Def Leppard played a series of scalding Eighties hits during their set at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Friday night. After giving funny and emotional speeches that paid tribute to each era of Def Leppard’s history, the band revisited some of its biggest hits for a victory lap at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Brooklyn on Friday.
Def Leppard were savvy about their song selection, playing four of their biggest hits in the U.S. “Photograph” and “Rock of Ages” both reached the Top 20 in 1983, while “Hysteria” and “Pour Some Sugar on Me” followed suit in 1988.
Def Leppard were eligible for over a decade before they appeared on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ballot; they won entry on the first try. “Now we can stop holding our breath and go, ‘Great! How wonderful to be in the same club as the Rolling Stones and the Beatles and the Who and Queen,'” lead singer Joe Elliott told Rolling Stone. “It’s nice. It’s a good club to be in.”
But if anything, Elliott was even more excited by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s decision to induct another band — namely Roxy Music. “I’m ecstatic that Roxy Music are in,” the singer explained. “Many Americans probably didn’t know much about Roxy Music until Avalon [in 1982], but the truth is in 1972 when they put out ‘Virginia Plain,'” between them and David Bowie they instantly, overnight changed the face of pop music.”
Elliott added, “It’s almost like there should be a sub-ceremony for the British Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in London that can acknowledge bands that did something over here and didn’t necessarily make a big impact in America.”
