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A band for 25 years: Def Leppard marks it with an 'X'

By ALAN SCULLEY Last Word Features
June 6, 2003

On the surface, Def Leppard's new CD, "X," looks like a carefully orchestrated
attempt to revive the career of a band whose fortunes have faded sharply since
the days when albums such as "Pyromania" and "Hysteria" were racking up sales in
the tens of millions.

On one hand, the song "Unbelievable" finds Def Leppard teaming with songwriters
Andreas Carlsson, Per Aldeheim and Max Martin - the tunesmiths who helped bring
Bon Jovi back to that band's platinum-selling ways with the hit "It's My Life"
from the 2000 CD, "Crush," and have written multiple tracks for teen stars
Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync.

Def Leppard also joined forces on three tracks with Marti Frederiksen, another
hit-making songwriter who became Aerosmith's primary songwriting partner on that
band's most recent studio release, "Just Push Play."

Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen is well aware that such collaborations seem to
follow a record company blueprint for crafting a hit album by bringing in
so-called song doctors to help create radio-ready tunes.

But Collen said the outside involvement on "X" was entirely the band's doing.
More important, it helped breathe fresh life into the creative process for Def
Leppard, which celebrates its 25th year as a band with the "X" CD. The group
will appear in Evansville Thursday.

"It wasn't the record company's idea. It was my idea. I wanted to do that on the
'Euphoria' album, use multiple producers," Collen said, mentioning Def Leppard's
previous studio effort. "And I think it was essential that we used new blood. I
think it was great. I actually think we probably wouldn't have done the record
had we not done that. We were kind of at the point where it was getting pretty
stale doing ... the same old, same old, same old."

For the band, which was formed a quarter century ago in Sheffield, England, the
past decade has been a period of adjustment after triumphant '80s albums
"Pyromania" and "Hysteria" sold more than 20 million copies combined - despite a
pair of tragedies: the death of original guitarist Steve Clark from a drug
overdose and an accident that cost drummer Rick Allen one of his arms.

In 1996, Def Leppard, whose current lineup includes Collen, singer Joe Elliott,
bassist Rick Savage, guitarist Vivian Campbell and drummer Allen (who uses a
specially equipped kit), tried to adapt to grunge with the stripped-down CD
"Slang." Fans of their patented pop metal sound rebelled, so the group reverted
to its classic sound on 1999's "Euphoria." Again, that album stiffed.

While Collen remains a fan of the "Slang" CD, he admits that Def Leppard missed
the mark with "Euphoria."

"I think the 'Euphoria' album, looking back on it, was very clinical in its
approach," Collen said. "We tried to make a pastiche of our career, basically.
We tried to make an album that sounded like (the group's greatest hits CD)
'Vault,' that had some 'High 'N' Dry,' some 'Pyromania' and some 'Adrenalize' in
there, like a mixture of (the CDs)."

For "X," Collen said, the band members decided to cast aside any preconceived
notions about the Def Leppard sound.

"It was, like, let's do what we want to do, do a commercial album that we think
is really good, and not really mind what anyone thinks about it," he said. One
obvious product of that outlook was the collaborations with outside songwriters,
which have brought a decidedly different accent to the group's music.

The song written by Aldeheim, Carlsson and Martin - "Unbelievable" - is the
biggest departure. A big-bodied ballad featuring pulsing programmed rhythms, the
song sounds like a classic power ballad in the mold of Aerosmith's "I Don't Want
to Miss a Thing."

The three tracks written with Frederiksen - "Now," "You're So Beautiful" and
"Everyday" - rock harder, but also have more of a burnished pop feel than the
band's '80s hits.

In fact, it's not until six songs into "X" that the CD yields a classic-sounding
Def Leppard track with "Four Letter Word," a punchy rocker with the kind of
crunchy guitar sound that helped make "Photograph," "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and
"Animal" signature songs for the band.

It's also the first of six songs on "X" solely written by the five band members.
But Collen said even the band-written songs were influenced by the studio
approach of Frederiksen.

Where Def Leppard had been accustomed to meticulously building tracks instrument
by instrument in the studio, Frederiksen favored a more spontaneous live band
approach, to the point that some parts recorded on the original demos for songs
were used on the finished tracks.

This time around, the song itself dictated the production approach the group
took.

"With the 'X' album, we said whatever the song needs," Collen said. "If the song
needs a bank of backing vocals and we need to record in a process (with)
programmed drums, then go for it. If it needs live drums, great. It still works
on the same record, and it did. So that to us was the freedom thing, and it (the
'X' CD) did come easier because it was a fun process." 

© 2003 The E.W. Scripps Co.