Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott Calls Critical Fan an ‘Idiot’

Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott has responded to a group of fans requesting a more varied setlist during their 2011 tour. His replay is not likely to make them happy, however. In an interview with Spinner, Elliott calls one fan a 'f---ing idiot' before going on to describe the type of fan he does not want at his concerts.

First some back story. Three weeks ago a fan wrote us from the twitter handle @archive625 on behalf of a Def Leppard fan group. They were frustrated that the band had played the same songs during 19 of 20 shows. It's not clear if Elliott is responding to that fan's lengthy, detailed complaint (In fact, according to @archive625, "i never contacted Joe wasn't me he was hating on.. I only spoke with Rick and Vivian."), but he's certainly responding to fans like him when he says:

"We have to play for the majority. If we don't play 'Photograph' and 'Pour Some Sugar On Me', we won't get out of the building alive. That pays our wages, not these idiots who sit in their mother's basement eating Doritos and playing Dungeons And Dragons all day. I'm not interested in those kinds of people."

Elliott also explains that the recent lack of creativity in the band's set list was caused by him trying to recover from his father's death. "The guy accused me of being a fraud because on the first four gigs we did after the break we did exactly the same set. I wasn't going to say to the guy, 'Well, you know, my father just passed away, let's just keep it simple for the first week then we can get into the experiments.'"

We're smart enough to play Switzerland on this topic. After all, what's worse? The wrath of a 10th level sorcerer with an 18 ability score, or the guy who sings 'Armageddon It?' Elliot continues, "He's writing this as if every single person comes to every gig. But the only people who know what we did are the ones who go online and look at the set list. So he's a f---ing idiot. I don't mind saying that and please print it. When someone like him says our song 'Love Bites' is just a 'beer break.' I'm like, 'Wow, you're a moron. Don't bother coming to any of our shows. We don't want people like you.'"