Def Leppard News - 30 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD Release The HISTORIA Video Compilation

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30 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD Release The HISTORIA Video Compilation

Historia 1988

Def Leppard released their first ever video compilation Historia 30 years ago on this day in 1988 in the UK.

The first ever Def Leppard video release on VHS tape.

It was issued the same day as the Love Bites single.

The 90 minute tape was priced at £14.99 and was released in North America a day later on 5th July 1988.

The compilation comprised all of the band's promo videos released between 1980 and 1988.

Also included were various TV performances from the UK and Japan.

15 promo videos were featured from the 'High 'n' Dry' (x2), 'Pyromania' (x3), 'High 'n' Dry (1984 Reissue)' (x2) and 'Hysteria' (x7) album eras.

Alongside the promo videos were various TV performances including the 1980 'Hello America' Top Of The Pops performance which was not broadcast on the show. Joe's recollection of the reasons why in the interview quote below is not accurate as the first Space Shuttle did not launch until April 1981.

A performance of 'Too Late For Love' from UK TV Show 'Supersonic' in December 1983 was included as part of the 'Pyromania' footage along with 'Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)' from January 1984 in Japan.

The video for new single 'Love Bites' was included on the tape as a bonus, playing after the main video credits ended.

The end credits and the on screen messages between videos used old Hollywood movie era effects and music.

The front cover artwork by Andie Airfix at Satori featured one of the eyes from the 'Hysteria' album cover with elements of the 'Pyromania' and 'High 'n' Dry' artwork mixed in.

Historia VHS Pic - By dltourhistory

'Historia' and 'In The Round-In Your Face' were both released on one DVD in February 2002 in North America and later September 2002 in the UK.

Read some quotes about this release below.

Historia 1988.

Joe Elliott - April 1988 Interview Quotes

"We've got a compilation thing coming out about June or July I think it is with every video we've ever made. So, notice folks, not the three song video you know. 10 pounds for 20 minutes worth of tape. This is gonna have like 16 videos on it. Over an hour's worth of videos. To match the album. Value for money's the most important thing in our vocabulary."

"Yeah well there was a - yeah, embarrassment! - I might as well tell everybody now. There was a time where we did a Top Of The Pops appearance which actually never got broadcast. We did Hello America for Top Of The Pops and I think what happened was it was the first ever launching of the Space Shuttle or something like that. And they had an extended Tomorrow's World [technology/science show] and hence Top Of The Pops was down to 20 minutes instead of 30."

"We got dumped but we got the rights to the tape. And there's me, there's little fat Joe Elliott with all his curly hair hiding behind the microphone. And don't ask me why but the drums were at the front. They used to do that a lot on Top Of The Pops. It's like, Rick's there and we're all stood behind him. It's ridiculous."

"There's also a Japanese performance of us doing Rock! Till You Drop on like a Japanese Top Of The Pops and there's Too Late For Love off Supersonic plus all the proper videos."

Historia 1988.

Joe Elliott - July 1988 Interview Quotes

Why has it taken you so long to put out a video?

"Well, to be quite honest we never really thought about it!. We were so busy doing the album and re-establishing ourselves on tour, it kinda took second priority. It always seems really bogus to me to out out a video with just three songs on it - it's that old Def Leppard theory again: do it right or don't do it at all!."

"There's 90 minutes of material on 'Historia', and I reckon that makes it pretty good value for money. There's some of our regular promo videos on there as well as stuff people won't have seen."

Like 'Hello America' on Top Of The Pops

"Yeah, that's the most embarrassing thing on there! We all laugh when we see it now, but at least it shows we've improved!."

And the Young Ones inspired Me And My Wine video

"For all of '83 and the beginning of '84, all we did on tour was watch 'Young Ones' videos. We started picking up their mannerisms and re-enacting certain scenes, so we used it as an angle for the video. It was really easy, and only took about three hours. We hated the song, but it gave us a perfect excuse to make a video!."

Historia - Back Cover Synopsis

After 9 years and 4 albums worth of songs which have been filmed and videoed, we felt it was about time to compile all these clips into one handy video collection. Further research into the archives unearthed 17 videos of 15 different songs spanning all of our albums.

We have endeavoured to bring you the complete range of Def Leppard video experiences, starting with an obscure recording of 'Hello America' from our first album through to the TV performances of 1980, 1983 and 1984 which few of you have ever seen.

Then there are the 6 videos we did for 'Hysteria' and the videos we made with different band members, ending with 2 songs filmed in concert in 'the round' at Denver, Colorado in 1988.

So we strung every bit of film together in date order, added a bit of explanation as to the 'whys' and 'wherefores', and called it 'HISTORIA'.

Def Leppard - Historia/ITR-IYF Video Section
Def Leppard - Hysteria Album Section
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