Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott Says Mötley Crüe Is ‘Living on Past Reputation’
Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott talked to the Daily Record that about their upcoming tour with Mötley Crüe, saying "Without trying to blow their image, they are living on past reputation and I don't mean that in a bad way."
What he means is that the current Crüe line up of rockers Tommy Lee, former heroin addict Nikki Sixx and chronically ill Mick Mars aren't exactly a mob of hard-rocking, non-stop party animals. "Because of a documentary where you see someone throwing a telly out the window of a hotel, people get the impression that is what we all do," Elliot explains. "You talk to Nikki. He has been clean since he was toe-tagged once in the '80s. He's a far more sensible character these days. He has his own radio show here in the States and has had me on the show a couple of times. His stories are similar to mine."
"I'm not suggesting they are teetotal, but Mick Mars has been pretty ill for a long time and just to get him onstage is probably an effort," he explains. "He is hardly likely to be propping the bar up until three in the morning after a gig. What their reputation is now is what they do onstage and how they present their show, and that is what Crüe are good at. Those guys were more known for their antics than their music and I think, eventually, that started to annoy them."
As for the whole "reputation" thing, Def Leppard isn't about to live up to some tale of excess either. "If having too much fun last night ruins tomorrow night's gig, then your priorities are backwards," the rocker preaches. "For us, the focus has never been the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll stuff. I always found it fascinating that they put the rock 'n' roll last."
Watch Noisecreep's Interview With Joe Elliot %VIRTUAL-globalVideoEmbed-{"videoIds":"517554195","width":"476","height":"357"}%
More From Noisecreep
