Ornamented with Leather outfits and chains, Birmingham Rockers Ian Hill, Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton and K. K. Downing formed a band in 1970 called Judas Priest. The band fused the gothic doom of Black Sabbath with the riffs and speed of Led Zeppelin, as well as adding a vicious two-lead guitar hit.
Judas Priest
They set the pace for much popular heavy metal from 1975 until 1985, as well as laying the groundwork for the speed and death metal of the ’80s.They have been cited as an influence on many heavy metal musicians and bands. Their influence was so important that MTV.com named Judas Priest the second most important band in heavy metal, just behind Black Sabbath.
Their popularity and status as one of the definitive heavy metal bands has earned them the nickname Metal Gods from their song of the same name.
In August 1974, the band released their debut single Rocka Rolla and followed this a month later with an album of the same name.
The ’80s were the decade Priest had the most success. They had a string of hit albums including Screaming for Vengeance, Defenders of the Faith and Turbo. They even had some radio and MTV success with songs like “Breaking the Law” and “Turbo Lover.”
1980 Judas Priest’s released British Steel. It is their finest album till date. Overall, the band has sold in excess of 35 million albums globally. It includes great hits like Breaking The Law and Living After Midnight. It saw the band leaving more experimental music behind and going for the arena rock anthems that Halford sings so well.
The 1982 album Screaming for Vengeance featured the song You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’, which earned strong US radio airplay. Songs such as Electric Eye and Riding on the Wind also appeared off this album, and proved to be popular live tracks. By 1985, they had fully implemented the speed-metal tempo they inspired.
Some of the Best songs of Judas priest till date includes Delivering The Goods, Burnin’ Up, Genocide, and Savage.
With success came some problems. In the summer of 1990, the band was involved in a civil action that suspected they were responsible for the self-inflicted gunshot wounds in 1985 of 20-year old James Vance and 18-year old Raymond Belknap in Reno, Nevada, USA. On December 23, 1985 Vance and Belknap, after hours of drinking beer, smoking marijuana and listening to Judas Priest music, went to a playground at a church in Reno with a 12 gauge shotgun. Belknap decapitated himself; then Vance followed, but the weapon was very slippery by then and he survived with a grotesquely disfigured face.The men’s parents and their legal team alleged that a subliminal message of ‘do it’ had been included in the Judas Priest song “Better By You, Better Than Me” from the Stained Class album. They alleged the command in the song triggered the suicide attempt. The trial lasted from July 16 to August 24, 1990, when the suit was dismissed.
Judas Priest is very popular among teenagers. In 2006 their d song You’ve Got Another Thing Comin was included in the video games Prey, Guitar Hero and RoadKill.
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