{"id":2442332,"date":"2019-03-29T22:32:56","date_gmt":"2019-03-30T04:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=814079"},"modified":"2019-03-29T22:32:56","modified_gmt":"2019-03-30T04:32:56","slug":"read-brian-mays-effusive-def-leppard-rock-hall-induction-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/music-news\/read-brian-mays-effusive-def-leppard-rock-hall-induction-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Read Brian May\u2019s Effusive Def Leppard Rock Hall Induction Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Queen<\/a>\u2019s Brian May<\/a> praised pop-metal heroes Def Leppard<\/a>, and recalled the time frontman Joe Elliott literally saved his life, during a gushing speech inducting the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

May has been a longtime friend and fan of the band, joining Def Leppard onstage numerous times. They famously collaborated on a performance of \u201cNow I\u2019m Here\u201d<\/a> at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness in 1992. In 2006, May and Def Leppard covered T. Rex\u2019s \u201c20th Century Boy\u201d<\/a> at Vh1\u2019s Rock Honors and way back in 1983<\/a>, May hopped on stage with the band to perform a clever mashup of Creedence Clearwater Revival\u2019s \u201cTravelin\u2019 Band\u201d and Led Zeppelin\u2019s \u201cRock and Roll\u201d (the performance was included on the deluxe edition<\/a> of<\/em> Pyromania<\/a> and it nearly ended with May being engulfed in flames<\/em>). This isn\u2019t even the first time May has delivered an induction speech on Def Leppard\u2019s behalf, previously doing so when the band landed a spot<\/a> on the Hollywood RockWalk in 2000.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read May\u2019s entire speech below.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sixty-five years after Bill Haley sang \u201cRock Around the Clock,\u201d rock & roll is alive and well, am I right? I have the greatest job in the world. I am so honored and privileged to be importing Def Leppard into the Hall of Fame.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to quote first from the Joe Elliott book of philosophy, which says that you get one chance to do the good shit, don\u2019t fuck it up. So this is my guide tonight, I want to do it justice \u2014 I really want to do these boys justice and I\u2019m not going to tell you a history, I\u2019m 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1981, Queen were in the studio in Munich recording our album, Hot Space<\/em>, and I nipped out to see some friends of mine, Ritchie Blackmore\u2019s 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, \u201cHi guys, I just wanted to say hello because I missed you and I\u2019m really sorry. I\u2019m Brian May from Queen.\u201d And they said, \u201cNo shit,\u201d 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cut to 1983, you know what you do when you\u2019re on tour? We\u2019re out on tour and when you\u2019re in the cars and the planes, you hit the button to see if anybody\u2019s playing your record. So this is what I\u2019m doing, every time I hit the button I\u2019m hearing this amazing kind of clang, sort of an arpeggiated guitar, and I\u2019m hearing amazing harmonies and these big, juicy bass lines, these huge fat drums. And it\u2019s not Queen, it\u2019s these young, precocious boys called Def Leppard and the song is \u201cPhotograph\u201d! 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 \u2026<\/em> They sold 10 million copies of that album.<\/span><\/p>\n

OK, cut to September \u201983, I\u2019m in Los Angeles, again we\u2019re recording an album, which, this time, is The Works,<\/em> I think, and I go out. This time, Def Leppard are playing the local arena, which is the legendary L.A. Forum. I go down there, very inconspicuous, I sit in the back, and when these boys hit the stage, I have to tell you \u2014 I have never seen anything like it. I\u2019ve seen some great shows in the Forum, but I\u2019ve 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 moms and dads are there \u2014 very proud moms and dads, and I get introduced to them. And the boys say, \u201cWill you come out and play with us tomorrow night?\u201d So I said yes, and the rest is history. We played \u201cTravelin\u2019 Band.\u201d It\u2019s history because I nearly lost my career and my life because this is Pyromania<\/em> and the production has all kinds of fire. Joe warned me, he said, \u201cWatch out for the fireworks at the end, just be careful.\u201d But I\u2019m at the end, we finish \u201cTravelin\u2019 Band,\u201d we\u2019re up behind the drums and there\u2019s a kind of chasm in front of us where the fire\u2019s about to come out \u2014 I have no idea. I\u2019m gone, I\u2019m like giving it all this, and Joe\u2019s going, \u201cBrian, Brian!\u201d And I\u2019m thinking he\u2019s just kind of appreciating me, you know? He\u2019s going, \u201cBrian, Brian, the fire!\u201d Anyway this huge sheath of flame comes up in front of me, and just in time, Joe\u2019s dragged me out of it \u2014 otherwise I wouldn\u2019t be here tonight. So early on in their career, Joe Elliott saved my life!<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cNot everybody realizes that these guys are not just crowd pleasers. They also embody such an amazing technical excellence. They have it all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

You know the history of Def Leppard is incredibly colorful and filled with all kinds of stuff that I can\u2019t even go into because I don\u2019t have the time. But they started August 1977 in Sheffield, England, which is not a very glamorous place and there\u2019s a lot of people who say there\u2019s 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\u2019t very kind. I don\u2019t 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\u2019ve got \u201cBringin\u2019 on a Heartbreak,\u201d \u201cPhotograph,\u201d \u201cFoolin\u2019,\u201d \u201cPour Some Sugar,\u201d \u201cArmageddon It,\u201d \u201cHysteria,\u201d \u201cLet\u2019s Get Rocked,\u201d \u201cWhen Worlds Collide,\u201d \u201cAnimal,\u201d \u201cLove Bites,\u201d \u201cRock of Ages,\u201d \u201cRocket\u201d \u2014 that isn\u2019t 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 U.K., 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

I got to 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\u2019s the only guy who was there at the beginning and he\u2019s here at the end \u2014 it\u2019s not the end, it\u2019s 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\u2019s arm in 1984 was a massive shock and setback, which would\u2019ve 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 \u2014 not only Rick but the whole band benefitted in a sense. I was there at Donington when he first came back for that triumphant return. Similarly the loss of the fantastic riff-meister, Steve Clark, in 1991 \u2014 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\u2019s amazing.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2019s why it\u2019s so important for me to be here. I wouldn\u2019t have let anybody else do this. They also came for our Freddie Mercury tribute, which was 1992, and we\u2019ve 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\u2019s 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\u2019s passing, the first phone call I got was from Joe Elliott.<\/span><\/p>\n

These guys are a magnificent rock group, in the classic tradition of what a rock group really is. I\u2019m just going to quote a couple more things. Early on, Joe said, \u201cWhat\u2019s the story, the secret of a successful rock group?\u201d I said, \u201cDon\u2019t split up.\u201d A few years later, he came back and he said to me, \u201cI 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.\u201d I have to say, these guys did not get fat, they did not lose their hair, they did not split up, and they\u2019re here tonight, ladies and gentlemen. They\u2019re 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\u2019s my privilege to welcome to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Def Leppard!<\/span><\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Queen\u2019s Brian May praised pop-metal heroes Def Leppard, and recalled the time frontman Joe Elliott literally saved his life, during a gushing speech inducting the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. May has been a longtime friend and fan of the band, joining Def Leppard onstage numerous times. They famously collaborated on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2442332","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-16 08:38:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2442332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2442332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2442332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2442332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}