Def Leppard Atomic Mess News

Twenty years ago this month, British rock band Def Leppard created a little mass hysteria across the world, especially in the United States.

In August of 1987, the band released its fourth studio album, "Hysteria." Def Leppard hoped the new album would ride the success of 1983's multi-platinum-selling "Pyromania." It did that, and more.

"Hysteria" charted six hits — "Love Bites," "Pour Some Sugar On Me," "Armageddon It," "Rocket," "Animal" and the title track — and has gone on to sell more than 18 million albums worldwide. Its success, said guitarist Phil Collen, has been unbelievable.

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Rock fans get ready. Def Leppard, Styx and Foreigner are coming to the Ford Amphitheatre on Friday, Aug. 24, 7 p.m.

With more than 65 million albums sold worldwide, not to mention two prestigious Diamond Awards to their credit, Def Leppard - Joe Elliott (vocals), Vivian Campbell (guitar), Phil Collen (guitar), Rick "Sav" Savage (bass) and Rick Allen (drums)-continues to be one of the most important forces in rock music.

The group's spectacular live shows are filled with hit after hit from their groundbreaking discography that set the sound for generations of music fans and artists. Def Leppard's powerful rock anthems have become synonymous with their name and it' easy to see why rock fans keep gravitating toward their electrifying live performances.

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Def Leppard started out like any other band.

Each member had an interest in music; each wanted to form a band.

Lead vocalist Joe Elliott said the first time the guys got together, they didn't even pick up instruments. Actually, they didn't pick up them up for about six weeks.

"It was really just us sitting around listening to records," he said in a phone interview on the road near Cleveland.

"We talked about our future … and what we wanted to be. Did we contemplate world domination? Absolutely. Nobody wants to consider it a race, but we wanted to be the biggest rock band out there."

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Any rock band striving for longevity faces the prospect of going through some difficult years, stylistically speaking, in an effort to keep up with the times. Take for example Def Leppard, headlining the Tweeter Center Saturday night nearly 30 years after getting its start.

Throughout the band's storied history ("storied" an apt descriptive considering the tribulations they've collectively gone through), trends have come and gone, perhaps most awkwardly during the height of the glam metal movement in the late '80s.

There was the requisite stone-washed jeans, cowboy boots, leather jackets, sleeveless flannels and yes, the hair. And while not near as serious as the overdose death of guitarist Steve Clark in 1991 or the car accident that claimed drummer Rick Allen's arm a few years prior, frontman Joe Elliott has battled valiantly to keep his coif in shape throughout the decades.

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For 30 years, Def Leppard has rocked venues around the world. Germain Amphitheater looks to be no different as it hosts the legendary band Sunday night.

Alongside REO Speedwagon and Styx, Def Leppard hopes to pack in fans both old and new.

"The crowds get bigger (each year)," said guitarist Phil Collen. It's been getting better I think."

The tour kicked off June 27 in Cincinnati and looks to be in full swing as it arrives in Ohio's capital this weekend.

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Sweat dripped off my brow as I waited for Def Leppard to arrive for the sound check at Cincinnati's Riverbend Music Center, a venue nearly identical to the Post-Gazette Pavilion, where the band will play on July 7. I had watched the stage crew build the custom-designed drum set for one-armed drummer Rick Allen.

"Bring 'em out?" a worker asked before he got the OK from the technician.

The worker left and retrieved the band.

The band dressed and behaved casually for this round of songs. Joe Elliott had a baseball cap on. Vivian Campbell went shirtless. Rick Savage smoked a cigarette in between guitar riffs of "Photograph."

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This is an old article from earlier this year regarding the upcoming summer tour:

The summer concert season just got a little more hot and sticky sweet.

Def Leppard, which sold more albums in the 1980s than any other rock group, is the latest blockbuster name added to the lineup for Rogers Sarnia Bayfest. The English pop-metal band will headline the concert July 21 in Sarnia's Centennial Park.

Tickets for Def Leppard - along with the previously announced Aerosmith show on July 19 and three-day passes to the festival - go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday.

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Joe Elliott is a gambling man, but not with the slots.

The Def Leppard frontman is calling from Atlantic City, N.J., one of the cities on the band's tour. The group plays the Hollywood Bowl tonight and the Hyundai Pavilion in Devore on Saturday. He says he's not tempted by the one-armed bandits.

"I like the idea of winning. I like the idea of putting 25 cents in a slot (machine) and 2 million bucks coming out and then walking away with it," Elliott says. "But the chances of that happening are pretty slim. What's the point?

"This job in itself is a big enough gamble."

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If you've been dying to hear the phrase "gunter glieben glauten globen" again, Tuesday night has been a long time coming for you.

Crank your hearing aids to 11 for Def Leppard along with fellow "dinoroars" Journey. The '80s rock bands are taking over the Budweiser Events Center.

Fans are guaranteed to hear classics including "Rock of Ages" (the start of which has long been debated but is actually just a gibberish countdown from producer Mutt Lange during the recording of the song).

The arena rockers just completed their summer, co-headlining tour but are back for Round 2. But don't call it a comeback - these guys are cashing in on your requests for retro.

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In some ways, it's as if the '80s never ended for Def Leppard.

The pop-metal band's blockbuster albums — 1983's "Pyromania" and 1987's "Hysteria" — still sell. The band's many loyal fans still flock to Def Leppard concerts.

The British band, on tour with Journey, continues to churn out albums. Its latest offering, "Yeah," is Def Leppard's first all-covers album.

Vocalist Joe Elliott called from his Dublin home to talk about the disc, how it feels to be cool again, and why Def Leppard is rock's ultimate survivor.

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The little pop-metal outfit he started with his Sheffield, Britain buddies back in 1977, Def Leppard, went on to sell more than 65 million records, and land coveted RIAA Diamond Awards - certifying 10 million units sold - for its'80s classics "Hysteria" and "Pyromania."

But that doesn't mean it's been a cakewalk career for the 6-foot, 2-inch singer, who's finally trimmed down to his fighting stage weight of 180 pounds for the group's current VH1 Classic tour with Journey. The show hits Concord's Sleep Train Pavilion tonight and Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View Saturday.

Elliott swears he's suffered for his fans, for 29 years. Few high-profile rockers are willing to talk about the health regimens that keep them spry in concert. But Elliott, 46, could write a book.

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Def Leppard has spent the better part of the past two decades trying to explain in interviews that the band has been miscast as a heavy metal act, and its real roots are more in the pop and glam rock era of rock 'n' roll.

It's been a rather futile experience. But with the release of the new covers CD, "Yeah!," singer Joe Elliott hopes Def Leppard has finally found a way to set the record straight on exactly the kind of music that shaped the group's sound.

"We've gone through a tedious amount of time trying to explain to people that we're not strictly a heavy metal band," Elliott said in a recent phone interview. "You're explaining (this) one tour, and 18 months later you go back on the road and the same journalist will headline an article that we're an '80s heavy metal band … So what's the easiest way of making the headline irrelevant is to make an album that's in the shops, in your hands, in your head, on the radio, that says more than a thousand words ever could."

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Ask Vivian Campbell if he is under the influence and the answer is a resounding "Yeah!"

More accurately, the Def Leppard guitarist and his Sheffield, England, bandmates are promoting an album called "Yeah!" featuring cover songs originally recorded by the group's pre-1980 glam-rock heroes.

"I must admit that I wasn't pushing for ELO," Campbell jokes while gently placing that blame on bassist Rick Savage. "The songs on this album basically reflect the artists that made each of us want to play music for a living. For me it was Marc Bolan and T. Rex. In 1971, I was 9 years old and I remember seeing Marc Bolan on TV. I was smitten by the image and knew I wanted to play guitar."

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No spring chicken, they, but the Lep can still get reasonably Def

At a time when critics are fawning over cutting-edge acts like Arctic Monkeys and Tapes 'N Tapes, one refugee from the golden age of '80s pop metal (whose name is not Bon Jovi) has been selling out venues around the country. And while Def Leppard always managed to pull in big numbers on the touring circuit throughout its career, record sales were not as kind during the lean '90s, when music trends veered toward grunge, bubblegum pop, and agro-rock, and acts like the Leps, Warrant, and Poison fell out of favor. But unlike the latter groups, the UK quintet continued releasing albums - like 1996's experimental Slang and 1999's return-to-form Euphoria - albeit it to an indifferent fan base more inclined to hear Def Leppard dip into fare from its '80s heyday.

With the release of Yeah!, an all-covers album of material by artists (mostly from the UK) who influenced the band, Def Leppard is enjoying a critical and commercial renaissance. The mix of songs by artists like T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, Badfinger, and Roxy Music are a reflection of the band's hard-rock-and-glitter roots that brings back lots of good memories for guitarist Phil Collen.

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In the opinion of Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell, the longevity of the British pop-metal outfit - which is generating excitement among the fan faithful with a new album of classic cover tunes called "Yeah!" - boils down to one essential thing.

"We're a really (explicit) good band," he says.

"I know people think that's conceited of me, but there's a very strong work ethic in this band," Campbell continues, by phone from a tour stop in Atlanta. "We have the strongest vocals of any band in the world, bar none. I throw down the gauntlet to anyone. The greatest compliment that people pay us is when they ask if we use vocal samples onstage. But we don't. It's us."

That can't be comforting news to Def Leppard's tourmates, Journey, who recently replaced ailing singer Steve Augeri with Jeff Scott Soto. Internet rumors suggested that Augeri was using backing tapes to support his vocals -something Campbell wisely won't comment on.

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