Judas Priest

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Birmingham, England (1969 – present)

Judas Priest are pioneers of the heavy metal genre and were forerunners of the ‘New Wave of British Heavy Metal’ movement, laying the groundwork for the speed and thrash metal of the ’80s and ’90s.

The band was formed in Birmingham, England in 1969 by guitarist John Perry (who died shortly after and was replaced by Earnest Chataway), bassist Bruno Stapenhill, drummer John Partridge, and singer Alan Atkins.

In 1970, guitarist Kenneth ‘KK’ Downing and bassist Ian Hill joined, replacing Chataway and Stapenhill. Later, in 1972, Rob Halford and drummer John Hinch joined to replace Atkins and Partridge, respectively. A second guitarist, Glenn Tipton, was also added to the line-up in 1974 as compensation for their record company’s (Gull Records) suggestion to add a horn section to the first album, Rocka Rolla.

Downing and Tipton’s harmonised guitar lines were not particularly common at the time, but became a trademark for the group and would inspire other bands such as Metallica, Iron Maiden and Megadeth to do the same. It is now a standard feature of many heavy metal bands and appears in many of metal’s sub-genres.

The band featuring Halford, Downing, Tipton and Hill would go on to record 14 albums from 1974 through to 1990. Their second album, Sad Wings of Destiny (released in 1976), is considered one of the most influential metal albums along with Black Sabbath’s self-titled début.

Tagged as:

heavy metal, metal, nwobhm, hard rock, classic rock
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Top Albums

Painkiller
Judas Priest
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British Steel
Judas Priest
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Screaming for Vengeance
Judas Priest
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Angel of Retribution
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Top Tracks

1	Breaking The Law full track	4,095
2	Painkiller full track	3,631
3	Living After Midnight full track	2,518
4	Electric Eye full track	2,019
5	You've Got Another Thing Comin' full track	1,861
6	A Touch Of Evil full track	1,456
7	Night Crawler full track	1,450
8	Hell Patrol full track	1,393
9	Metal Meltdown full track	1,376
10	Turbo Lover full track	1,323
11	Leather Rebel full track	1,288
12	Metal Gods full track	1,275
13	All Guns Blazing full track	1,211
14	Hell Bent for Leather full track	1,195
15	The Hellion full track	1,127

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ssrsnsess wrote:
yesterday evening

Painkiller is actually able to live up to the hype, the rest are overrated, though.

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miqmiranda wrote:
yesterday afternoon

NOTHING BUT GODS!!!!

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KiraDeath wrote:
yesterday morning

amen!

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budred wrote:
Friday morning

Judas for all, all for Judas!

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janco7 wrote:
Thursday morning

How can you listen that.

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veyita_88 wrote:
Thursday morning

Sure,it´s like the Ozzy vs Dio discussion on the Sabbath page,some likes that,the other like this,but we are having a friendly and reasonablee discussion,and this is what this web is about i believe,so i don´t think why we need to get over it.

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budred wrote:
Thursday morning

We need to get over this overrated thing. The majority of Priest fans come from the eighties, therefore those albums are obviously going to achieve greater attention. The fact that people are willing to discuss them should please Priest fans not divide them. Recognition (regardless of the album) only broadens the Priest fan base and achieves them greater sucess. Isn't that what it is all about. I do not have a favorite Priest album, a favorite Priest song , or a favorite Priest era. I only have a favorite band and that is Judas Priest. Peace!

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Psaro wrote:
Thursday morning

British Steel is okay at best, being little more than a simplified version of the albums preceding it. The only way that it was innovative was in teaching other bands how to make heavy metal through commercial exposure. It's definitely overrated.

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AllyOfTheDark wrote:
Thursday morning

I traveled all the way from Alaska to see them play in Albuquerque last August, and it was the best experience of my entire life so far. They played the whole British Steel album! \,,/

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Izzystone wrote:
Wednesday afternoon

Why does people still tag Priest as classic Rock? They have never played classic rock!

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veyita_88 wrote:
Wednesday morning

Budred,i am not talking about MTV,radio or magazines,etc,but you´ll see British Steel and Painkiller on the top of the best metal albums or judas Priest albums in a lot of metal websites or specialized metal magazines,etc and sometines they don´t even thrown in Sin after Sin or Stained Class..that´s why i think that are at least a bit overrated,that doesn´t mean that i don´t like it or that they can´t be great albums for me.

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Megacorpse88 wrote:
Wednesday morning

Well, British Steel is considered one of the best metal albums among plenty, where as i dont like it much. so in my opinion i think its overrated, though im sure loads of people disagree

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budred wrote:
Wednesday morning

What exactly is overrated and who does the rating? Judas Priest kicks ass and any recognition they get isn't enough. It's not like they're all over music tv or radio or in all the magazines. If more people buy one record over another does that make it overrated? If more fans came on board during the middle of their career than did in the beginning does that make it overrated? Just curious. Peace!

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Megacorpse88 wrote:
Wednesday morning

You've got another thing comin' is pretty overrated aswell

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Megacorpse88 wrote:
Wednesday morning

Priest have 1 overrated album IMO and a few overrated songs. Overrated album=British Steel. Songs=Breaking The Law,Painkiller(still awesome though, but ofcourse it was on rock band just had to ruin everything..) and Living after midnight

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Izzystone wrote:
Tuesday evening

Can someone please remove the tag "Classic Rock" ? Priest does'nt play same music as Rolling Stones dammit!

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Izzystone wrote:
Tuesday evening

There are three overrated Priest-songs, but only one overrated album: British Steel. Painkiller is awesome, and Metal Meltdown is one of their best songs ever. But Stained Class, Sin after Sin and Screaming for Vengeance are the young Priest at their best! All their records are awesome though.... There are no weak Priest-releases.

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daspecialone wrote:
Tuesday morning

Sin after Sin is pretty solid, that album never gets any love.

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veyita_88 wrote:
Tuesday morning

"@veyita_88: I'm glad you took my opinion seriously and replied in a respectful manner, even though I acted like what I said was facts and you were just downright wrong. Thank you for that!" Sure,everyone has an opinion,of course i´m talking from my point of view,sometimes we don´t agree with each other but that´s the point i guess.

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veyita_88 wrote:
Tuesday morning

Well yes,i do think that those are good albums (i do like British Steel,etc) but i don´t think that they were necessarily better than the 70´s albums,i just like more the 70´s albums because for me those are deeper and more consistent.

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