Def Leppard back in vogue

Band out of favor for a decade, but pop/metal sound back in forefront

By CHRISTOPHER MITCHELL - The Herald-Dispatch
mitche28@marshall.edu

Gannett News Sertvice
Def Leppard performs at 7:30 tonight at the Huntington Civic Arena. Members of
the group are, from left, Rick Savage, Rick Allen, Joe Elliott, Vivian Campbell
and Phil Collen.

 In 2000, Def Leppard vocalist Joe Elliott is pleased to see so many younger
acts crediting his band as an influence, after grunge music s one-two punch
nearly obliterated every trace of the band s signature pop/metal sound in the
early 1990s.

 "It s only recently become cool again for people to say that they have our
records," Elliott says. "Five or six years ago, you wouldn't dare mention that
you had a copy of Pyromania or Hysteria.  Now, it seems that everybody is
crediting us as an influence."

 Def Leppard performs tonight at the Huntington Civic Arena. Tickets are $35.50
and $25.50. The show begins at 7:30 pm.

 "It s great," Elliott continues. "We've seen Faith Hill wearing a Def Leppard
T-shirt in People magazine and Tyra Banks miming Pour Some Sugar on Me in Coyote
Ugly.  All of that stuff has come around. We're actually OK to like again."

 In a strange music industry twist, the band's monumental success in the 1980s
and early 1990s, in which they amassed three successive multi-platinum albums
with "Pyromania," "Hysteria," and "Adrenalize," nearly sealed their fate in the
mid-1990s. Seattle grunge acts Nirvana and Pearl Jam rebelled against the
bombastic Def Leppard sound, one sculpted around powerful melodies and
intriguing guitar hooks like those of 1970s arena rockers Queen and Mott the
Hoople. Grunge opted for more stripped-down recording techniques, melancholy
songwriting and less glossy stage decor.

 "The problem we had in the 1980s was that there were so many bands coming out
that had songs that were absolute mirror images of our songs," Elliott explains.
"And it got tiring. I can understand why somebody like Kurt Cobain would come
along with this whole new theory. It wasn't us that essentially burned our sound
out. It was the 19 other bands that sounded like us. I think you could handle
one Def Leppard. You just couldn t handle 20."

  Def Leppard's often-copied sound, which saw tremendous MTV and radio success
with singles including "Pour Some Sugar On Me," "Photograph" and "Love Bites,"
opened flood gates for many followers such as Winger, Warrant and Slaughter.
Before Elliott and bandmates Rick Allen, Rick Savage, Vivian Campbell and Phil
Collen realized it, their anthem-based hard rock -- which, thus far, has
accounted for 43 million album sales -- had been displaced.

  "It s a bit ironic, though, to see the same thing that happened to us now
happening to bands like Pearl Jam," Elliott says. "It makes you wonder what
Pearl Jam thinks when they hear Creed. They probably feel the same way we did
when we heard bands like Warrant and Winger in the 1980s, and we'd go, Hang on,
that's our last record you just made."

  On the final leg of a tour in support of their ninth album "Euphoria,"
released in June 1999, the band opted to incorporate more of the heavy glam
influence that critics have always overlooked. Songs like the "Rock-and-Roll,
Part 2"-sounding "Back in Your Face" and the ripping album opener "Demolition
Man" pay homage to Gary Glitter, while singles "Promises" and "Goodbye"
reinforce the Mutt Lange-aided Leppard sound of yore.

  "When somebody has an influence and you can hear it, that's great," Elliott
regresses. "People aren't foolish. I'm sure they can hear the influences in what
we do. They can hear artists like Gary Glitter, Sweet and Queen. But it s not a
blatant rip-off. And as long as it s done in a unique way, or it doesn t sound
stale, then it stays exciting."