Def Leppard's second wind

The story is so good it can make even a middle-age dad seem cool to his son's teenage friends.

The short version: Back in its late-'80s, rock-the-world period, Def Leppard's live show included an elaborate stage tall enough that people could congregate beneath it. That's where, according to an infamous episode of VH1's "Behind the Music," band members "congregated" with their more adventurous female fans.

The tale has since shown up on cable-TV clip shows, where friends of Phil Collen's 15-year-old son have seen it. They say things like, "yeah, we saw your dad last night on 'Most Metal Moments,' " said a laughing Collen, who shares guitar duties with Vivian Campbell. "So, therefore, I'm cool again."

Eighteen years after the release of its megahit album "Hysteria," Def Leppard might not be as cool as it used to be, but there are those who still need a little sugar. The band hits Alltel Pavilion on Saturday with Bryan Adams.

This tour has been kinder to the band than those a decade ago, said Collen, on the phone from California. "In the mid-'90s, it was very hard for us."

At the tail end of the grunge era, fans shunned bands of Def Leppard's ilk. But audience demographics have changed recently. "We've noticed on this tour that there have been a lot of younger people," Collen said.

Plenty of 17-year-old kids in Def Leppard T-shirts show up at the concerts. "It's cool again to like some of these bands, the cool bands from the '80s," he said.

Collen uses the every-other-decade theory to explain it. It's the idea that any trend from the last decade is passe, but the decade before it is retro-cool. The fashion-conscious looked down upon bell bottoms in the '80s; the style made a comeback in the '90s. Fashion, the way Collen sees it, helps push the needle on the what's-hip music meter.

And with department stores and mall shops carrying collections of '80s rock T-shirts -- Guns 'n' Roses and Def Leppard are popular with the kids these days -- newer fans want to see the music that inspired the look.

"Association by fashion can make someone totally hip or completely garbage," he said, with another laugh.

Collen believes that Def Leppard's dedication to releasing new music has helped the cause, generating respect among music fans. Although they haven't sold as well as the group's earlier albums, releases such as "Euphoria" in 1999 and "X" in 2002 have pleased the hard-core fans looking for new tunes.

"We're not just a band that goes out each summer and tours. We've actually been trying the whole time," he said. "We've been putting new music out."

Def Leppard plans to keep rocking for years, Collen said, hopefully gaining more new fans. After all, Aerosmith has managed to attract a new set with its long second wind.

But according to Collen's decade theory, the '80s in a few years won't be cool anymore. By then, it will be a '90s return.

So what will happen to Def Leppard in 2011?

"We'll still be OK by then. It's just that awkward decade in between," he said. "Let's face it -- '70s bands are still really cool. Once you've been let through the gate again, it's OK. You stay there.".
By Matt Ehlers @ The News & Observer 2005.