amymyoung | Aug. 1st, 2008

Seeing as Leppard lead singer Joe Elliott can’t let sleeping dogs lie – I’ve put aside my ruminations on Bill C-61 and taken a few minutes of my day to give my two cents on the whole brouhaha of Joe vs the volcano vs. Bret and Rikki.

I thought I was beyond seeing high school antics like this when, well, when I left high school. However in the past year I’ve seen more supposed adults acting like children than ever before in my life. And not just children – ill-mannered, spoilt brats.

For those who don’t know the history of this whole thing – I’ll keep it brief. Both acts were at Sweden Rock this past June. Round One takes place here, where Joe essentially comes out and says that bands like Poison and Crue relied on their image.

Round Two came when Bret bit back with the comment about lip syncing on “Dancing with the Stars”.

Round Three – comes to us via Def Leppard’s official site, and since Joe hasn’t shut up, with jibes being thrown as late as their last concert.

Quite frankly – yes. Bands like Poison, Motley Crue, Warrant and others did rely on image more than musical talent when they were popular. No, they weren’t Glam. The title of Glam goes to the originators of that genre – David Bowie (who still pisses glitter), Marc Bolan and T. Rex, Sweet, Slade and many others – who ruled the 70′s.

However… both bands are acting like children on the playground, acting their shoe size rather than their age. Poison and Leppard are both bands that I listened to well before my peers. I cut my teeth on glam rock. Men in makeup doesn’t bother me. Never has. Lack of talent does.

Mr. Elliott though seems to hold his band in higher esteem than Poison. Yes, Def Leppard may be a Guinness World Record holding band, but it’s not like they’ve not had their success based in part on their image. That in itself could be an entirely separate entry.

If I were to go on image alone – the response from Rikki and Bret is exactly what I expected from them. Joe’s responses just illustrate what I’ve maintained for years – that the man has a tailor that follows him around – because his specially made pants must wear out a lot – balls of brass that big must wear through even the strongest cloth. I’d always thought that Def Leppard was a band that remembered where they came from and had a bit of class. A classy response to this wouldn’t have been to fire back via the news on the official site in the manner that was done.

Joe – some advice – NO COMMENT says more than one of your windbag rants could ever say, and after this, I’m applying it to my opinions on this ongoing pissing contest.

Am I a Leppard fan? Am I a Poison fan?

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