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Published Wednesday
December 18, 2002

Time to party like it's 1989
Entertainment column by Jason Keese

My palms are sweating. My heart is aflutter. I think I might puke.

I'm about to interview Joe Elliott, lead singer for Def Leppard. I don't
usually get so nervous for telephone interviews with marginally famous
musicians - I certainly didn't expect to get nervous for Joe Elliott, the
frontman for a band I have little opinion of, positive or negative.

But this is different. Def Leppard - whether I like it or not - was the
music of my youth. Past generations grew up with the Beatles, or the Who,
or Motown. I endured acne, junior-high dances and breaking up with the
love of my life, (fill in name of girl I have since forgotten), with the
help of hair- metal bands and groups with keyboards instead of guitars.

During the 1980s, there was an "underground" music scene, sure, populated
by bands such as the Replacements, the Pixies and the Smiths. But I
discovered those bands much later; during the '80s, my feet were planted
squarely "above ground." The Top 40 was my domain, my ear peeled to the
radio every Sunday morning as I sat in my parents' car, waiting for them
to emerge from post- Mass coffee and donuts.

On many Sunday mornings, at this Church of Casey Kasem, I'm sure I rocked
out - a phrase I likely, unfortunately, used - to "Pour Some Sugar On Me,"
"Love Bites" and "Armageddon It," all top-5 singles from Def Leppard's
1987 album "Hysteria," which sold a staggering 15 million copies
worldwide.

So it's this historical baggage that I lugged to my interview last month
with Elliott. The 43-year-old native of Sheffield, England, had joined his
bandmates in Los Angeles for rehearsals before embarking on a 10-day tour
of Japan, part of a worldwide tour that includes a stop Friday at the Mid-
America Center in Council Bluffs. Elliott was an affable bloke, as he
might say in his cool British accent, discussing the band's current tour,
its latest album, its "Hysteria" heydays and its unofficial title of VH1
house band.

As for Friday's concert, Elliott said fans can expect a mix of old and new
Leppard tunes. They've rehearsed 30 to 35 songs, with typical sets
consisting of about 25 songs.

"We're doing a bit of everything," Elliott said. "We're doing stuff from
our last album, we're doing stuff from our first album." Added Elliott:
"That will obviously disappoint some people, but it's a fun balancing
act."

Those disappointed people he refers to are those who would be bummed about
anything but a medley of songs from "Hysteria" and "Pyromania," the band's
1983 album. Elliott can understand that sentiment - and certainly
appreciates those fans - but the band is eager to play songs from "X," the
album released this summer to fairly positive critical reviews. USA Today
gave the album three out of four stars, with Rolling Stone bestowing it a
respectable three out of five.

The album returns to Def Leppard's strengths: sugar-coated power ballads
and equally sweet rockers. Def ditched any efforts to be trendy years ago
after the debacle that was "Slang," the 1996 album that shamelessly tried
to cash in on the grunge craze - a few years late, by the way, making it
all the more disastrous.

For "X," Def enlisted the help of four producers, including Andreas
Carlsson and Per Aldeheim. The Swedish duo has penned songs for Britney
Spears, Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync. Elliott makes no apologies for
working with Carlsson and Aldeheim. In fact, he gets a little defensive
about it.

"We wanted to make a pop record. We wanted to work with a pop producer,"
Elliott said, sounding like he'd answered this question 100 times. "We
wanted to make a commercial album."

There's the clincher: Def Leppard has never claimed to be anything but
commercial, a band that tries to appeal to as many people as possible.
There's no "music as art" with Def Leppard. There's only music, and if a
lot of people don't like the band's music, they consider that music a
failure. 

That love of the commercially viable pop song, Elliott said, is the result
of the band's shared childhood in northern England during the 1970s. All
the young lads had was Top-40 radio - Slade, T. Rex, Mott the Hoople and
Queen.

"We grew up with three-minute pop songs," Elliott said. "They're in our
DNA."

Speaking of commercially viable, Elliott has mixed feelings about
"Hysteria." 

"It's like a person," he said. "You can be married to someone for 15 years
and love the scars on their arm, or you can love the person but hate the
scars on their arm. That's like 'Hysteria' - there are parts of it I can't
stand."

Ultimately, though, "Hysteria" is the love of Elliott's life.

"I think it stands up as a testament to what we're about," he said. "It
has the Leppard stamp of quality on it."

Although Def Leppard may never again move records like it did during the
1980s, during the past few years the band has received the kind of
publicity that big-hair brethren Winger and Cinderella would kill for. The
band has been featured on three VH1 programs - "Ultimate Albums,"
"Storytellers," "Behind The Music" - and was the subject of an original
movie produced by the music channel.

Obviously, Elliott is eternally grateful to VH1. He even enjoyed the
movie, "Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story," which was panned by most fans
and critics for not being accurate.

Well, duh, Elliott said.

"Of course it wasn't accurate - it was a movie, not a documentary," he
said.

In particular, Elliott said, the portrayal of one-armed drummer Steve
Clark as a raging, out-of-control drunk was not true. He spent some time
drunk, sure, but not 12 straight years, he said.

Whatever. I didn't watch the movie. I lived through junior high once; I
don't need to again.

Def Leppard plays at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Mid-America Center, One Arena
Way, Council Bluffs. Tickets: $35. Call 422-1212.
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