Since I collet Def Leppard music, I also collect videos too. And yes, even bootleg videos. This one I found on eBay and was a collection of everything Def Leppard’s ‘Pyromania’ that appeared on TV. It didn’t matter what show, what country or anything. Someone took the time and pieced it all together to celebrate that album. And I think that is pretty cool. The collection comes in a slim DVD care and contains not one, but two DVDs. And it is around 3 1/2 hours long between the two discs. This is for Lep fans because you get a ton of Joe Elliott, Rick Allen, Rick Savage, Steve Clark and new comer Phil Collen.

DISC 1:

The video kicks off with ‘Heavy: The Study of Metal’ that was on VH1 and showed only the parts related to Def Leppard and ‘Pyromania’. The show talked about the impact Lep had with videos and how they were one of the first rock/metal bands to really break through due to their good looks, good videos and good songs. After that we got a video of “Photograph” from their appearance on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand on May 21, 1983. Of course it is lip synced, but who cares. The picture was a little grainy, but again, who cares. This was around 1983 and there was no HD or even 4K for that matter. We even got to see Dick come over and talk to the boys. They then play “Rock of Ages”. I don’t know if I even saw this back in the day, but so cool to have this now.

We then jump to Australia with an interview in 1984 with them on a boat sailing by The Sydney Opera House. It then cuts to the video for “Let it Rock” which I’m not sure why as that is not ‘Pyromania’ and then back to the interview. The interview gets interrupted by the boat crew dropping anchor. And then to “High & Dry”, interview and “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak”…hmmm…maybe the videos for ‘Pyromania’ weren’t available yet. Nope, now we get a clip of “Rock of Ages” more interview and then “Foolin'” and “Photograph”. It is great to see an interview with Steve Clark…he is sorely missed.

VH1’s show “I Love the 80’s” did a spot with Leppard so we get that here as well. That is quickly and then we are off to Japan for a performance on the show and I think I’ve seen this one before. This is really cool as they lip-sync to “Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)”. Then we get an interview and thankfully the interviewer spoke English. He did it bother in Japanese and English. The got to do one more song and this time around they did “Photograph”. The Japanese show thought it would be cute to have some women walk around the band and take pictures.

When I say this shows everything that one TV for Leppard during the ‘Pyromania’ era, I mean it. We even got a ton of I Want My MTV ads with Lep included and MTV news spots and tons of interviews. Back to Japan for more talk shows and performances and another rendition of “Photograph” and “Rock of Ages”. I wonder how many times they had to lip sync these songs during that time.

Then I think they jump to Canada and Much Music interview with J.D. Roberts. Then some interview that the picture was horrible and I have no idea where it’s from except it is an English speaking country. Then a cool CD Commercial touting the greatness of the sound quality over vinyl. And a piece of a documentary that I think was out of the UK that was cool. If that wasn’t cool enough, we get a promo video from “Rock Brigade” and “Wasted” from back in 1979 as a bonus on Disc 1. Damn, I have truly never seen that one before and those outfits are horrendous. So 70’s Glam! And that was the end of Disc 1…crap that is a lot of stuff and still another disc to go.

Disc 2:

Disc 2 doesn’t throw any punches, it comes out swinging with a mini-concert from France back in 1983. They slam through “High ‘N’ Dry (Saturday Night)”, “Rock Brigade”, “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak”, “Switch 625”, “Lady Strange” and “Photograph”. The show was recorded live at Salles Des Fetes in Melun, France on March 15, 1983. Joe is in his Union Jack shirt, Rick in his Union Jack shorts, Steve smoking a cigarette and Phil with an actual shirt on. The sound is a little jacked between “Rock Brigade” & “Heartbreak” but it doesn’t last long. The band still kicked ass for this little set despite Joe butchering “Heartbreak” a little.

Next is another show and this was live at Westfalenhallen in Dortmund, Germany on December 18, 1983. The short setlist is “Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)”, “Billy’s Got a Gun”, “Foolin'”, “Rock of Ages”, “Let It Go” and “Wasted”. The France show was a little club show, this one is a slightly bigger stage and better production. The guitars are lethal as Steve and Phil shred like nobodies business. Sav split time between bass and keyboard. Rick Allen was tearing it up on the drums and Joe sounded great for this show. His voice was in fine form. During “Rock of Ages”, Joe got the crowd to help sing along with an “I Want Rock & Roll”. I have to admit I love hearing them play “Wasted”. Such a fun live song. A great hit filled set and the boys gave it their all.

After two great mini-shows, we get a promo for “Too Late for Love” and if I’m not mistaken, this is on the Historia DVD. After that, we get a bit from VH1’s Ultimate Albums show which covered ‘Pyromania’. It was full of interviews from the band (even Pete Willis) and so many famous music biz people like Rob Halford, Ross Halfin and MTV’s J.J. Jackson among others. It talked about the downfall of Pete Willis and the insane process of working with Mutt Lange as well as the music scene at that time and MTV’s impact on the band. It was a great show. After that, you get a real grainy fan filmed video, I am assuming, of the band during this time performing live and playing “High ‘N’ Dry” and at that same show we get “Billy’s Got a Gun”. These two were probably the worst video and sound of anything on here and that is a bit disappointing.

The DVD’s quality was way better than I was expecting. There were some grainy moments on some of the MTV spots and one of the Japanese TV spots, but I have no issues with any of this and I’m really glad I picked this up on eBay. As far as the sound, that part was great throughout. It was a brilliant idea to encapsulate the ‘Pyromania’ era TV spots all on one collection. I need to find out if there are other Lep eras that were done because I would buy those as well. This was 2 DVDs, 3 1/2 hours of nothing but Def Leppard and it was awesome. My Overall Score is a 4.0 out of 5.0 Stars. I had to ding for the few bad spots, otherwise, I loved it.

NEXT UP: DEF LEPPARD – ‘HYSTERIA’ (1987)

THE DEF LEPPARD COLLECTION SERIES

1. Def Leppard E.P. – 7″ Single (1979)
2. First Strikes 1978-1979 (Bootleg CD)
3. Girl – Sheer Greed (1980)
4. On Through the Night (1980)
5. When the Walls Came Tumbling Down (April 26 1980) (2020)
6. High & Dry (1981)
7. Too Many Jitterbugs – B-Sides And Rarities (2020)
8. Raw – Early BBC Recordings (2020)
9. Girl – Wasted Youth (1982)
10. Pyromania (1983)
11. “Photograph” 7″ Single (1983)
12. “Too Late For Love” 12″ Single (1983)
13. Live at the L.A. Forum 1983 (2018)
14. Seattle, August 3, 1983 (Bootleg CD)
15. Pyromania TV Collection (Bootleg DVD)
16. Hysteria (1987)
17. “Animal” 7″ Single (1987)
18. “Women” 7″ Single (1987)
19. “Pour Some Sugar on Me” 7″ Single (1987)
20. “Hysteria” 7″ Single (1987)
21. “Armageddon It” 7″ Single (1988)
22. “Love Bites” 7″ Single (1988)
23. “Rocket” 7″ Single (1989)
24. Animal Instinct – The Def Leppard Story – Book Review (1987)
25. Rarities – Volume One (2018)
26. Live in Mountain View – August 17, 1988 (Bootleg DVD)
27. Historia – DVD (1988)
28. Live: In the Round, In Your Face (CD Video / DVD) (1989)
29. Adrenalize (1992)
30. “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” – Cassette Single (1992)
31. “Tonight” CD Single (1993)
32. Live Shefield 1992 (Bootleg DVD)
33. Retro Active (1993)
34. Visualize DVD (1993)
35. Hard Rock Café – Singapore, Malaysia October 26, 1995 (Bootleg DVD)
36. Vault: Def Leppard Greatest Hits (1980-1995) (1995)
37. “When Love & Hate Collide” – CD Promo Single (1995)
38. Video Archive (1995)
39. Slang (1996)
40. Montreal: The Classic 1996 Broadcast (Bootleg CD)
41. Live Bites: FM Broadcast (Bootleg CD)
42. Live in Argentina 1997 (Bootleg DVD)
43. Euphoria (1999)
44. Rarities – Volume Two (2019)
45. Rarities – Volume Three (2019)
46. Tokyo 1999 (Bootleg CD)
47. Cybernauts – Live (2000)
48. X (2002)
49. Hysteria: Classic Albums DVD (2002)
50. Best of Def Leppard (2004)
51. Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection (2005)
52. Yeah! (2006)
53. Songs from the Sparkle Lounge (2008)
54. Man Raze – Surreal (2008)
55. B-Sides (2021)
56. Yeah! II (2021)
57. Yeah! Live (2021)
58. CMT Crossraods – Taylor Swift & Def Leppard (2009)
59. Down ‘N’ Outz -My ReGeneration (2010)
60. Man Raze – PunkFunkRootsRock (2011)
61. Down ‘N’ Outz -The Further Adventures of… (2014)
62. Def Leppard (2015)
63. The Lost Session (2018)
64. Personal Jesus 7″ Single (2018)
65. Down ‘N’ Outz -This is How We Roll (2019)
66. Hits Vegas: Live at Planet Hollywood – Vinyl (2020)
67. Hysteria: Live – Vinyl (2020)
68. Def Leppard Acoustic Vegas – 10″ Vinyl (2020)
69. Down ‘N’ Outz – The Music Box E.P. (2020)
70. Diamond Star Halos (2022)
71. High & Dry – Picture Disc (RSD) (2022)
72. Drastic Symphonies (2023)
73. Drastic Symphonies – Picture Disc (2023)
74. Definitely: The Official Story of Def Leppard (2023)

PREVIOUSLY POSTED:

1. The Def Leppard E.P. (1979/2017)
2. Def Leppard: Interview Picture Disc (1982?)
3. “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” – 12″ Promo Single (1984)
4. Live at the Top (Bootleg) (1987)
5. “Pour Some Sugar on Me” –  5″ Shaped Picture Disc (1987)
6. Hysteria U.S. Tour 1988 – Tour Book (1988)
7. “Make Love Like a Man” – 12″ Single (1992)
8. “Let’s Get Rocked” – 12″ Single (1992)
9. Adrenalize: The 7 Day Weekend Tour (1992/1993)
10. X: World Tour (2003)
11. Mirrorball – Live & More (2011)
12. Def Leppard: The Definitive Visual History – Book Review (2011)
13. Viva! Hysteria (2013)
14. And There Will Be A Next Time…Live from Detroit (2017)
15. Hysteria: 30th Anniversary Box Set (2017)
16. The Story So Far – The Best of (2018)
17. The Collection, Volume 1 (2018)
18. Hysteria: The Singles Box Set (2018)
19. Live at Abbey Road Studios (2018)
20. Def Leppard: Concert Review – Charlotte, NC June 9th 2018 (2018)
21. The Story So Far – The Best of Volume 2 (2019)
22. The Collection, Volume 2 (2019)
23. London to Vegas (2020)
24. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 29 March 2019 (2020)
25. The Early Years ’79-’81 (2020)
26. The Collection, Volume 3 (2021)
27. Def Leppard Funko Pop!