Def Leppard's Impact And The Problem With Rock Hall

Ahead of learning the decision that the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame would be inducting Def Leppard as part of the class of 2019, frontman Joe Elliott offered his view on the band's impact and what he sees as a problem with the Rock Hall.

In an interview with Loudwire, Joe was asked about the impact Def Leppard has had on music and if he sees it felt today, with the Rock Hall "harping on impact and influence." He responded, "Impact comes in different ways.

"The problem with the Hall of Fame, to me is that what elitists thinks is an impact is very different to what the regular man on the street counts as impact. One of the reasons that bands like Roxy Music wait so long to get nominated is because it's such an American institution they don't take into consideration the impact a band might have on a time in Great Britain.

"If you were looking, there were massively important bands - if you lived in England, Slade was bigger than Springsteen, but you're not telling a guy living in New York that. Because they weren't big in American culture means they weren't big period so they weren't important and that doesn't work like that because English music was such an influence on '60s American rock. So, the fact that we got nominated is basically purely based on American record sales.

"I don't think we influenced many rock bands after us. I think we did in the mid to late '80s where there were a lot of sound-alikes. That's probably why grunge started in the first place - there were too many Def Leppards, if you like. I hear our music now and various different forms of music in rock, you hear our samples in rap. You hear our stuff in Lady Gaga, and Pink - you hear a lot of our stuff in pop because we were a commercial pop-rock band so we crossed over."

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