Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen has listed The Rolling Stones Mick Jagger as his personal “rock god” and shared what happened when the two musicians met for the first time.
Speaking during an appearance on BBC’s The Rock Show, Collen said that he’d overheard that Jagger was recording in the same studio that he was working in.
“We [Def Leppard] were recording our ‘Hysteria’ album in the mid-’80s in Holland. Jeff Beck was playing guitar for Mick Jagger on his new solo album. I was sneaking around, trying to listen through the door and if you ever seen a studio door, you can’t even hear there, they are like a bank vault. All of a sudden the door opened up, it’s Mick Jagger. He is like ‘Hey man, yeah, yeah man, come on in. I went in and sat on the couch, there is Jeff Beck playing guitar, it was amazing, and there’s Mick Jagger actually singing in front of me.”
He added, “It was like surreal, he was actually doing a live vocal to one of the songs in the control room. It was such an amazing moment for me and you’re always scared to meet your idols in case they disappoint, but he really didn’t. For lots of reasons, you know, that’s my Rock God.”
During the same interview, Collen discussed the trend of British artists singing in American accents and mentioned that Mick Jagger started the transition.
“A lot of English bands sing with American accents, we kinda learned that from American pop culture, but I think that Mick Jagger was the gateway or the bridge that kind of influenced everyone who sings Rock music. Mick Jagger and the Stones kind of hit on that very early on and made it their own Rolling Stones thing. The songwriting, you know. Songs like ‘Sympathy For The Devil’, when you first hear is haunting. I was totally influenced by that, still am. I have a funny story, actually about Mick Jagger.”
English rock band Def Leppard formed in 1977 and Collen joined them in 1982 during the recording of Pyromania. He has remained with the band ever since as the guitarist, marking 40 years with Def Leppard.
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