THE Judas Priest thread - v. new album and tour in 2024

[gazinwales]

Sounds like a good read. I'm interested to hear his tale. As opposed to the the blowhard Bruce Dickinson's book.

Oh Bruce's book was so boring, Halford's book is so superior I can't even put it into words just how much better it is.

[wolfking]

This is cool shit diving back into all these old albums too. 

An unofficial Judas Priest Listening Party!

Pretty much. 

[wolfking]

First thing that pops out at me on Hell Bent is the wonderful guitar tones.  The rhythm guitars sound so strong and crunchy, really good shit.

[TAC]

The production does seem to take a step forward.

[EPICVIEW]

And it could have became a true classic, had they offered the song for a movie, something about pilots flying, a guy named Tom was involved or whatever, it's not that the movie was THAT famous anyway....

 

Yeah, true story, Top Gun wanted to use Reckless in the movie, but they didn't want to take it off the album.

When the movie became a hit, they learned their lesson, and for the next album they covered Johnny B. Good which ended up in a movie that......... everyone quickly forgot about. Priest and movies wasn't meant to be evidently 

Is that true? I didn't know that. I'm getting to Ram It Down, their cover of Jonny B. Goode blows chunks. And they were so clever in what songs they covered in the 70's.

Turbo is a great album and the lyrics Parental Guidance are about the PMRC who at the time where trying to censor Metal.

Turbo is a great album?? I hate to go all WildRanger on you but....that's not true!
Seriously, where would you rank it? I'm interested in what you put below it.

That makes sense about the PMRC and the lyrics. Still, that's no excuse. Megadeth gave us Hook In Mouth, and Judas Priest gave us...Parental Guidance?   

yea johnny b good does suck ..  so bad

[jammindude]

The PMRC were particularly irate with Eat Me Alive. Particularly the line “I’m gonna force you at gunpoint....to eat me alive.”

[TAC]

Is that an actual line in the song? Yikes!

[wolfking]

The production does seem to take a step forward.

It's a bit of a mixed bag, but in a good way.  Seems like Priest have always moved with the times.  Seems this one fits right in the late 70's vibe going around.

The title track (HBFL) is an absolute banger.  Burnin' Up is nice and something different and Running Wild is classic.  I'm partial to Rock Forever also.  Evening Star was better than I remembered too.  Cool listen and yeah, it sounds wonderful.

[wolfking]

The PMRC were particularly irate with Eat Me Alive. Particularly the line “I’m gonna force you at gunpoint....to eat me alive.”

The 'spread eagle to the wall' line always got me too. 

[TAC]

The PMRC were particularly irate with Eat Me Alive. Particularly the line “I’m gonna force you at gunpoint....to eat me alive.”

The 'spread eagle to the wall' line always got me too. 

Apparently it should've been Al Gore and NOT Tipper to take offence.

[TAC]

The production does seem to take a step forward.

It's a bit of a mixed bag, but in a good way.  Seems like Priest have always moved with the times.  Seems this one fits right in the late 70's vibe going around.

The title track (HBFL) is an absolute banger.  Burnin' Up is nice and something different and Running Wild is classic.  I'm partial to Rock Forever also.  Evening Star was better than I remembered too.  Cool listen and yeah, it sounds wonderful.

Unleashed is so great, and Hell Bent was the only 70's Priest album I got when I was a kid. My impression THEN was that it was pretty underwhelming. Up until the other day, I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I listened to it, but it was likely sometime in the 80's. I really did enjoy it, although I do rank it after Sad Wings, Sin After Sin, and Stained Class.

[wolfking]

Not sure if I'd rate it higher than Stained Class, mainly just because of BTROD, but if I were to pick one out to listen to, it's probably HBFL.

[TAC]

It sounds a lot cleaner than Stained Class, and British Steel seems to build on it.

[ozzy554]

The PMRC were particularly irate with Eat Me Alive. Particularly the line “I’m gonna force you at gunpoint....to eat me alive.”

The 'spread eagle to the wall' line always got me too. 

Eat Me Alive was one of the only songs that Halford wrote while under the influence which is why it was much more ummm direct than usual lol

[wolfking]

It sounds a lot cleaner than Stained Class, and British Steel seems to build on it.

British Steel is up next.  We'll see if my opinion has changed on this one.

It's funny, for a band I love so much, I do find a number of their albums somewhat underwhelming.  Never thought about that before.

[eric42434224]

I'm up to Turbo and Ram it Down.  Listened to both.

Back in the day.....
I remember listening to Turbo several times over.
I don't think I ever made it all the way through Ram It Down.
That is when my love affair with Priest ended.  Now it has been rekindled with Firepower.

Today.....
I found with my 30 yrs later listens this week:
I liked Turbo less than I remembered.  I liked Ram It Down more than I remembered.
Neither have aged particularly well.  They seem very dated.

[wolfking]

I'm up to Turbo and Ram it Down.  Listened to both.

Back in the day.....
I remember listening to Turbo several times over.
I don't think I ever made it all the way through Ram It Down.
That is when my love affair with Priest ended.  Now it has been rekindled with Firepower.

Today.....
I found with my 30 yrs later listens this week:
I liked Turbo less than I remembered.  I liked Ram It Down more than I remembered.
Neither have aged particularly well.  They seem very dated.

Both are indeed very dated. 

Painkiller?

[eric42434224]

I'm up to Turbo and Ram it Down.  Listened to both.

Back in the day.....
I remember listening to Turbo several times over.
I don't think I ever made it all the way through Ram It Down.
That is when my love affair with Priest ended.  Now it has been rekindled with Firepower.

Today.....
I found with my 30 yrs later listens this week:
I liked Turbo less than I remembered.  I liked Ram It Down more than I remembered.
Neither have aged particularly well.  They seem very dated.

Both are indeed very dated. 

Painkiller?

No thank you...trying to quit.

But seriously......Painkiller is next. 

[MirrorMask]

If your into JP and don't mind some of lurid tales of Halford's sexual experiences, it's a great book that I read almost in one go, it was that compelling.
Has some hilarious stories and also what lengths he went to hide his sexuality back in the day..

[ozzy554]

If your into JP and don't mind some of lurid tales of Halford's sexual experiences, it's a great book that I read almost in one go, it was that compelling.
Has some hilarious stories and also what lengths he went to hide his sexuality back in the day..

[Zydar]

And all the pressure that's been building up
For all the years it bore the load
The cracks appear, the frame starts to distort
It's ready to explode
Jawbreaker

 

[MirrorMask]

Ah yeah, the blowjob song disguised as a monster one 

[Stadler]

It sounds a lot cleaner than Stained Class, and British Steel seems to build on it.

British Steel is up next.  We'll see if my opinion has changed on this one.

It's funny, for a band I love so much, I do find a number of their albums somewhat underwhelming.  Never thought about that before.

That's kind of me, too.   There was a time I LOVED Priest, and I fell out with the comic books that were the albums from Turbo on.  But even going back... there's a lot of stuff I would skip.  I'd be surprised if I liked even half of HBFL.

Of the 70's albums:
Stained Class
Sin After Sin/Rocka Rolla
Sad Wings Of Destiny
British Steel
Hell Bent For Lather

[pg1067]

That makes sense about the PMRC and the lyrics. Still, that's no excuse. Megadeth gave us Hook In Mouth, and Judas Priest gave us...Parental Guidance?   

Yeah...that it was an attack on the PMRC is no excuse.  Rob has never been Neil Peart, but there are 1000s of more clever ways to do that.

This is cool shit diving back into all these old albums too. 

An unofficial Judas Priest Listening Party!

 

The PMRC were particularly irate with Eat Me Alive. Particularly the line “I’m gonna force you at gunpoint....to eat me alive.”

Is that an actual line in the song? Yikes!

Oh yes.  I remember one of my sisters expressing concern to me about Judas Priest and, in particular, a song about a guy forcing a woman to perform oral sex.  I think I responded with a "huh?" and was naive enough at the time for it to have been genuine.  You read stories about record companies having kept certain songs off albums, and one like Eat Me Alive gets through.


I need to go back and revisit Stained Glass and Killing Machine/Hell Bent for Leather.  Looking at the track lists, there's not a lot I recognize beyond Exciter, White Heat and BTROD.  Hell Bent, on the other hand, has a bunch of really good to great songs.  Delivering the Goods, Hell Bent, Take on the Word (i.e., United before United was written), Burnin' Up, Green Manalishi and Running Wild.

[eric42434224]

The biggest mis-step/mistake that Priest made in their career?
One that far outweighs any other, both musically and non-music?

KK's perm.

[pg1067]

The biggest mis-step/mistake that Priest made in their career?
One that far outweighs any other, both musically and non-music?

KK's perm.

 

[Stadler]

The biggest mis-step/mistake that Priest made in their career?
One that far outweighs any other, both musically and non-music?

KK's perm.

I'll second that.  And he made it worse with the sunglasses (at least in the Priest...Live video).

[wolfking]

The biggest mis-step/mistake that Priest made in their career?
One that far outweighs any other, both musically and non-music?

KK's perm.

I'll second that.  And he made it worse with the sunglasses (at least in the Priest...Live video).

Lol, yeah those sunnies were absolutely ridiculous!

[pg1067]

The biggest mis-step/mistake that Priest made in their career?
One that far outweighs any other, both musically and non-music?

KK's perm.

I'll second that.  And he made it worse with the sunglasses (at least in the Priest...Live video).

Lol, yeah those sunnies were absolutely ridiculous!

Abandoning the Flying V for the Hamer didn't help either.

[TAC]

June 4, 1986
Providence Civic Center

[pg1067]

June 4, 1986
Providence Civic Center

Those boots....

[TAC]

...are not made for walking.

[TAC]

Kade, this one's for you!!

[jammindude]

Still reeling from the shock of learning there are JP fans that didn’t know the lyrics to Eat Me Alive.

[MirrorMask]

Still reeling from the shock of learning there are JP fans that didn’t know the lyrics to Eat Me Alive.

Let's be honest, it's the worst song on an amazing album. I saw it played live and they played it only because it was a rarity and it was never played live, but lyrics aside, that's actually the last song I need to hear from Defenders.