Classic rock’s greatest singer, according to Joe Elliott
Let me paint you a picture, as I take you back to one of the best Def Leppard gigs that I ever witnessed.
It took place at a venue formerly known as The Leadmill in Sheffield. The show was put on as a fundraiser, as two nights before Def Leppard were set to play at Bramall Lane (a stadium which holds over 30,000), they opted to play in a tiny room of just a few hundred. I’ve been to many a gig at The Leadmill, but that was quite easily the loudest crowd I’d ever been privy to.
Every guitar riff, hit of a drum, round of applause seemed to be dialled up to 11, as the adoring crowd watched in awe, their heroes only metres away from them. Perhaps the star of the show, though, was Joe Elliott, who, even after so much time on the road, took the mic from the stand and delivered everything he possibly could, not a note out of tune; it really was something special.
A lot of people are surprised when they find out that Def Leppard are originally from Sheffield, for when you consider some of the other bands from the ‘Steel City’, they don’t exactly hide their heritage; the likes of Pulp and Arctic Monkeys couldn’t sound more Yorkshire even if they tried. However, the same can’t be said for Def Leppard, as the hair metal band sounds more like they come from across the pond, channelling that glimmering rock styling which you would usually come across in cities like Los Angeles.
They’re essentially just a by-product of the music that they like: Joe Elliott once admitted that he didn’t think he was all that great a singer, but he was able to channel the kind of singer he wanted to be. When talking about vocalists he adored, he highlighted a few artists who he felt did something similar, essentially understanding that they can’t hit notes in the same way that other performers can, but turning that handicap into an advantage.
“They’re not great singers, but they portray a song brilliantly,” he said, “I love those character singers, Alice [Cooper], Ian [Hunter], John Lydon, Gary Holton from the Heavy Metal Kids. Their limitations became their strength. Mick Jagger was another, and on ‘Street Fighting Man’, he delivered one of the best rock vocal performances of all time.”
Elliot certainly has a point. If you get into a conversation about music with someone who is equally passionate, it won’t take long for you both to get on the subject of who the greatest singer out there is. It’s certainly an interesting debate to have, but the truth is, it’s impossible to come to a conclusion, because the role of a singer changes depending on what genre of music they’re working on.
In this humble writer’s opinion, one of the finest vocalists to ever live was Nina Simone; however, she probably wouldn’t be able to deliver on a Def Leppard song. Switch that comparison around, and it still works, because while Elliot sounds fantastic, the idea of him singing ‘What More Can I Say’ doesn’t appeal all that much. He was right to highlight the fact that different singers can achieve different things regardless of their ability, but that being said, he still revealed who he thought objectively was the greatest vocalist in classic rock, and his answer might surprise a lot of people.
“Paul Rodgers nails it every time,” he said, “I knew when I was 17 that I was never going to be Paul Rodgers, but I might be able to pull off something akin to what Alice Cooper and Ian Hunter did”.
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