DEF LEPPARD's JOE ELLIOTT Celebrates PYROMANIA On Planet Rock (Transcript)

Saturday, 27th April 2024

Def Leppard 2024

Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott appeared on Planet Rock radio yesterday to celebrate the Pyromania box set release day.

The 40th anniversary 'Pyromania 40 Super Deluxe Edition' is released on Friday 26th April 2024 via Universal Music Recordings.

The release follows a year of band celebrations on social media using the #pyromania40 hashtag and recent video teasers.

Joe Elliott On Planet Rock

Joe was a guest on various shows throughout the day on Planet Rock.

The station celebrated the 'Pyromania 40' Super Deluxe Edition release day with a special 'Def Leppard Day'.

Joe appeared five different times talking about five album tracks.

Pyromania Songs

He talked about Photograph, Foolin', Rock Of Ages, Too Late For Love and Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop).

Read his quotes below and listen to the shows again via the link.

Visit the Tour News section. For more news on future tour plans.

Visit the Album News section for more news on new music (based on band member quotes).

Def Leppard 2024.

Planet Rock - 26th April 2024 Show Quotes

Breakfast with Murray J.

"Also, yeah, I did mention there Joe Elliott because today is Def Leppard Day."

"We're marking the release day of the expanded box set of Pyromania."

"Now some saying the 40th anniversary, but it's not because actually 41 years, but as Joe explained to us on an email yesterday, it was delayed by a year. So it's 41, but there you go."

"But actually the celebration is the fact that it's released as an expanded box set in various formats like vinyl and CD."

"So there you go. But because of that, Joe's going to be popping up throughout the day, introducing some of the tracks for maybe some little bits of information about those songs that you've never heard before."

"And we're going to be hearing one of those."

"Murray here for Paul. Today is Def Leppard Day where we are celebrating Def Leppard's Pyromania album, which is now released as a 40th anniversary expanded box set."

"And throughout today, Joe Elliott popping up giving us a little bit of background on some of the songs on the album."

Joe Elliott On Photograph

"Photograph was essentially a throwaway idea that got abandoned on the High 'n' Dry sessions back in 1981."

"We thought it was a decent idea, but it didn't quite fit."

"It was a bit more melodic than most things on High 'n' Dry where Mutt was trying to establish as a kind of a heavier hitting band."

"When it came to Pyromania, we had a lot of great ideas on the go, but this thing kept like coming back to haunt us."

"What about that thing from last year? would come up and it's like, okay, let's hear it again."

"And it's like, yeah, that intro just sounds too much like Thin Lizzy. Let's wait and see if we get something."

"And one day down in Hastings, where we'd moved to from London to save money. Some of us were sat in the rec room, just relaxing while the guitarists and I think Sav were in the control room trying to come up with something."

"We weren't really sure which song they were working on, but then all of a sudden that intro was played and it leaked through the wall."

"And everybody in the rec room just looked at each other and went, what the hell was that?"

"And we just ran in and Mutt just looked over his shoulder and smiled and went, well, it's got their attention it must be pretty good."

"So that was the birth of one of our more long lasting tunes, which is Photograph."

Wyatt

"Today is Def Leppard Day. We are celebrating the 40th anniversary of Def Leppard's Pyromania."

"Now I know some of the eagle eyed and eagle eared will be thinking, hang on, that came out in 83 and it's now 2024."

"Ah yes, but they delayed their celebrations because of the overhang from the pandemic."

"So we are celebrating it today and we've got tracks from the album for you, but not just playing them."

"Joe Elliott telling us about them. And here he is telling us about the making of the video to Foolin'."

Joe Elliott On Foolin'

"My lasting memory is shooting the video in Long Island in the summer of 1983, when if you watch the video, you see me running down this sideways because it was very narrow, this kind of corridor with fireworks going off, which burnt all the hair off my arms."

"And if you've ever smelled singeing hair, it stinks for weeks. You can't wash it off no matter what."

"Didn't hurt so badly, but I looked as bald as a baby's butt, you know."

"And also the other thing I remember the most is we spent an entire third day with me riding a horse on a beach and not one second of it got used in the video."

"And I was, I couldn't walk when I got off the horse. That's my lasting memory of the video for Foolin' at least."

Wyatt

"It is Def Leppard Day here on Planet Rock."

"We are delving into Pyromania, which is now released as a 40th anniversary expanded box set."

"And Joe Elliott, who's on the air with his show tomorrow afternoon for 5pm, explains a generous gesture was repaid with a little divine intervention."

Joe Elliott On Rock Of Ages

"When we were recording the backing tracks for Pyromania in Willesden, we were asked, because we had full lockdown, we were in 24-7, we were asked very politely by a local church if we could vacate for an evening so they could come in and record some hymns."

"And with it being the church, we kind of felt a bit guilty not saying okay."

"So we just said, please don't move any of the microphones, but yes, go ahead and we'll take the night off."

"When we came back the next day, they left one or two hymn books lying around."

"And we were just, by total coincidence, working on the song that would become Rock Of Ages. But we didn't have a chorus."

"And then I just happened to see this hymn book laid on the floor that was actually open to the hymn Rock Of Ages."

"And I picked it up and I looked at it and I went, hmm. And I started singing Rock Of Ages."

"And I just remember Mutt turning around in his chair and going, where the hell did you get that from?."

"And I went, this hymn book."

Darren Redick

"Today we're celebrating Def Leppard's Pyromania we've called the whole gosh darn day Def Leppard day because we're delving into Pyromania there's a 40th anniversary expanded box set that's released today."

"And we've got Joe Elliot no less telling the stories of some of the songs from the album."

"This one involves Too Late For Love and also a pinch me now encounter with a music legend."

Joe Elliott On Too Late For Love

"We did it for Supersonic which was the ITV equivalent at Top Of The Pops which had gone away for a few years and then it made this astonishing Christmas comeback in 1983."

"And the line-up was just crazy you know it was I think Status Quo, Meatloaf and for us the the best bit of it was Elton John."

"Now Elton John had heard the Pyromania album because Elton loves to listen to new British bands."

"And he was in our dressing room for the entire show just singing our praises and just saying how wonderful thought it was that a British band had sold six million albums in America."

"And you know we're just thinking back to like 10 years previous like we're all owners of Elton John albums."

"And here we are just sat on the floor talking to Elton John like he's in the band you know."

"It was it was a wonderful experience and you know he like I said he's always been a big fan of the band."

Embed from Getty Images

The Late Show with Jen Thomas

"Now released as a 40th anniversary expanded box set and Planet Rock has enlisted Joe Elliott to take us through the backstories of some of its iconic songs."

"Here he talks about the birth of the opening track."

Joe Elliott On Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)

"Rock Till You Drop started its life as a song that we actually played at the Reading festival in 1980."

"And it was called Medicine Man."

"And it was the same introduction um but just obviously played only on on guitars and then very similar guitar riff for the verse."

"But when we played this song to Mutt, which for some reason we never played it to him in 1981."

"We played it to him in 1982 and he went that's nearly a good song but those lyrics need a rewrite because they were a little wishy-washy."

"And so we rewrote this song as this kind of like stomping anthem about being on stage."

"You know we're gonna - it was written for the singer to sing on stage to the crowd."

Listen to the shows here on the Planet Rock website.

Planet Rock - 26th April 2024 Playlist

01 - Def Leppard - Photograph
02 - Def Leppard - Foolin'
03 - Def Leppard - Rock Of Ages
04 - Def Leppard - Too Late For Love
05 - Def Leppard - Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)

Def Leppard 2024.

Def Leppard / Latest Release

Photograph (Rough Mix Version) - (Digital Single)
Pyromania 40 Box Set - (Album - April 2024)

Def Leppard / Latest Tour

Def Leppard The Summer Stadium Tour 2024

Def Leppard - Discography
Previous News - 27th April 2024
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