No Foolin’: Def Leppard Just Released Their New Video Inside a Video Game

(Image: Activision)

Once a reason to tune into MTV or VH1, music videos have fully migrated online. But one old-school act is launching its latest in a less likely place: a video game.

Legendary rockers Def Leppard are debuting the video for “Dangerous,” the latest single from their self-titled new album, inside Activision’s music game, Guitar Hero Live. That might sound nuts, but when I asked guitarist Phil Collen why they’re not launching it on their YouTube channel, he pointed out that the band likes to try new things.

“We’ve done everything in music you could imagine,” he told Yahoo Tech. “We’re always up for new stuff. A lot of the established bands don’t like the new medium, but we’ve always embraced it.”

“Dangerous” joins another new track, “Let’s Go,” along with classic hit, “Rock of Ages,” in a Def Leppard channel in the game’s streaming GHTV mode. As with any other Guitar Hero Live track, gamers shred along to notes flying down the screen while the video plays in the background.

This particular Def Leppard video might as well be a video game. Images of robots, motorcycles, and holograms are interspersed with shots of the band playing live. Coupled with the Matrix-like dystopia portrayed in the video for “Let’s Go,” it’s clear the band has a thing for sci-fi.

“They’re related,” Collen said of the two new videos. “It does hark back a bit to the Hysteria era. [It’s] Tron-esque, definitely Matrix. There’s an absolute link. Back in the ’80s, we did the Women of Doom comic strip and videos. A thread continues through things.”

(Image: Activision)

That thread is now nearly 40 years old. Released in October, Def Leppard is the band’s eleventh studio album. They’ve seen quite a bit since their heyday, cranking out hits like “Foolin,’” “Photograph,” “Rocket,” and “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” and while they’re excited to be on tour supporting their new album, they’re less enthused about the state of the music industry.

“It’s changed so much, from an art form to a business entity,” Collen said. “We were lucky enough to see both ends of it. It really turned into a pure business thing, and lot of musicians didn’t realize they were a part of that. We were very fortunate to be able to express our art in that context, though it’s disheartening to see the art change. The motivation now is that people want to be noticed. We just wanted to share our art.”

So are they gamers? Not so much, though Collen and Leppard drummer Rick Allen did share a ridiculous Guitar Hero moment back in the day.

“When the music games came around the first time, me and Rick had done a competition playing against a pregnant lady in Australia,” Collen said. “Rick – who, you know, lost his left arm — did the right-hand strumming part, and I did the left hand on the notes. The pregnant lady just totally beat us.”

Quite an image. Guitar Hero Live players, pregnant or otherwise, can have a go at Def Leppard starting Wednesday.

Ben Silverman has had “Foolin’” stuck in his head for three straight days. Sing along with him on Twitter at @ben_silverman.