My First Love: Joe Elliott talks T. Rex

By Polly Glass
( Classic Rock )
published

In the first of a new series, Def Leppard's Joe Elliott tells us about the first record he loved

"I had just acquired myself a stereo; a fantastic Sanyo stereo, it was a like a suitcase.

“You’d lift up the lid, the lid split in two and the speakers came off these flexi-hinges. It had a record player, a cassette player and a radio; you could tape off the radio and tape off records.

“My mum and dad had bought me a compilation album of everything on Island Records at the time, so you got a sample of Jethro Tull, Free, Mott The Hoople, Cat Stevens, Jimmy Cliff, Dr Strangely Strange

“So I taped that LP and traded it for a copy of Electric Warrior. Ziggy Stardust came a year later, which might have gone on to become a bigger love.

“But first love? Electric Warrior, absolutely, it’s a great record. Get It On, Lean Woman Blues, Life’s A Gas… I can be in a dark room, and play that record by just shutting my eyes and just letting my brain hear it. I don’t have to put it on, it’s that ingrained in my brain. Chiseled in, it’s in my DNA.”

The second album from Joe’s side-project, Down ‘n’ Outz, is released on April 22nd. Def Leppard will tour the US and Canada with Kiss this summer.

Polly Glass
Polly Glass
Deputy Editor, Classic Rock

Polly is deputy editor at Classic Rock magazine, where she writes and commissions regular pieces and longer reads (including new band coverage), and has interviewed rock's biggest and newest names. She also contributes to Louder, Prog and Metal Hammer and talks about songs on the 20 Minute Club podcast. Elsewhere she's had work published in The Musician, delicious. magazine and others, and written biographies for various album campaigns. In a previous life as a women's magazine junior she interviewed Tracey Emin and Lily James – and wangled Rival Sons into the arts pages. In her spare time she writes fiction and cooks.