In a new interview with uDiscover Music, Joe Elliott addressed the fact that DEF LEPPARD‘s debut single, “Getcha Rocks Off”, on the band’s own label, Bludgeon Riffola, helped kickstart the whole New Wave Of British Heavy Metal movement.
While a handful of NWOBHM bands, most notably IRON MAIDEN and DEF LEPPARD, achieved global success, most of the genre has been consigned to relative obscurity.
Ironically, thrash — the more extreme metal subgenre that was directly influenced by NWOBHM — wound up having more commercial appeal and staying power.
“Even after all these years, the British media still try to lump us in with the NWOBHM, whereas the American media still try to pigeonhole us as a ‘hair metal’ band, but none of that has ever stuck because we became established as a standalone band,” Elliott said.
“The fact of the matter is, only two bands of note survived the NWOBHM tag — that’s us and IRON MAIDEN, and we’re vastly different bands.
DEF LEPPARD are where we are now — playing stadiums and beyond, and inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame — because of who we are rather than because we were part of a movement.”