From: "Mike N. Reinemann" Date sent: Wed, 6 Sep 2000 03:40:45 -0400 Subject: Def Leppard is still rockin' Def Leppard is still rockin' By Michael Deeds The Idaho Statesman http://cityguide.entertainmentidaho.com/fe/CoverStory.asp Armageddon it: Def Leppard continues rocking on through the night, this time at the Idaho Center Amphitheater. From left, Phil Collen, Rick Allen, Rick Savage, Joe Elliott and Vivian Campbell. Def Leppard When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7 Where: Idaho Center Amphitheater Tickets: $35.50 reserved, $25.50 general admission lawn Opening act: The Unband A one-armed drummer. A guitarist who died after the band's biggest album was released. The rise of grunge. None of it has fazed Def Leppard, a band that helped start the lite-metal movement of the 1980s, yet has remained largely immune to the mockery associated with that genre. Def Leppard had a plan and stuck to it: Sugar-sweet harmonies, airbrushed power drums, elephantine riffs and anthem-based song structures. It's kept the group rockin' steady for more than two decades. Originally from Sheffield, England, Def Leppard got its start in the late 1970s as Deaf Leopard. "Pyromania" was Def Leppard's breakthrough album in 1983, spawning hit singles such as "Foolin'" and "Rock of Ages" on radio and MTV. The band faced its first personal challenge when drummer Rick Allen lost an arm in a car accident in 1984. But Allen refused to quit, instead learning to play on an electronic kit. It was a major morale booster -- and big-time publicity -- for the band. When the band's follow-up album, "Hysteria," got off to a slow start in 1987, Def Leppard didn't blink. Instead, it waited. The album took two years to peak, but "Hysteria" wound up sealing Def Leppard's status as arguably the biggest hard rock band of the decade. "Hysteria" delivered six straight Top 20 hits, including the unavoidable "Pour Some Sugar On Me"and "Armageddon It." It sold 16 million copies. Def Leppard has been less euphoric in the 1990s. Guitarist Steve Clark died of a drug and alcohol overdose and was replaced by former Dio and Whitesnake ax-man Vivian Campbell. The rest of the group has remained intact. The band's albums have sold modestly. But fans continue to turn out in droves to get sugar poured on them. Pop- metal still sells tickets. And Def Leppard remains one of the best. -------------------------------------------------------------- Terms of Service © 2000 The Idaho Statesman