http://www.mankatofreepress.com/php/story.php?storyid=49994

June 12th, 2003

Alive and rockin'
Def Leppard is still going strong with its latest release 'X'
By Joe Tougas

Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO - "Burn a building. Burn, burn, burn..."

Those were the words of former U.S. Sen. Paula Hawkins, who in 1985
displayed the cover of Def Leppard's "Pyromania" as an example of rock
music gone amok.

And while that infamous Senate hearing may have been the last time Def
Leppard made headline news, the band has continued to burn its way along
where others have burned out. The Sheffield, England, rockers gave the
'80s pop charts heavy bursts of metallic pop with "Photograph," "Bringin'
On the Heartbreak" and "Rock of Ages."

Under the radar for a decade, the band now joins others of the genre in a
revival of sorts, particularly in markets such as Mankato, where Def
Leppard performs Tuesday night at the Midwest Wireless Civic Center.

They arrive to the gig in the wake of their 10th album, "X," released last
July to gushing guilty-pleasure reviews from the national press, including
Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield, who's three-star review concluded "it will
only be cosmic hair-metal justice if Def Lep score a comeback hit with
this one."

It was a hit, debuting at No. 11 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, evidence
that a strong market still enjoys the heavy choruses and heavier hooks
that paced much of the bands that followed suit after "Pyromania" hit the
charts - and heavy MTV rotation - in 1983.

Part of that "justice" would have to take into consideration the band's
stamina through a critically fickle industry. Formed in 1977 while some of
them were in their teens, they were a popular pub band that put out its
first record in 1978, "Getcha Rocks Off." They were soon signed with
Mercury Records and toured with rock acts such as AC/DC and Ted Nugent.
They scored their first platinum record with 1981's "High and Dry," but it
was "Pyromania" that sold 10 million copies and spawned several imitators.

A few of the imitators are still around, more have dropped off, but the
Leppards have remained and stayed true to the power-pop sound, even making
the daring move of including on "X" a power ballad, titled "Unbelievable."

They have been on the road since April and have extended their North
American tour into Canada through August before heading back to the U.K.
After Tuesday's concert, they'll be in the area again July 18 at Rock Fest
in Cadott, Wis.

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