I've been really getting into "You Got Another Thing Coming", "Living After Midnight", and "Breaking The Law" lately. I'm thinking about exploring more into this group. I love the look and style of the gay motherfucker in the group. He looks like he'd stomp your ass down harder than the music that they play.

Anybody into this group? Where should I start? I want some hard mean ass asskickers.

vainandy said:

I've been really getting into "You Got Another Thing Coming", "Living After Midnight", and "Breaking The Law" lately. I'm thinking about exploring more into this group. I love the look and style of the gay motherfucker in the group. He looks like he'd stomp your ass down harder than the music that they play.

Anybody into this group? Where should I start? I want some hard mean ass asskickers.

70's (Hard Rock\Proto Metal days);

Cheater (bluesiest they ever got), Run of the Mill (very sad and long song but also very heavy), Victim of Changes (one of their best, muuch better on Unleashed in the East live album), Exciter (much better on live album Unleashed...), The Ripper (trademark song but never one of my favourites), Dissident Agressor (One of their best and heaviest, never performed live til the last few years, I believe a recent live album won a Grammy for this song), Better by You Better than Me (Awesome), Beyond the Realms of Death (Possibly their best song, a slow-fast power ballad... awesome), Killing Machine, Delivering the Goods, Saints in Hell (very similar riff as Cheater but more metal structure).

80's;

Metal Gods (very catchy and cool song, best version would probably be on Halford Live Insurrection or Rising in the East), Electric Eye, Riding on the Wind, Free Wheel Burning, Jawbreaker, The Sentinel, Eat Me Alive, Turbo Lover, Blood Red Skies (I like it but must admit it's a bit generic).

In 1990 the Painkiller album represented a big change for them, heavier, faster and more aggressive than ever, my picks from it; Painkiller, Metal Meltdown, Nightcrawler. A Touch of Evil is also a popular one.

Their recent Angel of Retributuion featured Judas Rising, a great song. I haven't really checked out Nostradamus yet.

Diamonds and Rust (Live and recent as they play like a ballad)

If you want hard and mean then these are songs I'd recommend; Dissident Agressor, Delivering the Goods, Killing Machine, The Sentinel, Painkiller, Metal Meltdown, Judas Rising and even though it's a power ballad Beyond the Realms of Death.

I'd then check these out;

Victim of Changes, Exciter, Better by You Better than Me, Metal Gods, Electric Eye, Riding on the Wind and Blood Red Skies.

To start you need British Steel, Painkiller, Angel Of Retribution, Killing Machine, Stained Class, all classic albums. they rock like fuck live!

Agreed ^^ All of it.

I have every album from Stained to Painkiller (yes, even Turbo - which I enjoy quite a bit! ). You really can't go wrong with any of the albums in that time period (79-90), even the live ones. And if you happen to listen to vinyl you can get a huge pile of their records used for a great price.

Random fact, I loved their live album Unleashed In The East. Played it endlessly. Loved it so much I wanted to start a metal band and call it Genocide. Then I found out somebody else had already done so.

THIS BAND FUCKIN' RULES MAN!

Quite possibly my fav metal group of the 80s: hard-hitting sound but nothing nasty or extreme, great melodies, great choruses, two fuckin' great guitarists and yeah, that motherfucker called Rob Halford, amazing voice,amazing attitude...toughest and coolest gay frontman ever! (well, not really, Freddie is better than him ): (Andy, I knew you'd love that guy )

I just love the fact that Judas is considered one of the best & coolest metal bands of all time, despite the gay controversy of the mid-90s, when Rob told the press that he's gay; that says something about the metal community, which just accepted Rob as one of their own...in fact, the metal community is FULL of gays here and there

I love love love their 78-86 stuff: Exciter, Hell Bent For Leather, Breaking the Law, Heading Out To the Highway, You've Got Another Thing Comin', Electric Eye, Freewheel Burning, Turbo Lover...great tunes... and then came 1990 and Painkiller, one of the toughest metal albums you'll ever hear...

I recommend:

-Screaming for Vengeance (82)

-Painkiller (90)

-British Steel (80)

-Hell Bent for Leather (79)

&

-Resurrection (Rob solo album) 2000

Here's a Judas Preist classic just for you, vainandy:

Cerebus said:

Agreed ^^ All of it.

I have every album from Stained to Painkiller (yes, even Turbo - which I enjoy quite a bit! ). You really can't go wrong with any of the albums in that time period (79-90), even the live ones. And if you happen to listen to vinyl you can get a huge pile of their records used for a great price.

Random fact, I loved their live album Unleashed In The East. Played it endlessly. Loved it so much I wanted to start a metal band and call it Genocide. Then I found out somebody else had already done so.

Yeah, it's not a bad album, worth it for the title track, better than Ram It Down, which has the same electronic sound, the only one i'd avoid is Nostradamus, which is dire, avoid like the plague.

Been a Priest fan since British Steel! Still love em.

I say listen to British Steel first then maybe Screaming For Vengence second. Then go with any of the ones others have mentioned. Just keep in mind 70's Priest is very different than 80'/90's/current Priest. I for one love the early 70's Priest. Bluesy and kinda proggish.

Sad Wings of Destiny anyone? Lol.

Really can't go wrong any of their albums. Sure some are stronger than others but they're all good in some way or another. I even like Point Of Entry quite a lot.

Bfunkthe1 said:

Been a Priest fan since British Steel! Still love em.

I say listen to British Steel first then maybe Screaming For Vengence second. Then go with any of the ones others have mentioned. Just keep in mind 70's Priest is very different than 80'/90's/current Priest. I for one love the early 70's Priest. Bluesy and kinda proggish.

Sad Wings of Destiny anyone? Lol.

Really can't go wrong any of their albums. Sure some are stronger than others but they're all good in some way or another. I even like Point Of Entry quite a lot.

Sad Wings is a masterpiece but very archaic...I prefer the live versions of Victim of Changes, Ripper, Tyrant, Genocide, etc

and Point of Entry was a very uneven album with those weak blues/metal songs of the side-B

Many people hate Turbo but I think that album is terrific: a wild mix of 80s dance-pop, metal and hair-metal, it captured the spirit of the Reagan times perfectly...

but as bigd74 has said, Nostradamus is pathetic

Judas Priest had some great cuts.

Thanks to all of y'all. I see we've got some major fans up in here. Very informative thread. I had always heard of Judas Priest but never dreamed they had so much music. I just assumed they were strictly one of those early 1980s metal bands.

Thanks again.

JoeTyler said:

THIS BAND FUCKIN' RULES MAN!

Quite possibly my fav metal group of the 80s: hard-hitting sound but nothing nasty or extreme, great melodies, great choruses, two fuckin' great guitarists and yeah, that motherfucker called Rob Halford, amazing voice,amazing attitude...toughest and coolest gay frontman ever! (well, not really, Freddie is better than him ): (Andy, I knew you'd love that guy )

I just love the fact that Judas is considered one of the best & coolest metal bands of all time, despite the gay controversy of the mid-90s, when Rob told the press that he's gay; that says something about the metal community, which just accepted Rob as one of their own...in fact, the metal community is FULL of gays here and there

I love love love their 78-86 stuff: Exciter, Hell Bent For Leather, Breaking the Law, Heading Out To the Highway, You've Got Another Thing Comin', Electric Eye, Freewheel Burning, Turbo Lover...great tunes... and then came 1990 and Painkiller, one of the toughest metal albums you'll ever hear...

I recommend:

-Screaming for Vengeance (82)

-Painkiller (90)

-British Steel (80)

-Hell Bent for Leather (79)

&

-Resurrection (Rob solo album) 2000

Thanks. Him being gay and being such a badass is what really impressed me. I love for the straight world to see that there are those of us who aren't to be fucked with and if they fuck with us, they are doing it at their own risk. The total and complete opposite of someone like Liberace who might go cry somewhere if he was being fucked with. Don't cry bitch, get even!

I love the fact that Rob Halford is solely responsible for generations of metalheads (metalheads? rockers? heavy metallers? or whatever the correct term is) wearing S&M gear, the majority of them being blissfully unaware of the fact, myself included - not that I was ever a dedicated metal head and I didn't wear the gear, but I was as blissfully unaware as most that the obligatory attire was actually S&M gear.

I mean, I'd never have looked at somebody wearing a studded collar and a leather jacket with an abundance of superfluous zips and thought 'hmm, kinky fucker', I'd more likely have thought 'hmm, Iron Maiden or Judas Priest?'

As far as the music of Judas Priest is concerned, they sort of passed me by - which was more to do with lack of cash than lack of enthusiasm. They've been on my to do list for years (perhaps that should be my 'to purchase their music list' rather than my 'to do list'). I'll get to them some day, and thanks to you guys I know where to start.

I LOVED it when Rob came out. Although there was some "controversy" (was hardly a shock once we all thought about it), I noted how the Metal fandom kinda closed ranks in support of the concept mostly out of sheer respect for Rob & the band. Well deserved & I for one am happy he's finally out, proud & happy about his role.

now that dude that took his place for a while as lead singer? Gotta be a sad story there....(even though I thought he sounded fuckin great).

JamFanHot said:

I LOVED it when Rob came out. Although there was some "controversy" (was hardly a shock once we all thought about it), I noted how the Metal fandom kinda closed ranks in support of the concept mostly out of sheer respect for Rob & the band. Well deserved & I for one am happy he's finally out, proud & happy about his role.

now that dude that took his place for a while as lead singer? Gotta be a sad story there....(even though I thought he sounded fuckin great).

Well, I was shocked as hell. I was always into mostly funk so I had never seen the band, nor was I aware of any of their songs. I started hearing "Living After Midnight" for the first time about two or three years ago on an oldies rock station but didn't know who the artist was. When I found out it was Judas Priest, I certainly wasn't expecting to hear that name attached to that song.

Although I had never heard any of their music when I was growing up, I certainly was well aware of the name Judas Priest because tons of the most homophobic rednecks you would ever want to meet were wearing the T shirts and all up in the school yelling "Judas Priest rocks!". In the 1990s when he came out of the closet (years after I was out of school), I immediately thought of those homophobic bastards and hoped that they were somewhere just sick to their stomach and mad as hell that one of their idols was one of those "kwurrs" (that's redneck pronunciation for queer) that they hated so much.

After I heard "Living After Midnight" and found out who the artist was, I started checking them out on the internet and said to myself "this motherfucker up front here is BAD!".

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[Edited 10/7/10 12:24pm]

AsylumUtopia said:

I love the fact that Rob Halford is solely responsible for generations of metalheads (metalheads? rockers? heavy metallers? or whatever the correct term is) wearing S&M gear, the majority of them being blissfully unaware of the fact, myself included - not that I was ever a dedicated metal head and I didn't wear the gear, but I was as blissfully unaware as most that the obligatory attire was actually S&M gear.

I mean, I'd never have looked at somebody wearing a studded collar and a leather jacket with an abundance of superfluous zips and thought 'hmm, kinky fucker', I'd more likely have thought 'hmm, Iron Maiden or Judas Priest?'

As far as the music of Judas Priest is concerned, they sort of passed me by - which was more to do with lack of cash than lack of enthusiasm. They've been on my to do list for years (perhaps that should be my 'to purchase their music list' rather than my 'to do list'). I'll get to them some day, and thanks to you guys I know where to start.

I've always looked at leather as kinky, freaky, badass, and the type of person that won't take no shit off nobody. The type of motherfucker that would suck the living hell out of your dick but if you said the wrong thing, would give you teeth scraping to shut you up and if you said absolutely the wrong thing altogether, would bite your fucking dick off.

I've had me one of those leather police shaped hats with the silver chain for years and every time I wear it, it just gives me badass attitude. Although, I used to wear mine with a full length white fur coat. What can I say, I'm a Prince fan. I'll give you butch and fish all wrapped up in the same package.