Judas Priest
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Judas Priest are an immensely influential heavy metal band formed in 1969 in Birmingham, England. Often called just Priest, the band's classic line-up consists of vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton, and Ian Hill on bass guitar. They epitomize the classic heavy metal genre, particularly the NWOBHM ("New Wave of British Heavy Metal") movement. Their popularity and influence earned them the nickname "The Metal Gods".
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Musical Style And Influences
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Many people, including influential musicians and members of prominent hard rock and heavy metal bands believe that the foundation for what would define "pure" heavy metal were three early Judas Priest albums; Sad Wings of Destiny (1976), Sin After Sin (1977), and Stained Class (1978). The band played louder and faster than most rock groups at the time and brought a more "metallic" sound to their guitars. The songs varied from extremely simple and straightforward tunes (eg. - "The Ripper", "One For The Road", "Starbreaker") to fairly structured, changing from fast and loud to slower tempo and softer tunes in one song (eg.- "Victim Of Changes", "Run Of The Mill", "Beyond The Realms Of Death"). Their 1978 album Killing Machine (entitled Hell Bent for Leather and released in 1979 in the USA) saw a slight change of direction towards shorter, more "poppy" or "americanized" songs, especially lyrically. The following release, British Steel took an even sharper turn in the same direction, and was perhaps the first heavy metal album to record radio-friendly songs with pop hooks, in a concise format, pioneering an approach used by many others (Quiet Riot, Dokken, Twisted Sister, Accept, Def Leppard) to taste commercial success. And all of them used dual lead guitar attack. However, Priest are perhaps one of the only bands who retain a definite heavy metal sound, with all the aggression and brutality despite the commercial twist to it. Songs like "Living After Midnight" and "Breaking the Law" are excellent examples of this style.
Their next effort, Point of Entry (1981), was hard to define--the sound was very "raw" (minimal sound manipulation) and the songs were somewhat moody, and paced at a slower than usual tempo; however, the album opens with one of Priest's best songs, "Heading Out to the Highway." Subsequent albums Screaming for Vengeance (1982)--which contained the hugely popular radio hit "You've Got Another Thing Coming"--and Defenders of the Faith (1984), however, once again set high standards in intensity and production and continued to influence the sonic shape of heavy metal. Turbo (1986) found the group introducing a "synth-guitar" sound to their metal template (much to some fans' dismay), but Painkiller (1990) found them successfully exploring speed metal. Their latest release, Angel of Retribution (2005) also contributed to the current revival of classic heavy metal, after the fade of grunge, alternative, thrash, indie and other temporary trends. It contains songs in their classic style like "Judas is Rising" and "Some Things Are Worth Fighting For."
Influence on the genre
Judas Priest have influenced countless musicians in three musical generations, both in sound, technique and image, and are still active. Judas Priest have influenced all genres of Heavy metal music. Many bands including Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Children Of Bodom, Dokken, Helloween, Stratovarius, Poison, Napalm Death, Dream Theater and Pantera cite Judas Priest as an influence.
History
K.K. (Kenny) Downing and Ian Hill knew each other since an early age, as they attended the same kindergarten and school. Their friendship drew closer in their early teens as they shared similar musical interests (Hendrix, Cream, Yardbirds) and both started to learn playing an instrument.
In 1970 a fairly well known local ensemble named Judas Priest (after Bob Dylan's song "The Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest") was formed. Bruno Stapenhill thought the name up; K.K. Downing in his mid teens soon joined as did Al Atkins. Bruno left the band early on, to join another Midlands area unit, leaving K.K. Downing to carry on.
With Downing in control, the band moved swiftly from their original bluesy tunes towards what later would be defined as heavy metal. This trio, going through various drummer changes, continued extensive touring of Birmingham and the surrounding areas, sometimes supporting Budgie,Thin Lizzy, Trapeze until 1974. Fiscal difficulties and problems with their management, Tony Iommi's company, IMA, lead to Alan Atkins' and drummer Alan Moore's departures.
At the time, Ian Hill was courtesing a girl who suggested her brother, Robert Halford as singer. Halford was admitted in the band, and brought with him drummer John Hinch from his previous band Hiroshima. This line-up toured heavily in the UK, often supporting Budgie, and even headlining some shows in Norway and Germany.
Before the band entered the studio to record their first album, the record company suggested another musician should join them. Reluctant to add an organ or trumpet player, Downing settled down on a guitarist - Flying Hat Band's Glenn Tipton joined Judas Priest. According to the band, there were some technical malfunctions during recording but the record company refused to address those problems, and their debut album "Rocka Rolla" suffered of "horrible" sound quality. Management problems also prevailed; according to the band, producer Rodger Bain, (who was an established professional, having produced numerous albums for famous groups such as Black Sabbath) had too big a say in the production of the album: he left out stage classics "Tyrant", "Genocide", "The Ripper" and "Caviar And Meths" - the latter being cut from an 8 minute song to a 2 minute instrumental.
With their next album the band had gained some more experience and confidence, fully participating in the production, as well as chosing the producers. The result was "Sad Wings Of Destiny" (1976), considered a cornerstone of heavy metal. This album featured mostly old material, including the aforementioned stage classics and an epic "Victim Of Changes" - a song combined of "Whiskey Woman", a stage classic since the era of the first Judas Priest (Al Atkins' band) and "Red Light Lady" brought by Halford from his previous group Hiroshima. All these songs are now considered classics epitomizing the very essence of classic heavy metal.
With this line-up, Judas Priest recorded twelve studio and two concert albums to different degrees of critical and financial success. Overall, the band has sold in excess of 35 million albums globally.
Hard Times
Judas Priest are among few groups who maintained a very steady line-up; for seventeen years there were no significant changes, except for drummers. But after the end of their highly acclaimed and successful "Painkiller" tour in 1991, Halford left Judas Priest due to several years of internal tensions in the band. Rumors started to circulate as early as September of 1991, although Halford collaborated with the band in the release of a compilation album entitled "Metal Works: '73-'93" to commemorate their 20th anniversary. He also appeared in a video by the same title, documenting their history. His departure from the band was officially announced later that year.
Tim "The Ripper" Owens, who had previously sung in a Judas Priest tribute band, was hired as Judas Priest's singer. Owens' story of turning from fan to frontman were the inspiration for the film Rock Star, although Owens did not actually participate in the production of the movie.
This line up released two albums, "Jugulator" and " Demolition". Critics and fans alike accused Judas Priest of "selling out" - following the current trends of thrash metal and grunge. Although most bands receiving similar accusations do not neccessarily suffer lower sales, people look at Priest as setters of trends, not followers. The band vehemently denied following any trends, claiming that they were simply sounding up to date.
Reunion
After approximately twelve years apart, Judas Priest and original lead vocalist Rob Halford announced their reunion in July 2003. They immediately embarked on a live concert tour in 2004, and co-headlined the Ozzfest in 2004, being named as the "premier act" by almost all U.S. media covering the event. Both tours were extremely successful. A new studio album, named Angel of Retribution was released on March 1st, 2005 (U.S.) on Sony Music/Epic Records to critical and commercial success. A global tour in support of the album is currently underway. Judas Priest and 'Ripper' Owens parted amicably, and Owens is now the singer of Iced Earth.
Subliminal message trial
In 1990, the band was involved in a civil action that alleged they were responsible for the suicide attempts in 1985 of two Nevada boys, James Vance and Ray Belknap. (Belknap died instantly by shooting himself in the face with a sawed off shotgun; Vance also shot at himself, only severely disfiguring his face in the attempt, and died three years after the incident.) The plaintiffs alleged a subliminal message of "do it" had been included in the song "Better by You Better Than Me" (from the Stained Class album) which triggered the suicide attempt. The suit was eventually dismissed on its merits, as the band had pointed out that if you were to play any song backwards and tell someone there was a message, it'll sound as though there actually is. In a television interview, Judas Priest members commented that if they wanted to insert subliminal commands in their music, killing their fans would be counterproductive, and they would prefer to insert the command "Buy more of our records."
Miscellaneous
In 1998, Halford revealed his homosexuality in an interview on MTV. His status was known to the rest of the band, and came as little surprise to fans due to his use of imagery from the leather subculture. The response from the heavy metal community has been widely accepting.
On August 15, 2002 PETA sent the band's management a request to stop wearing leather onstage, as the production of leatherwear involves cruelty to animals. Judas Priest responded that they wear artificial leather, but PETA still protested that this could encourage listeners to wear real leather.
Statistics
- Genres: Heavy metal, Hard rock, Classic metal
- Origin: Birmingham, United Kingdom
- Status: Active
- Time: 1969 till present
- Label: Sony Music
Members
Current band members
- Rob Halford - vocals (1973-1993, and from 2003 onwards)
- Glenn Tipton - guitars (1974 - present)
- K.K. Downing - guitars (1969 - present)
- Ian Hill - bass guitars (1969 - present)
- Scott Travis - drums (1989 - present)
Former band members
- Tim 'Ripper' Owens - vocals (1996 - 2003)
- Alan Atkins - vocals (1967-1973) - note that the band Judas Priest in which Atkins sang between '67 and '69 was a different band.
- Dave Holland - drums (1979-1989)
- Les Binks - drums (1977-1979)
- Simon Phillips - drums (1977)
- John Hinch - drums (1973-1975)
- Chris 'Congo' Campbell - drums (1972-1973)
- Alan 'Skip' Moore - drums (1971-1973, 1975-1977)
- John Ellis - drums (1969-1971)
Discography
- Rocka Rolla - 1974
- Sad Wings of Destiny - 1976
- Sin After Sin - 1977
- Stained Class - 1978
- Hell Bent for Leather - 1979 (released as Killing Machine in the UK)
- Unleashed in the East - 1979 (Live in Japan 1979)
- British Steel - 1980
- Point of Entry - 1981
- Screaming for Vengeance - 1982
- Defenders of the Faith - 1984
- Turbo - 1985
- Priest...Live! - 1987 (Live 1986)
- Ram It Down - 1988
- Painkiller - 1990
- Jugulator - 1997
- Live Meltdown - 1998 (Live 1998)
- Genocide - (compilation) 2000
- Demolition - 2001
- Live in London - 2002 (Live album and DVD)
- Electric Eye - 2003 (Live DVD)
- Angel of Retribution - 2005
Collaborations with other musicians
- Ken Downing and Ian Hill did not record or perform outside Judas Priest.
- Glenn Tipton:
- Was in the Flying Hat Band before joining Judas Priest. They recorded one album which the record company refused to release. The other musicians in the band were Peter "Mars" Cowling (bass) and Steve Palmer (drums).
- Played a guitar solo on Samantha Fox's song "Spirit Of America" from her 1988 album "Just One Night".
- Released a solo album entitled "Baptizm Of Fire" in 1996, in collaboration with musicians Cozy Powell, Robert Trujillo, Brooks Wackerman, Don Airey, and Billy Sheehan among others.
- Rob Halford:
- Recorded backing vocals on Krokus' "Russian Winter" from the 1983 album "Headhunter".
- Appeared at a concert with Skid Row and performed Judas Priest's "Delivering The Goods" in 1991.
- Recorded backing vocals on Ugly Kid Joe's "Goddamn' Devil" on their 1991 album "America's Least Wanted".
- Appeared at the 1992 Black Sabbath reunion concert, replacing Ronnie James Dio.
- Formed the group "Fight" , released two albums, "War Of Words" (03/22/1993) and "Small Deadly Space" (03/22/1995). An EP was released based upon the War of Words disc, entitled "Mutations" (03/22/1994).
- Formed the group "Two", released a single album with this project.
- Formed "Halford" in 1999 and released two studio albums "Resurrection" and "Crucible", and "Live: Resurrection".
- Performed with Sum 41 and Tommy Lee at MTV's 20th birthday party.
- In 1989 Judas Priest experimented with famous pop producers Stock Aitken and Waterman, and recorded three tracks. Fans were furious, as they believed the Judas Priest wanted to release pop albums. The tracks were never released, and are believed to be in Judas Priest's possession.
See also
- Best selling music artists — World's top-selling music artists chart.
External links
- Official Site (http://www.judaspriest.com/home/default.asp)
- Rock Detector (http://www.rockdetector.com/artist,4765,rdbio.sm)
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/priest1/petition.html)
- Judas Priest Info Pages (http://members.firstinter.net/markster/) (incredible amount of Priest info)
- Write up of the "Subliminal Message" trial (http://www.csicop.org/si/9611/judas_priest.html)
- The High Priesthood Message Boards (http://www.highpriesthood.com/)de:Judas Priest
es:Judas Priest fr:Judas Priest nl:Judas Priest ja:ジューダス・プリースト no:Judas Priest pl:Judas Priest sv:Judas Priest it:Judas Priest