Sammy Hagar and Joe Elliott Talk About People Getting Fired
via AXS TV/YouTube
They Had Different Experiences
Joe Elliott sits down to have a chat with Sammy Hagar on an episode of Rock & Roll Road Trip with Sammy Hagar. They talked about how Def Leppard stayed together through the years. Elliott further discussed why they didn’t even consider firing drummer Rick Allen after an accident in 1984 left him with only one arm.
Elliott said, “And when Rick lost his arm, the way that we’d become even then, only five years as a band, we were so tight that we were like, it’s like ‘You don’t kick your brother out your family if he has an accident. And so, if he can’t do this, it’s up to him to tell us.’ And that gave him the confidence to give it a go.”
Instead of throwing in the towel, Rick Allen persevered and used a custom-made drum kit. It’s one of the most famous stories of resilience in the music industry.
Hagar agreed and added that “it’s so unheard of in rock.” Although he didn’t drop names, he hinted at both Van Halen and Montrose when he said “I mean, I’ve been thrown out of so many bands you know? You go all the way with these people to the top and sell a gazillion records and do all these stuff. And then all of a sudden, they throw you out because of some ego trip or something. Yeah, I never got that especially those two bands.”
Check out the clip below.