«
»
What the fuck??

DEF LEPPARD’S PHIL COLLEN ALMOST JOINED IRON MAIDEN?!?!

 Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 12:00pm by

On several occasions I’ve heard someone refer to Def Leppard as part of the British New Wave of Heavy Metal, and that band’s inclusion into the genre never made sense to me; it’s not that I don’t enjoy vintage Def Lep (for better or worse, I do enjoy it, very much so), but uttering the words “Def Leppard” in the same breath as “Judas Priest” or “Iron Maiden” just seems… wrong.

Well, I guess the fellas in Iron Maiden disagree with me. Maybe this is old news, but in a recent interview with Inside Out, the Def Lep guitarist discusses how he almost ended up battling giant Eddies on stage:

Inside Out: Tell us about your brush with Iron Maiden, I believe that if Adrian Smith never joined the band, you were next in line for the job!

Collen: They asked me to come down and I wasn’t really interested. I have known them guys for years. I used to go to school with the original singer Paul Di’Anno, who I have known since I was six. All the guys grew up in the same area as me, they’re lovely guys, I love ‘em, but it’s a different type of music. I was in a glam rock band and now I’m in Def Leppard… which is more up my street.

I’m trying to imagine Collen leaning up against Bruce Dickinson, tearing through “Run to the Hills,” or Dickinson singing some variation of “Pour Some Sugar on Me”… but somehow, it just doesn’t compute.

-AR

[via Blabbermouth]

Tags: , , , , ,
  • Bermuda Jay

    Needs more “?!?!?!?!?!”.

  • aaron g

    yeah, i thought this was pretty common knowledge, rosenberg. shows how true you are.

  • Sammy

    Since Def Leppard became the biggest sellout in hard rock/metal history after Collen joined the band and Phil Collins became the biggest sellout in all pop/rock music history, I’m still waiting for the Phil Collins/Collen duet.

  • Iron Mayden

    Almost having Phill Collen in Maiden is equal to nuclear missles almost being fired during the Cold War. Thank God neither of those things happened or the world as we know it would be destroyed.

  • groverXIII

    Def Leppard != metal

  • andrew

    Judas Priest was not a NWOBHM band, btw…

  • http://www.hibernum.net hibernum

    Let’s be honest with ourselves, at a certain point there were that many steps between Maiden and Leppard. They traded in their jean jackets for stripey tights at some point.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN-f6F7l_gM

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6Y24OV0NNE

    I like Maiden, but who are we kidding?

  • Dude Manbro

    Priest was most definitely not a NWOBHM band. A big influence, yes, but they preceded that scene by a few years. Def Leppard was very much a part of the NWOBHM scene, however, as ridiculous as that may seem today. “Pyromania” came out in 83 I believe & that album marked the start of their bubblegum phase but previously they were generally lumped right in there with Maiden, Saxon, Tygers Of Pan Tang, etc.

  • http://invisibleoranges.com Invisible Oranges

    Dude Manbro’s on the money.

  • Large Jockstrap

    if you listen to def leppards first album, it actually classifies as metal

    listen to wasted… that is pure ballistic foot to the floor metal.

    yes, they dont even say its their own album, and phil collen didnt play any of the cool super fast solos, but yeh, he could have played in iron maiden

  • bob digby

    hi phil its bob remember the duke of cambridge days.me and all the guys used to follow u all round london when u was with girl you done well for yourself mate i now live on the isle of wight anyway u take care