http://theedge.bostonherald.com/musicNews/view.bg?articleid=1016241

Leppard spot-on onstage
By Jed Gottlieb
Thursday, August 9, 2007

Last week, Rolling Stone magazine celebrated the 20th anniversary of "Appetite 
for Destruction" by slapping a vintage photo of Axl, Slash and the rest of 
their cronies on the cover.
    But with all the gushing over Guns N' Roses' brownstone-fueled, 
sleaze-filled tour de force, 1987's other hard-rock masterpiece was ignored. If 
you were a teen in the late '80s, the pairing of "Paradise City" and "Pour Some 
Sugar On Me" was probably the one-two punch your mixtape packed.
    So where's Def Leppard's "Hysteria" cover? Don't hold your breath.
    "Am I shocked that they're on Rolling Stone's cover and we're not? 
Absolutely not," said Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott from his home in Dublin, 
Ireland. "Let's be honest. We're not dangerous like G N'R and we never were. If 
anything we're the opposite side of them."
    Elliott has nailed it. Def Leppard - which headlines tomorrow's Tweeter 
Center bill with Foreigner and Styx - was and is everything G N'R wasn't: safe, 
sane and predictable. And this is why its, er, art isn't being heralded as the 
best of its generation.
    Of course this is also why Def Leppard is spending its third summer 
headlining sold-out stadiums and G N'R is a shattered shell of its former self.
    "We've always been more reliable," Elliott said. "They've always been like 
the Stones with people saying, 'Let's go and see 'em before one of them dies. 
We're here to entertain, not go on three hours late."
    Reliability has been a trait that's kept Elliott rich but mortal. Def Lep's 
dependable sound doesn't inspire the same devotion and deification as a 
dangerous nut job like Axl Rose.
    "I wouldn't take anything away from other greats like Def Leppard," said 
Brandon Sexton, whose G N'R cover band, the obviously named Appetite for 
Destruction, plays the Mass Bay Lines Groove Cruise this evening. "I was in 
attendance at the Hysteria tour in '88 and it was an awesome show. But I have 
to say, when I first heard 'Appetite for Destruction' and saw G N'R live, it 
was a real shot in the arm.
    "When we're talking about the last 20 years, there was no album that did 
for music what 'Appetite for Destruction' did," said Sexton, who plays the 
Slash role in his tribute band. "It brought the realness and raw aggression 
back to music. This was something that had been missing and terribly needed in 
the era of polished guitars and beautiful boys with pretty hair."
    Maybe champions of both albums - if there are any out-in-the-open champions 
of "Hysteria" - need to agree to disagree. Besides, there's plenty of room for 
both. One to put on our shelf next to Zeppelin and the Stones, and one to hide 
in our closet with our well-worn copies of Bryan Adams' "Reckless" and Meat 
Loaf's "Bat out of Hell."

Def Leppard, with Foreigner and Styx,at the Tweeter Center, Mansfield, Saturday 
at 7 p.m.
Tickets: $25-$75; 508-339-2331.
Appetite for Destruction, Mass Bay Lines Groove Cruise, sailing from Rowes 
Wharf, Friday at 8. 
Tickets: $25; 866-468-7619.

jgottlieb@bostonherald.com

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