Guns N’ Roses: The band Phil Collen thought had lost their integrity: “It’s really fucking lame”
Every successful rock band will have to deal with the subject of selling out more than once throughout their career. Even though it’s every artist’s dream to get paid for what they do, the core audience has always felt a bit cheated whenever they see their favourite acts beloved by the masses, thinking they only did it to make a quick buck. Although Def Leppard may have had their fair share of integrity questioned through the years, Phil Collen believed one band forgot about their dignity a long time ago.
For all of the pop-focused singles that Leppard had made, though, they never acted like they weren’t looking to become rock and roll stars. From their first single, ‘Hello America’, the band had their eyes set on reaching the biggest audiences they could, relishing the idea of travelling overseas and playing to stadiums of people while still in their teens.
Even though the band remained a hard rock band throughout their first two releases, it wasn’t until Pyromania that they started to transcend the scenes they came from. Unlike the other hard rock bands out at the time, songs like ‘Photograph’ were focused on having catchy choruses alongside the roaring guitars, featuring Collen’s debut with the band after firing guitarist Pete Willis.
Although the band would go in an even more poppy direction for the follow-up Hysteria, another band was emerging from Los Angeles to turn the world of rock on its head. Coming straight from the gutter, Guns N’ Roses became the biggest band in the world off the back of their debut, Appetite for Destruction, featuring roaring anthems like ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ and ‘Paradise City’.
Even though the band seemed like the polar opposite of the glamour Leppard represented, they would end up flaming out spectacularly on the following records. Following the lavish touring demands of frontman Axl Rose, the band would fracture under the pressure, disbanding in the 1990s and leaving Rose to tour with a who’s who of talent before former bandmates Slash and Duff McKagan returned to the fold.
Although the band could settle their differences, that didn’t let them off the hook in Collen’s eyes. When talking about Def Leppard’s longevity over the years, Collen thinks that bands like Guns N’ Roses have lost a bit of their integrity compared to their peers.
When speaking about the Los Angeles outfit reuniting, Collen commented on how Guns conducted themselves, telling The Telegraph, “We think it’s really fucking lame. I love Guns N’ Roses. I think they’re really cool. I’d love to see Slash and Axl and Duff play together. That’s great. But I think it’s fucking lame, considering we’ve been hardcore. Our integrity’s still intact. We’ve never split up. We’ve gone through if someone had a little sniffle or something, we soldier on”.
It’s not like Collen doesn’t have evidence to support his claims, considering how many times Rose had to cancel certain shows complaining of vocal problems, monitor problems, or whatever tantrum fell into his head on any given day. While Guns N’ Roses might be able to deliver the songs as well as they can today, Def Leppard has put in the road miles of any seasoned veteran of the rock scene.
