In a new interview with Los Angeles Times, DEF LEPPARD‘s Joe Elliott recalled collaborating with a young Taylor Swift on CMT‘s “Crossroads” sixteen years ago. At the time, Swift was a rising country star whose pop career was just beginning.
Looking back at 2008, Joe Elliott was asked if he saw Taylor Swift‘s future success, to which he responded: “I don’t think anybody could. You look at it now and it kind of makes sense. But if you think back to 2008, there was no such thing as what she’s accomplished.
“I know anybody that was there when THE BEATLES and THE [ROLLING] STONES came over will go, ‘Wait a minute…’ But for people born this century or in the ’90s, this is a phenomenon that’s never been seen before — technically bigger than THE BEATLES and THE STONES combined, at least commercially. It’s insanity, the amount of tickets she sells. But I always knew she’d be big. And for all the hardships she’s gone though — the people who’ve tried to trip her up over the years at certain parts of her career — she’s just dusted herself down. She’s a fantastic role model for a generation of kids.”
During the Los Angeles Times interview, Elliott proudly displayed a Taylor Swift T-shirt he had acquired at her “Eras” tour stop in Dublin. He shared that he had introduced his young daughter to the pop star during the concert.
“It was a very magical moment,” Joe said, “and I will be forever be grateful to Taylor for making Daddy look cool for a couple of days.”
In a 2018 interview with Rolling Stone, Joe Elliott was asked what indicated Taylor Swift‘s future global success. He responded: “Well, she was already pretty big, so the conquer the world was something that was either gonna happen or wasn’t. In fairness, she really did go out, full bore, and conquer the world. Good luck to her for doing that, you know?
“The whole thing came together because somebody walked into our dressing room with a laptop… He goes, ‘It’s Taylor Swift, she’s doing this interview, and she said there was only band that she would ever do a ‘Crossroads’ with, and it was DEF LEPPARD.’ We went, ‘Wow, okay, get in touch with her, see what she thinks.’ Lo and behold, couple of months go by and, all of a sudden, we’re doing this show.
“We’ve always been that poke-noses-out-of-joint kind of band. I loved the idea of something that’s gonna either piss people off or they go, good for you for doing something different. If you’re gonna do collaborations, I don’t see the point in us doing a song with BON JOVI. Do you know what I mean? It’s like, I’d prefer the idea of Jon doing a song with, like, Tom Waits. Us doing something with Loudon Wainwright III or Leonard Cohen. Somebody completely off the wall. Or Elvis Costello and MOTÖRHEAD. Can you imagine what that would sound like?”
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