December 13, 2002 Def Leppard Still Touring After 22 Years of Glorious Ups, Tragic Downs Def Leppard isn't worried about "X," its latest album, topping "Hysteria," which sold 16 million albums in 1987. BY DAN NAILEN THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Don't call it a comeback -- they have been here for years (to paraphrase LL Cool J), and there is no arguing the fact that Def Leppard is one of the biggest rock bands of the past two decades. The English quintet has endured death, dismemberment and disinterested radio programmers to sell more than 45 million albums worldwide in the 22 years since Def Leppard started releasing albums. And even though the band might not be the chart-topping beast and automatic concert sell-out it once was, there is no reason to think a resilient group like Def Leppard can't return to some semblance of past glories. If Bon Jovi can pull it off, why not the band that pioneered the crossover path from hard rock to the pop charts? Singer Joe Elliott -- playing the E Center Monday with fellow Leppards Rick Savage, Phil Collen, Vivian Campbell and Rick Allen -- is hopeful the band's latest, "X," marks a return to form. He calls it "almost the logical follow-up to 'Hysteria,' " the group's 16 million-selling 1987 album, although he is realistic enough to know it won't be as big. "If you're walking onto a stage and you get a standing ovation when you step out, it's nice to know they're still there after 22 years, that people still want to come," Elliott said in an interview from his Dublin home, putting the idea of "success" into some perspective. "Even when we released 'Hysteria,' I remember sitting with Cliff, our manager, on a plane trip during the '88 tour when everything was sold out six months in advance and we were doing three nights everywhere. I said to him, 'It's good, this, isn't it?' And he said, 'Enjoy it. It will never happen again.' "The reality of it is, he's right. I totally understood what he meant. It's like [Michael] Jackson will never top 'Thriller' from a commercial point of view. He might make a better record, but he'll never sell 38 million. The same thing with 'Hysteria.' One album will always be your commercial peak." During the '80s, it seemed every Def Leppard album was a new commercial breakthrough. "High 'n' Dry" introduced Def Leppard to much of America in 1981, thanks largely to "Bringin' On the Heartbreak," a song Mariah Carey covers on her new album ("There's some astonishing vocal histrionics on there," Elliott said). Two years later, "Pyromania" made Def Leppard MTV stars on the strength of videos for "Photograph," "Rock of Ages" and "Foolin,' " and the album hung around the top of the album charts, just behind "Thriller," for more than a year. This is where the Def Leppard story turns into a "Behind the Music" for the ages. On Dec. 31, 1984, a car crash cost drummer Allen his left arm. After Allen trained himself on a specialized drum kit, triggering beats with his feet, Def Leppard returned in 1987 with the monster hit "Hysteria," which spawned seven singles including "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and the title track. While working on the next record, guitarist Steve Clark died in 1991 after mixing alcohol with painkillers, the band's second tragedy in as many albums. The "Adrenalize" album, released in 1992, still sold more than 7 million copies. The rest of the '90s were not as kind to Def Leppard, with albums like 1996's "Slang" and 1999's "Euphoria" failing to maintain the hot streak. While Elliott would naturally like a repeat of earlier successes with the radio-friendly "X," he is satisfied with whatever happens. "It's all relative," Elliott said. "I remember when 'Adrenalize' was out, and it only sold 7 million. It's about whether you're artistically satisfied with the album, and with our new album, we're as artistically satisfied as with anything we've done since 'Hysteria.' "We're trying to re-achieve, rather than achieve success, because once you've had it, you've had it. All you can ever do is try to maintain it. All my favorite artists don't sell records -- [David] Bowie, Tom Waits -- but they're still valid. The world would be a poorer place without them. Same with The Who. They'll never sell records, but they'll tour and they'll make a great living out of touring and make a lot of excitement for people." The road is one place Def Leppard's popularity never waned much. The current tour won't include the in-the-round stage the group was known for in the "Hysteria" days, but it will include "a bunch of older stuff that we've hardly ever played before," and in some places, the set includes the entire Side One of "High 'n' Dry," played in order. Unlike the "Adrenalize" tour, which offered the same set in the same order every night for 241 shows, the current "X" tour is much looser, with the set changing at the whim of any of the Leppards. Such will be the case Monday in Utah, a place providing Elliott with some fond, and not-so-fond, memories. "The thing I remember most about Salt Lake City back in '87 and '88 was the parking lots," Elliott said. "The girls would turn up in almost school uniforms, and they would change in a car and whip on their '80s regalia, and then get dressed back in their conservative stuff to go home to Mommy and Daddy. "The other thing I remember about Salt Lake, I had to do a gig there once with, like, my left ear stuck to my left shoulder because I'd slept in a draft or something and got this really stiff neck where I couldn't straighten my head. I had to do an entire gig looking like a complete moron. It was just one of them things. The show must go on, so it did." E Center Def Leppard plays West Valley City's E Center on Monday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $32.50 and $42.50, available at all Smith's Tix outlets. © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune. All material found on Utah OnLine is copyrighted The Salt Lake Tribune and associated news services. No material may be reproduced or reused without explicit permission from The Salt Lake Tribune.