Def Leppard talk Tom Cruise, 'Rock of Ages'

Def Leppard has no shame.

When it comes to riding the fur-covered, animal print-lined coattails of "Rock of Ages," the big-screen musical opening Friday in the U.S. about love and hair bands in the 1980s, the group isn't shying away from commandeering some of the spotlight to remind everyone they're still around.

And they're still rockin'. "Rock of Ages" was, after all, the title of a Def Leppard hit long before it was a Broadway musical.

The British band — lead singer Joe Elliott, bassist Rick Savage, drummer Rick Allen and guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell — re-recorded two of their songs that appear in the film, and they're teaming up with Poison and Lita Ford for a summer tour kicking off June 20 in Salt Lake City.

"The movie helps a lot without the momentum of something like a new album," said Elliott during a break from rehearsing for what they're not-so-subtly calling the "Rock of Ages" tour.

In the movie, Tom Cruise's out-there rocker Stacee Jaxx performs a splashy version of Def Leppard's 1987 "Pour Some Sugar on Me." The band was unavailable to film a cameo alongside the likes of Sebastian Bach and Debbie Gibson, who appear in the movie, but Elliott and Savage are fully supportive of the homage to the 1980s rock scene and believe it will lure new fans to their shows.