It's as if the '80s never ended for Def Leppard. The pop-metal band's blockbuster albums like 1983's Pyromania and 1987's Hysteria still sell well, and its many loyal fans check it out every time it tours. The British band, which will co-headline Tuesday at Blossom Music Center with Journey, has never opted to rest on its laurels. The band continues to churn out solid discs. It's 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 how Def Leppard is rock's ultimate survivor. — Ed Condran

Why do a covers album?

Why not do one? It was a great deal of fun for us not to write new songs and just go into the studio and record songs that we love. We wanted to do an album like David Bowie's Pinups and we did just that. We did all of these great songs from some of our favorite recording artists. We loved doing T-Rex's "20th Century Boy" and Badfinger's "No Matter What."

You were pretty reverential with those tracks, but you did a dramatic reworking of the Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset."

I've always loved that song and we took a few liberties, which is fun to do when you record someone else's work. It's such a great song. I hope we done it justice.

But the fans aren't coming for Yeah. They're coming out for your hits.

I'm well aware of that. We still need to make our albums. We can't live in the '80s. I don't want to be a nostalgia band, but I'm not going to ignore the past either. We wrote a lot of songs that people still want to hear, which is great for us. We love playing them.

How did you guys go from being uncool to kinda cool?

I don't know. It's funny that it seemed like it all changed for us overnight. We got cool after all these years [of being slagged]. I guess it's okay for people to like us if the guy from Sugar Ray [vocalist Mark McGrath] likes us. We're all over VH-1. People are going back and embracing Pyromania. We're selling tons and tons of Pyromania.

That album doesn't get the credit it deserves. Forget the hooks; for its time, Pyromania was a great-sounding album.

If you listen to Pyromania, you can hear how big the album is. It's bloody huge. [Producer] Mutt [Lange] had some ideas and we were just kids and we were like, "Yeah, sure," to everything he suggested.

There was no album back then that sounded like Pyromania.

What do you make of Mariah Carey covering "Bringing on the Heartbreak?"

I understand that she picked it and she's a fan. I'm actually excited that there is a legitimate Def Leppard cover out there. Everyone covered the Beatles. It's about time someone covered us.

Why are bands like the Leps and Bon Jovi packing arenas 20 years after their heyday?

The music stands up. That's what it's about. I think it's wonderful. We and the Jovi's go back to 1986 when we toured together in Europe. I'm amazed at how huge the Jovi's are. Good for them. It's nice the Jovi's and us are getting some respect. This makes up for how things went in 1991.

When Nirvana broke in 1991, every band that was even remotely metal, save Metallica, was knocked out of the loop.

And I totally understand why. By 1991, if you didn't have your fill of us, there were 100 bands that copied us out there. If I wasn't in our band, I would have formed Nirvana. You can only take so much of a sound.

Why is grunge dead and pop-metal alive and well?

By 1998 it was all apparent. Kurt Cobain was dead. [Alice in Chains' vocalist] Layne Staley was in no position to say anything and now he's dead. Nobody was listening to Eddie Vedder. People were discovering that their heroes are paper tigers. They either died or didn't have the stamina to last.

If anything, Def Leppard has stamina. Your band has survived the death of guitarist Steve Clark. Your drummer, Rick Allen, lost an arm but continues to handle percussion. How long will Def Leppard last?

I think we have quite a future. We have a lot of gas in the tank. We're still out there looking to write that next great rock song. As long as we have that desire, there's no reason to quit.

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