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In a recent episode of The Rockonteurs With Gary Kemp And Guy Pratt <\/a><\/em>podcast, Def Leppard<\/strong>‘s Joe Elliott<\/strong> firmly rejected the notion that his band falls under the heavy metal category. Elliott<\/strong>‘s candid comments underscored a long-standing frustration with genre labels that he feels misrepresent the band’s musical identity.<\/p>\n “I have an issue with the term ‘heavy metal’ because everybody outside of rock always thinks if you’re a heavy metal band, it’s like bad news\u2026 You get this impression that everybody’s a moron,” Elliott<\/strong> remarked, highlighting a stereotype that he believes unfairly stigmatizes the genre and its fans.<\/p>\n Elliott<\/strong> clarified his stance by drawing comparisons to other legendary acts: “AC\/DC<\/a><\/strong> were a blues rock band. UFO<\/strong> and Thin Lizzy<\/strong> were not heavy metal. Mot\u00f6rhead<\/a><\/strong>, even they had a blues influence to them\u2026 Queen<\/strong> was never a heavy metal band, but they had a couple of heavy metal songs, thanks to Brian May<\/strong>. And I think we were pretty much the same way. It was rock \u2014 absolutely heavy rock, for sure.”<\/p>\n To further illustrate Def Leppard<\/strong>‘s versatility, Elliott<\/strong> pointed to the band’s early work: “You listen to our first EP from 1979, there’s a song called ‘Ride Into The Sun’, which is a total pop song. But then ‘Get Your Rocks Off’ was a full-on rock song.” He humorously added, “If we’re heavy metal, then so are The Rolling Stones<\/strong>, ’cause it’s two guitars, bass, drums, and a singer.”<\/p>\n Elliott<\/strong>‘s aversion to strict genre labels is clear: “It’s a silly, silly term. I like ‘rock’. When you start pigeonholing, it gets on my tits, to be quite honest, because can’t we just all be just a rock band or a pop band or be both?”<\/p>\n \n