HALL OF FAME – BRIAN MAY’S DEF LEPPARD INDUCTION SPEECH
(E&OE)
Sixty-five years after Bill Haley sang ‘Rock Around the Clock’, rock and roll is alive and well. Am I right? I have the greatest job in the world. I am so honoured and privileged to be importing Def Leppard into the Hall of Fame.
I’m going to quote first from the Joe Elliott book of philosophy, which says that you get one chance to do the good shit. Don’t fuck it up. So this is my guide tonight. I want to do it justice. I really want to do these boys justice and I’m not going to tell you a history. I’m just going to tell you my personal view. I want to tell you how these guys came into my life and how important they are.
In 1981, Queen were in the studio in Munich recording our album, “Hot Space”, and I nipped out to see some friends of mine, Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, and who should be supporting but a young precocious bunch of boys called Def Leppard. I got there late and I missed them and I felt so bad about it, I sought out the dressing room and went in to see them. I poked my head through the door and said, “Hi guys, I just wanted to say hello because I missed you and I’m really sorry. I’m Brian May from Queen.” And they said, “No shit,” which was kind of nice, so I think we got on from that point. They told me that Queen had been a great influence on them, which is always a great thing for me to think about.
Cut to 1983. You know what you do when you’re on tour? We’re out on tour and when you’re in the cars and the planes, you hit the button to see if anybody’s playing your record. So this is what I’m doing. Every time I hit the button I’m hearing this amazing kind of clang, sort of an arpeggiated guitar, and I’m hearing amazing harmonies and these big, juicy bass lines – these huge fat drums. And it’s not Queen. It’s these young, precocious boys called Def Leppard and the song is ‘Photograph’! – this amazing song, which catapulted them to fame. It was never off the radio at that time and before the album was finished that it came from, “Hysteria”. They sold 10 million copies of that album.
OK, cut to September ’83. I’m in Los Angeles. Again we’re recording an album, which this time is “The Works”, I think, and I go out. This time, Def Leppard are playing the local arena, which is the legendary LA Forum. I go down there, very inconspicuous. I sit in the back and when these boys hit the stage – I have to tell you – I have never seen anything like it.
I’ve seen some great shows in the Forum, but I’ve never seen an audience react like that. They got to their feet. They never sat down and they screamed and shouted the whole way through the performance. Def Leppard killed that night. I went backstage to see them afterwards. They invited me, and just like when we first played in the States, all their Mums and Dads are there – very proud Mums and Dads – and I get introduced to them. And the boys say, “Will you come out and play with us tomorrow night?” So I said “yes”, and the rest is history.
We played ‘Travelin’ Band’.
It’s history because I nearly lost my career and my life because this is “Pyromania” and the production has all kinds of fire. Joe warned me. He said, “Watch out for the fireworks at the end. Just be careful.” But I’m at the end. We finish ‘Travelin’ Band’. We’re up behind the drums and there’s a kind of chasm in front of us where the fire’s about to come out. I have no idea. I’m gone. I’m like giving it all this, and Joe’s going, “Brian, Brian!” and I’m thinking he’s just kind of appreciating me, you know? He’s going, “Brian, Brian, the fire!” Anyway this huge sheath of flame comes up in front of me, and just in time, Joe’s dragged me out of it, otherwise I wouldn’t be here tonight. So early on in their career, Joe Elliott saved my life! “
Not everybody realizes that these guys are not just crowd pleasers. They also embody such an amazing technical excellence. They have it all.”
You know the history of Def Leppard is incredibly colourful and filled with all kinds of stuff that I can’t even go into because I don’t have the time. But they started August 1977 in Sheffield, England, which is not a very glamorous place and there’s a lot of people who say there’s a great urge to get out. They recorded 11 incredible albums and they played their asses off around the world many, many times. They did it the old-fashioned way. They played and played and played, and they made great music in the studio. They sold, eventually, more than 100 million albums. And they endured being very fashionable and being very unfashionable as well, as sometimes happens, particularly in England where the press wasn’t very kind. I don’t know why this happens. But they kind of got attacked among other things for making hit records.
Now, can I just remind you what some of those hits were? We’ve got ‘Bringin’ on a Heartbreak’, ‘Photograph’, ‘Foolin’’, ‘Pour Some Sugar’, ‘Armageddon It’, ‘Hysteria’, ‘Let’s Get Rocked’, ‘When Worlds Collide’, ‘Animal’, ‘Love Bites’, ‘Rock of Ages’, ‘Rocket’ – that isn’t even the full list. They released 50 singles, most of which were hits and many were Number Ones. There was this kind of feeling abroad in the Press, particularly in the UK, that maybe that made them uncool. But let me tell you, those songs, the fact that they wrote real songs that people can sing and carry in their heads is the reason that Def Leppard will be remembered in hearts and minds long after all of us have left this Earth.
I gotta say something about their endurance.
You know the Def Leppard band is a family, an evolving family. I would say the amazing bass man, Rick Savage, he’s the only guy who was there at the beginning and he’s here at the end. It’s not the end, it’s the continuing story. But very soon Joe Elliott joined them and Joe brought the name with him, which apparently refers to some aurally challenged cat of some kind. So these stalwarts are the very birth of the band. But the family grew and evolved and faced all kinds of adversity.
The loss of drummer Rick Allen’s arm in 1984 was a massive shock and setback, which would’ve ended the career of a lesser band. But thanks to the incredible fortitude of Rick himself and bringing himself back, and also thanks to the incredible loyalty and cohesiveness of that family, which is Def Leppard in supporting him when he came back, they actually grew in stature and in every way – not only Rick – but the whole band benefitted in a sense. I was there at Donnington when he first came back for that triumphant return. Similarly the loss of the fantastic riff-meister, Steve Clark, in 1991. What a great player. What a wonderful player. I think many people thought that could be a mortal blow to the band, and it could have been for lesser human beings, but the current guitar duo of Phil Collen and Viv Campbell is awesome. In fact, I would say Collen and Campbell are truly frightening as a guitar duo and it’s amazing.
Not everybody realizes that these guys are not just crowd pleasers. They also embody such an amazing technical excellence. They have it all.
I regard all these guys as great friends and kind of part of my family, that’s why it’s so important for me to be here. I wouldn’t have let anybody else do this. They also came for our Freddie Mercury tribute, which was 1992, and we’ve played together a bunch of times. Joe and I in particular have shared many precious and fun moments, snatched among the madness of touring life. We have a strong bond and he’s one of my dearest pals.
When Steve died Joe says that the first phone call he got was from me, and when the news got out of Freddie’s passing, the first phone call I got was from Joe Elliott.
These guys are a magnificent rock group in the classic tradition of what a rock group really is.
I’m just going to quote a couple more things.
Early on Joe said, “What’s the story, the secret of a successful rock group?” I said, “Don’t split up.” A few years later, he came back and he said to me, “I have a couple of other secrets to being a successful rock group. You have to not get fat and you have to keep your hair.” I have to say, these guys did not get fat, they did not lose their hair. They did not split up and they’re here tonight,
Ladies and Gentlemen. They’re also as honest and decent a bunch of magnificent human beings as ever came out of Yorkshire, or Britain, or the world. Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s my privilege to welcome to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Def Leppard.
—
Brian May with Def Leppard at the Barclays Center, New York Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, 29 March 2019.
DEF LEPPARD SET
Hysteria (slowed down version)
Rock of Ages
Photograph
Pour Some Sugar On Me
All The Young Dudes (with Brian May and Ian Hunter)
Brian May inducts Def Leppard into #RockHall2019 #Livestream #Periscope https://t.co/Di0YKlbA5Y
— Laura (@fashion7thave) March 30, 2019
LINK: https://www.pscp.tv/jciancia/1mnxeOglnkLGX
BRIAN MAY speaking to Press:
(APPROXIMATE TRANSCRIPT)
I’m very proud. I would have been really upset if anyone else would have done this rather than me. Like they are like family to me so I’m usually on that I didn’t know this because you’ve got to do justice, you know. Speak the right words but very excited and [Applause] [Music]
Brian May speaks backstage at 2019 Rock Hall inductions
– https://youtu.be/bcY9CyuRnDA
Def Leppard speaks backstage at 2019 Rock Hall inductions (with Brian May)
– https://youtu.be/0LUkP7eiDAc
Click PLAY arrow to locate
Def Leppard and Brian May
2019 Induction Ceremony Official Red Carpet Live Stream
– https://youtu.be/ubVjUsV61ik?t=2217
Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott Insists Rock & Roll Isn’t Dying, Names Next Big Band | TMZ
– https://youtu.be/orJZexQJFBk
Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott Talks Hall Of Fame Honour, Band’s Legacy
– https://youtu.be/10uFvdRWLis
ROLLING STONE
Def Leppard Are Still Putting in the Effort
29 March 2019 by Patrick Doyle
EXTRACT from interview
I was reading an old story on the band, and you were talking about Brian May and talking about how you wanted to be like Queen. What does it mean to have him here, and what was his influence on you?
Phil Collen: We are still the hugest Brian May and Queen fans. You know, I’m so pleased that the movie was such an amazing success. We love everything they do. They inspire us to no end. I listen to this stuff all the time, and it’s amazing. So to have him there actually honoring us is, it’s huge.
—
CLEVELAND.COM
Def Leppard closes out 2019 Rock Hall Ceremony with the hits
Updated Mar 29, 11:55 PM; Posted Mar 29, 11:52 PM
By Troy L. Smith
NEW YORK, New York – When you’re one of the biggest rock bands in the history of the world, you get to close the show. That was Def Leppard’s destiny at the 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony on Friday. The band was more active than any of this year’s inductees in embracing the honor, making Def Leppard’s induction one of the most anticipated of the night. The Rock Hall certainly chose the right person to induct the band. Queen’s Brian May did the honor with a humbled heart.
“I’m very proud,” May said prior to the show. “I would have been very upset if anybody else had done it but me.”
May focused his speech on his own personal history with Def Leppard, including witnessing a group of “young, precocious boys” taking over radio airwaves with “Photograph” in the early 1980s. “Joe [Elliott] and I, in particular, have shared many precious and fun moments,” May recalled. “We have a strong bond and he’s one of my dearest pals. When news got out of [Freddie Mercury’s] passing, the first call I got was from Joe Elliott.”
Elliott admitted he was nervous leading up to Def Leppard’s Rock Hall Induction. But it didn’t really show, as the singer managed to praise every major influence on the band’s career, as well as each one of his bandmates.
One of the most emotional moments came when Elliott honored a tearful Rick Allen, who lost one of his arms in a car accident in 1984, but has continued on as Def Leppard’s drummer. “We’re not blood. But we’re the closest thing to brothers this only child has ever known,” Elliott said of his bandmates. “I couldn’t and I wouldn’t want to do it without these guys.” When it came time to perform, it took a minute for Def Leppard to warm up. The band’s rendition of “Hysteria” got off to a rocky start.