Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott: Fans Want to See Us Play Live More Than a New Album
While Def Leppard are embarking on a huge stadium tour next year with Motley Crue, Poison and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, don't expect a new album from them quite yet. During a SiriusXM interview on "Trunk Nation," transcribed by Blabbermouth, frontman Joe Elliott acknowledged that the fans want to see them live more than they want new music.
Elliott came to his conclusion by looking at the statistics of the bands' ticket sales sold versus album sales. Considering tickets for the 2020 Stadium Tour have sold out in several cities since they went on sale a few weeks ago, the vocalist said this is indicative of their fans' desires to see the band live more than they care for new music.
"See, there's still too many people in the industry that believe in the original blueprint of what we do, and it's moved on, and they don't seem to wanna accept that," the frontman began. "So we get a lot of criticism from all quarters — fans, media — saying that we're not concentrating on getting new music out there. It's not that important at this time in our career."
The singer then pointed out other legendary acts who still tour today, like The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, KISS and Aerosmith. "People want to see them live. Ticket sales prove that. They can all put new records out and they don't sell anything like their original albums did. It just is the way that it is," he explained.
Elliott added that 700,000 tickets were shifted in the first weekend they went on sale for The Stadium Tour. "There's no way on earth that any of the bands on that tour would shift seven hundred thousand albums in the same period of time. So it's not a massive priority to make new music."
Don't be entirely discouraged, though — Elliott assured that Def Leppard have been writing new music and definitely will release it eventually. "But we're gonna make it in our own sweet time, so it's a good album, not a rushed album with some A&R man going, 'I don't hear any singles' or record companies tapping their watchface, going, 'We need it by the third quarter.'"
Top 80 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 1980s