DEF LEPPARD: BOMBAST FOR MASSES

When the history of rock 'n' roll music is written, Def Leppard will be known as "a band that survived the '80s and came out stronger," says guitarist Viv Campbell.

Def Leppard sometimes is lumped with hair spray metal bands like Poison and Cinderella that made '80s music and bad music synonymous. Campbell insists that not all music made in the 1980s was bad.

Def Leppard's "Pyromania" and 16-million-selling "Hysteria" albums set the standard for mainstream stadium rock in the 1980s. Through metal mania of the '80s and grunge rock of the '90s, the band has continued to make pop music with a rock 'n' roll heart.

Theirs is music with catchy, clap-along refrains -- "Pour a Little Sugar on Me" -- and bombastic guitars. Def Leppard is happy to make it.

The band will perform at the Show Me Center Friday night in a concert to begin at 7:30. The opening act will be Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (see related story).

Campbell grew up in Belfast during the so-called "Troubles." One escape was the weekly TV show "Top of the Pops." Marc Bolan and T. Rex of "Bang a Gong" fame made an impression on the 9-year-old. "It was just the whole aura thing, not so much the music," he said in an interview from a tour date in El Paso, Texas.

"It looked like a fun thing to do: Wear your sister's clothes and play the guitar."

Def Leppard actually has a lot in common with country superstar Shania Twain. Her husband/producer, "Mutt" Lange, is their longtime producer. Lange is credited with blending rock with pop to produce a hybrid that sells. A similar formula of mixing country and pop has worked for Twain.

Campbell played in a Metallica-like band called Sweet Savage before joining the briefly popular White Snake. He knew Def Leppard lead singer Joe Elliott in Dublin and was asked to join the band after guitarist Steve Clark died in 1991. "What impressed me as much about the band as their music was the way they got on," Campbell says. "There was a lot of camaraderie."

Though their music is good timey, Def Leppard often has been visited by tragedy. Two of the original guitarists died, and drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm in a traffic accident. He now plays a kit specially modified for him.

When grunge rock was king in the '90s, bands like Def Leppard were viewed as anachronisms. In desperation, the band even tried a garage-rock album, "Slang," which was a critical success in some circles but was not a commercial one.

The band's newest album, " Euphoria," is a return to what they do best: Pouring a little sugar on their audiences.

With showy rock bands like Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit selling out venues, it's OK to be a musically serious entertainer again, Campbell says.

"Music doesn't have to have a serious message. Def Leppard has never been about that.

"... We're about entertainment and escapism."