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Interview :: 28th July 2005. It's a good thing nobody expected Leppard to change its spots :: The seemingly odd pairing of pop-metal band Def Leppard and middle-of-the-road crooner Bryan Adams can be explained by one guy, superproducer Robert "Mutt" Lange. Lange, best known these days as Mr. Shania Twain, was the man behind both acts' biggest albums. "Because of Mutt, we've known Bryan for ages," said Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott during a phone interview from a tour stop in San Francisco. "In 1990, Mutt was working with both of us at the same time. Bryan got up onstage with us in Paris one night. We know each other — we don't have to get to know each other. So it makes sense." It also made sense for Def Leppard to trade off headlining duties with Adams. "Some nights, we go on in the daylight, but it's only fair," Elliott said. "We agreed to it straight away." (Def Leppard closes Friday's show at St. Paul's Midway Stadium.) While Def Leppard's days as mainstream superstars have passed, they remain one of the most durable of the '80s metal groups. Despite some high-profile tragedies in the group — drummer Rick Allen losing an arm, guitarist Steve Clark losing his life — they've remained together for 25 years. Perhaps the biggest reason for the band's longevity is its trashy, infectious singles, tunes as timeless as cheap beer and tight T-shirts. (Right now, there is a young stripper somewhere swinging around a pole for the first time as "Pour Some Sugar on Me" blares in the background.) The band's most recent disc, "Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection," surveys Def Leppard's entire career. "That's what this tour is, a celebration of our 25 years," said Elliott. "We've got 85 minutes onstage, and we concentrate on the hits, the first time we've done that on tour. We have to drop some of them (for time), but that's a great position to be in. It's like a football coach who has a team where everyone is fit and ready to play." The only new material the band is playing on the tour is drawn from "Yeah," an all-covers disc due for release this fall. The songs the band chose all played a part in shaping Def Leppard's sound. "We wanted to show people, absolutely and as a matter of fact, where we came from," Elliott said. "We wanted to put to bed the idea that we were weaned on Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. Those were the bands our older brothers listened to. Our true love was always the three-minute pop song." "Yeah" includes covers from David Bowie, ELO, Badfinger, T-Rex, Thin Lizzy, the Faces and Roxy Music. "A lot of these bands were huge in Britain but never really made it big in the States," Elliott said. "They've got short solos and big, hooky choruses. And they're all British artists, except for Blondie. "Our only rule was that everything had to come from before we signed our first record deal. The Blondie song ('Hanging on the Telephone') is the most modern one on there. Most of it ended up being from between 1970 and 1973." Def Leppard's current tour is bringing the band to minor league baseball stadiums, where they're playing in the open air. Elliott said he preferred the freedom of outdoor shows. "I saw Radiohead at a similar gig in 1998," he said. "It was 42,000 people on the longest day of the year, and it just chucked down with rain. But people were still grooving and sliding up and down in the mud. "When you're outdoors, people behave more loosely. They feel like they're not being watched over by all those uniformed guys. That's when you start seeing chicks on their boyfriends' shoulders. "I really do like it. But I've got to say, there's nothing like opening your mouth for a long scream and swallowing a moth. And, trust me, that happens to everybody from me to Bob Dylan." Ross Raihala © Pioneer Press 2005 :: (Link Expired).

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