drum kit. When I got up, the lighting rig was really low and I hit my head on it, and grabbed hold of what I thought was a solid wall but it was the drape and I fell off the back of the stage. I almost lost a testicle. I had quite a bruise.
Rick Allen Def Leppard
-
We try to look good and have style.
Rick Allen Def Leppard
-
There were incredibly few rock songs making it out to the airwaves until the '80s came along.
Joe Elliott Def Leppard
-
We are more than paying our own way toward sheriff services.
Rick Savage Def Leppard
-
Being a songwriter, singer, and a great part of a unit is more important than being Joe Guitar Hero.
Vivian Campbell Def Leppard
-
It's funny, cause influences can come from any angle. It could be a line in a book, it could be a song..... I've never really thought about it, if I can only get influences from rock music. Cause, the rock angle of it, is inherently in me - that will come out, regardless of what kind of song I'm trying to write. So consequently, I never really think about it.... I'm a great one for listening to the radio, especially when I'm in the car. I'd much rather listen to the radio than to put on a CD. So basically, I just get influences and ideas from anywhere. If anything, rock would be the last thing I'd let myself be influenced by like that, because I know that the rock influence comes out naturally anyways, so rock is probably one of the least examples that I would actually choose from.
Rick Savage Def Leppard
