Iron Maiden vs Judas Priest (I had to do it... )

[Big Hath]

was Def Leppard even called metal back in the day?

you mean aside from being considered one of the lead bands of the NWOBHM? 

[TAC]

Right.

[Dream Team]

That’s true, at least for their debut. But they quickly lost their edge, had Mutt Lange write their songs, and til this day deny the metal label. Some great rock songs though.

[TAC]

High n Dry is still one of my all time favorite albums. There aren't many better than that.

[Cool Chris]

Voted just to see the current standings. Total Maiden fan here - though only since mid-2000s. I was never really in to metal prior to this. Like some Priest songs. Own a Greatest Hits CD and like it quite a bit. Just don't connect with them the way I did with Maiden after giving their Greatest Hits a spin.

High n Dry is a phenomenal album.

[cramx3]

Yea High n Dry is my favorite DL album, and yea my only reason of even considering them as a metal band is because of their beginnings in NWOBHM.

[Stadler]

They were absolutely metal, for about four years or so.  I can remember (give me a break I was 15 and there was no internet) being at my first concert - Priest/Maiden, New Haven Coliseum - and the guy in front of us had a High 'n' Dry shirt on.  We were quizzing him about when they would be coming on tour (and arguing whether that was Rob Halford on the album cover!).  Tom Allom - producer of Lep's first record - was the producer for Priest, and even Lange at that point was coming off AC/DC, not Shania Twain.   They were in the same league - at that point - as Priest and Maiden.

[KevShmev]

was Def Leppard even called metal back in the day?

you mean aside from being considered one of the lead bands of the NWOBHM? 

Okay, but that catchy acronym aside, people really called them metal?  Like, heavy metal?

Saying they were metal because they were part of the NWOBHM is like saying Europe and Bon Jovi were metal because they were placed in the hair metal subgenre. 

[bosk1]

was Def Leppard even called metal back in the day?

you mean aside from being considered one of the lead bands of the NWOBHM? 

Okay, but that catchy acronym aside, people really called them metal?  Like, heavy metal?

Yes.  That is what was considered metal at the time.

Saying they were metal because they were part of the NWOBHM is like saying Europe and Bon Jovi were metal because they were placed in the hair metal subgenre. 

Yes.  Correct again.

[cramx3]

  yes, agreed Bosk.  It's easy today to say hey they aren't metal, but (and I was only born in 84) from my understanding, that music WAS considered metal back then like Mirrormask stated.

[MirrorMask]

To further go into the irony of this - the other day on FB I saw reposted an ad about the first italian tour of Black Sabbath, and they were labeled something along the lines of "the most intriguing pop band of the moment".

Everyone laughed in the comments, but some users commented that back then, "pop" was a generic umbrella term for anything that wasn't classical music (or something along those lines), so for lack of better definitions and sub-divisions, Sabbath were generically labeled "pop".

Don't know if this is true actually but they seemed pretty convincing, and anyway this explanation makes more sense than promoters not knowing what pop and rock were.

[KevShmev]

yes, agreed Bosk.  It's easy today to say hey they aren't metal, but (and I was only born in 84) from my understanding, that music WAS considered metal back then like Mirrormask stated.

Fair enough, but things change over time, and I doubt most would call them metal now.  They were not more rocking/heavier than Rush or Blue Oyster Cult, both of whom were also called metal at times back then, but rarely are anymore.  We have the benefit of perspective now.

[Big Hath]

back

in

the

day

[Big Hath]

Ok that was too much. Sorry kev.

[KevShmev]

Because of your sig, I read that as "back in the day Winger would be better!"

[cramx3]

yes, agreed Bosk.  It's easy today to say hey they aren't metal, but (and I was only born in 84) from my understanding, that music WAS considered metal back then like Mirrormask stated.

Fair enough, but things change over time, and I doubt most would call them metal now.  They were not more rocking/heavier than Rush or Blue Oyster Cult, both of whom were also called metal at times back then, but rarely are anymore.  We have the benefit of perspective now.

Yea I dont disagree. Things change and most people consider Def Leppard some form of rock and not specifically metal these days but you also just can't ignore their beginnings when you look at them at a whole.  Their latest singles aren't that far off from being some form of 80s metal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB7BeKwoYAs .

I think the difference though between them and say Deep Purple is that future generations of metal heads are less likely to say they were influenced by Def Leppard.  Deep Purple had a huge influence on metal in the future. 

[pg1067]

even called metal back in the day?

Very much so - and particularly prior to the release of Hysteria.

[stargazer18]

35 years ago this poll would be much closer ( and done with pencil and paper , lol ). Couple tokes of good stuff and " To Tame A Land " through a decent stereo settled this discussion on a few occasions for me ( regarding who is " better " ). Priest was the more popular band in my area by far however.

This thread started well before my time but as I read it starting with the most recent posts and working my way back I came across this post from max_security and had a similar thought – depending on when you compared the two bands you might make a different decision regarding which one was bigger than you might do today.

I decided to look at both bands discographies chronologically and compare the highest chart positions of their albums. The reason I chose this metric is that the data is easy to find and tabulate and it gives some insight into how much excitement each band were able to generate in their fan base at the time.

Full disclosure time. Until DT arrived I considered Iron Maiden to be my favorite band. I became a fan just before the release of Live After Death. I have most of their albums. I have two versions of their biography, Running Free and have seen them live six times – three times during the classic era and three times during the reunion era.

My older brother was a big Judas Priest fan so I was aware of them and liked a lot of what I heard. My Priest CD collection extends from Hell Bent For Leather (Killing Machine) to Turbo. I had Ram It Down on cassette back in the day but it never got upgraded to CD. I also have the three CD greatest hits collection released in 2008. Outside of the CD’s I own I have not heard ANY of the other Priest albums in full and have not heard any of the re-union era material except for what’s on the greatest hits CD. I have not seen Judas Priest in concert but I did see Rob Halford when he opened for Iron Maiden in the early 2000’s.

I initially was only going to show album chart data from the UK since both these bands originated there. However, living in the US I found the data for the UK really didn’t match my own perceptions of the success of Judas Priest here in the US so I included the US data as well.  I know the DTF is a global community and I don’t want other members to feel that data from their home counties were not important to include. Feel free to tabulate data and post with our observations / perceptions.

Lastly, I’m breaking my response up into a few posts covering each decade due to the editing involved in getting the table data to look correct. (I've learned more about BBC code than I really ever wanted to!)

Year   Iron Maiden Album    UK  US  Year   Judas Priest Album             UK  US 

1974 ---------------------        --- ---   1974   Rocka Rolla                     ---   ---
1976 ---------------------        --- ---   1976   Sad Wings of Destiny       48   ---
1977 ---------------------        --- ---   1977   Sin After Sin                   23   ---
1978 ---------------------        --- ---   1978   Stained Class                  27   173
1978 ---------------------        --- ---   1978   Hell Bent For Leather       32   128
1979 ---------------------        --- ---   1979   Unleashed in the East      10    70

JP released five studio albums in the 70’s and finished the decade off with the live album, Unleashed in the East. Unleashed was their highest charting album to date and its chart position reflects the culmination of their efforts and the success that they were able to achieve.

[stargazer18]

35 years ago this poll would be much closer ( and done with pencil and paper , lol ). Couple tokes of good stuff and " To Tame A Land " through a decent stereo settled this discussion on a few occasions for me ( regarding who is " better " ). Priest was the more popular band in my area by far however.

Year   Iron Maiden Album    UK  US  Year   Judas Priest Album          UK  US 

1974 ---------------------        --- ---   1974   Rocka Rolla                     ---   ---
1976 ---------------------        --- ---   1976   Sad Wings of Destiny     48   ---
1977 ---------------------        --- ---   1977   Sin After Sin                    23   ---
1978 ---------------------        --- ---   1978   Stained Class                  27   173
1978 ---------------------        --- ---   1978   Hell Bent For Leather      32   128
1979 ---------------------        --- ---   1979   Unleashed in the East    10    70

JP released five studio albums in the 70’s and finished the decade off with the live album, Unleashed in the East. Unleashed was their highest charting album to date and its chart position reflects the culmination of their efforts and the success that they were able to achieve.

Year  Iron Maiden Album                   UK  US   Year      Judas Priest Album                   UK  US 

1980 Iron Maiden                               4    --   1980 British Steel                                 4   34
1981 Killers                                       12  78   1981 Point of Entry                              14  39
1982 The Number Of The Beast           1   33   1982 Screaming For Vengeance             11  17
1983 Piece Of Mind                             3   14   1983 ---------------------                        --  --
1984 Powerslave                                2   21   1984 Defenders Of The Faith                 19  18
1985 Live After Death                         2   19   1985 ---------------------                        --  --
1986 Somewhere In Time                   3   11   1986 Turbo                                          33  17
1987 ------------------------                 --   --   1987 Priest...Live!                                47  38
1988 Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son   1   12   1988 Ram It Down                               24   31
1989 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                                 

I think the closest these bands were to each other in terms of popularity occurred in the 80’s.

Iron Maiden dominated the UK, only Killers didn’t reach into the top 5. Priest did better in the UK during this period than they did in the 70’s but they never came close to what Iron Maiden did.

Both bands achieved some level of success in the US market during this time. The success of Priest’s trifecta of Screaming For Vengeance, Defenders Of The Faith and Turbo allowed them to continue to fill large venues and remain popular. (They regularly played the 20K seat sports arena near where I lived)

Iron Maiden laid the foundation with The Number Of The Beast and then followed up with Piece Of Mind and then Powerslave. By the time Powerslave came out they were on equal footing with Priest in terms of popularity. From Piece Of Mind on Iron Maiden would headline the same 20K seat venue that Priest were playing here in my town.

Somewhere In Time charted better than Turbo and 1988’s effort by each band was really no contest - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son is a top 5 IM album for me.

(I’m in the minority here but feel that Turbo is a really good album. It showed that a band that had already incorporated progressive and metal elements into their music could also create a highly polished hard rock album. This time being the height of the MTV era in the US – I believe the change in their look might have hurt them more than the music.)

[stargazer18]

35 years ago this poll would be much closer ( and done with pencil and paper , lol ). Couple tokes of good stuff and " To Tame A Land " through a decent stereo settled this discussion on a few occasions for me ( regarding who is " better " ). Priest was the more popular band in my area by far however.

Year   Iron Maiden Album    UK  US  Year   Judas Priest Album          UK  US 

1974 ---------------------        --- ---   1974   Rocka Rolla                     ---   ---
1976 ---------------------        --- ---   1976   Sad Wings of Destiny     48   ---
1977 ---------------------        --- ---   1977   Sin After Sin                    23   ---
1978 ---------------------        --- ---   1978   Stained Class                  27   173
1978 ---------------------        --- ---   1978   Hell Bent For Leather      32   128
1979 ---------------------        --- ---   1979   Unleashed in the East    10    70

JP released five studio albums in the 70’s and finished the decade off with the live album, Unleashed in the East. Unleashed was their highest charting album to date and its chart position reflects the culmination of their efforts and the success that they were able to achieve.

Year  Iron Maiden Album                   UK  US   Year   Judas Priest Album                   UK  US 

1980 Iron Maiden                               4   --    1980 British Steel                                4   34
1981 Killers                                        12 78   1981 Point of Entry                            14  39
1982 The Number Of The Beast         1   33   1982 Screaming For Vengeance         11  17
1983 Piece Of Mind                            3   14   1983 ---------------------                        --  --
1984 Powerslave                               2   21   1984 Defenders Of The Faith             19  18
1985 Live After Death                        2   19   1985 ---------------------                        --  --
1986 Somewhere In Time                  3   11   1986 Turbo                                         33  17
1987 ------------------------                    --   --   1987 Priest...Live!                              47  38
1988 Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son  1   12  1988 Ram It Down                             24   31
1989 -----------------------                                 

I think the closest these bands were to each other in terms of popularity occurred in the 80’s.

Year  Iron Maiden Album                   UK  US   Year   Judas Priest Album                   UK  US 

1990 No Prayer For The Dying            2    17   1990 PainKiller                                  26   26
1991 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1992 Fear Of The Dark                      1    12    1992 -----------------------------------------------
1993 A Real Live One                        3    106  1993 -----------------------------------------------
1993 A Real Dead One                      12   140  1993 -----------------------------------------------
1993 Live at Donington                     23   ---   1993 -----------------------------------------------
1994 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1995 The X Factor                            8     147  1995 -----------------------------------------------
1996 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1997 -----------------------------                       1997 Jugulator                                 ---   82
1998 Virtual Xi                                16   124   1998 98 Live Meltdown                      ---   ---
1999 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s hard to fathom today that Iron Maiden’s No Prayer For The Dying would EVER chart better than PainKiller. However, I think this shows just how much momentum Iron Maiden had when 80’s ended and the 90’s began.

(I’ve never heard the whole PainKiller album, only the songs that are included on the greatest hits I have. I’m not a fan of the title track but A Touch Of Evil and Nightcrawler are both really good. Having said that – I prefer the British Steel / Screaming For Vengeance sound.)

The 90’s were a low point for metal in general but with Halford leaving after PainKiller Judas Priest pretty much fell off the map.

Iron Maiden on the other hand continued to have success in both the UK and US despite the fact that it was not up to what they had achieved in the 80’s. Virtual XI was the low point – it was the first album since Killers in 1981 not to reach into the top 10. They corrected that problem not long after the tour ended.

[stargazer18]

35 years ago this poll would be much closer ( and done with pencil and paper , lol ). Couple tokes of good stuff and " To Tame A Land " through a decent stereo settled this discussion on a few occasions for me ( regarding who is " better " ). Priest was the more popular band in my area by far however.

Year   Iron Maiden Album    UK  US  Year   Judas Priest Album          UK  US 

1974 ---------------------        --- ---   1974   Rocka Rolla                     ---   ---
1976 ---------------------        --- ---   1976   Sad Wings of Destiny     48   ---
1977 ---------------------        --- ---   1977   Sin After Sin                    23   ---
1978 ---------------------        --- ---   1978   Stained Class                  27   173
1978 ---------------------        --- ---   1978   Hell Bent For Leather      32   128
1979 ---------------------        --- ---   1979   Unleashed in the East    10    70

JP released five studio albums in the 70’s and finished the decade off with the live album, Unleashed in the East. Unleashed was their highest charting album to date and its chart position reflects the culmination of their efforts and the success that they were able to achieve.

Year  Iron Maiden Album                   UK  US   Year   Judas Priest Album                   UK  US 

1980 Iron Maiden                               4   --    1980 British Steel                                4   34
1981 Killers                                        12 78   1981 Point of Entry                            14  39
1982 The Number Of The Beast         1   33   1982 Screaming For Vengeance         11  17
1983 Piece Of Mind                            3   14   1983 ---------------------                        --  --
1984 Powerslave                               2   21   1984 Defenders Of The Faith             19  18
1985 Live After Death                        2   19   1985 ---------------------                        --  --
1986 Somewhere In Time                  3   11   1986 Turbo                                         33  17
1987 ------------------------                    --   --   1987 Priest...Live!                              47  38
1988 Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son  1   12  1988 Ram It Down                             24   31
1989 -----------------------                                 

I think the closest these bands were to each other in terms of popularity occurred in the 80’s.

Year  Iron Maiden Album                   UK  US  Year  Judas Priest Album                   UK  US 

1990 No Prayer For The Dying          2    17  1990 PainKiller                                  26   26
1991 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1992 Fear Of The Dark                      1   12   1992 -----------------------------------------------
1993 A Real Live One                        3   106 1993 -----------------------------------------------
1993 A Real Dead One                     12  140 1993 -----------------------------------------------
1993 Live at Donington                    23  ---   1993 -----------------------------------------------
1994 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1995 The X Factor                            8    147 1995 -----------------------------------------------
1996 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1997 -----------------------------                        1997 Jugulator                                 ---   82
1998 Virtual Xi                                16   124 1998 98 Live Meltdown                    ---   ---
1999 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year   Iron Maiden Album                    UK  US     Year   Judas Priest Album                   UK  US 

2000 Brave New World                        7    39     2000 ---------------------------------------------   
2001 ------------------------                                2001 Demolition                                ---  165
2002 Rock in Rio                                15  186    2002 ---------------------------------------------
2002 Beast over Hammersmith            ---  ---     2002 ---------------------------------------------
2003 Dance Of Death                          2    18     2003 Live in London                          ---    ---
2004 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
2005 Death on the Road                     22   ---    2005 Angel of Retribution                   39    13
2006 A Matter Of Life And Death          4     9     2006----------------------------------------------
2007 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2008 ------------------------                                2008 Nostradamus                            30    11
2009 Flight 666                                 15    34    2009 A Touch of Evil: Live                  ---    87

Iron Maiden jumped on the reunion bandwagon first, bringing Bruce and Adrian back into the band in 2000. They continued as the dominant metal band in the UK and had their first top 10 album in the US –  A Matter Of Life And Death.

Rob Halford returned to Judas Priest in 2005 and also picked up where they left off in the 80’s – more successful in the US than in the UK.  Nostradamus would be their highest charting album in the US to date – reaching number 11.

[El Barto]

If High and Dry wasn't considered heavy metal, what was? I don't know of anything that could separate them from For Those About to Rock, IM (ST), Diary, or Fair Warning.

[stargazer18]

35 years ago this poll would be much closer ( and done with pencil and paper , lol ). Couple tokes of good stuff and " To Tame A Land " through a decent stereo settled this discussion on a few occasions for me ( regarding who is " better " ). Priest was the more popular band in my area by far however.

Year   Iron Maiden Album    UK  US  Year   Judas Priest Album          UK  US 

1974 ---------------------        --- ---   1974   Rocka Rolla                     ---   ---
1976 ---------------------        --- ---   1976   Sad Wings of Destiny     48   ---
1977 ---------------------        --- ---   1977   Sin After Sin                    23   ---
1978 ---------------------        --- ---   1978   Stained Class                  27   173
1978 ---------------------        --- ---   1978   Hell Bent For Leather      32   128
1979 ---------------------        --- ---   1979   Unleashed in the East    10    70

JP released five studio albums in the 70’s and finished the decade off with the live album, Unleashed in the East. Unleashed was their highest charting album to date and its chart position reflects the culmination of their efforts and the success that they were able to achieve.

Year  Iron Maiden Album                   UK  US   Year   Judas Priest Album                   UK  US 

1980 Iron Maiden                               4   --    1980 British Steel                                4   34
1981 Killers                                        12 78   1981 Point of Entry                            14  39
1982 The Number Of The Beast         1   33   1982 Screaming For Vengeance         11  17
1983 Piece Of Mind                            3   14   1983 ---------------------                        --  --
1984 Powerslave                               2   21   1984 Defenders Of The Faith             19  18
1985 Live After Death                        2   19   1985 ---------------------                        --  --
1986 Somewhere In Time                  3   11   1986 Turbo                                         33  17
1987 ------------------------                    --   --   1987 Priest...Live!                              47  38
1988 Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son  1   12  1988 Ram It Down                             24   31
1989 -----------------------                                 

I think the closest these bands were to each other in terms of popularity occurred in the 80’s.

Year  Iron Maiden Album                   UK  US  Year  Judas Priest Album                   UK  US 

1990 No Prayer For The Dying          2    17  1990 PainKiller                                  26   26
1991 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1992 Fear Of The Dark                      1   12   1992 -----------------------------------------------
1993 A Real Live One                        3   106 1993 -----------------------------------------------
1993 A Real Dead One                     12  140 1993 -----------------------------------------------
1993 Live at Donington                    23  ---   1993 -----------------------------------------------
1994 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1995 The X Factor                            8    147 1995 -----------------------------------------------
1996 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1997 -----------------------------                        1997 Jugulator                                 ---   82
1998 Virtual Xi                                16   124 1998 98 Live Meltdown                    ---   ---
1999 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year   Iron Maiden Album                    UK  US     Year   Judas Priest Album                   UK  US 

2000 Brave New World                        7    39     2000 --------------------------------------------- 
2001 ------------------------                                    2001 Demolition                                         ---  165
2002 Rock in Rio                                15  186     2002 ---------------------------------------------
2002 Beast over Hammersmith            ---  ---     2002 ---------------------------------------------
2003 Dance Of Death                          2    18     2003 Live in London                                   ---    ---
2004 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
2005 Death on the Road                     22   ---    2005 Angel of Retribution                          39    13
2006 A Matter Of Life And Death          4     9     2006----------------------------------------------
2007 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2008 ------------------------                                    2008 Nostradamus                                   30    11
2009 Flight 666                                 15    34     2009 A Touch of Evil: Live                          ---    87

Year   Iron Maiden Album                   UK   US     Year   Judas Priest Album                   UK   US   

2010 The Final Frontier                        1    4       2010 -----------------------------------------------
2011 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012 En Vivo!                                     19  80     2012 ------------------------------------------------
2013 Maiden England '88                     30  148   2013 ------------------------------------------------
2014 ------------------------ ------                       2014 Redeemer of Souls                     12   6   
2015 The Book Of Souls                       1   4       2015 ------------------------------------------------
2016 ------------------------ ------                       2016 Battle Cry                                  -    90 
2017 The Book of Souls: Live Chapter   17 49     2017-------------------------------------------------
2018 ------------------------ ------                       2018 Firepower                                   5    5 
2019 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Metal music in general has been growing in popularity and both Iron Maiden and Judas Priest are both riding this wave.

Iron Maiden achieved their fourth and fifth number one albums in the UK with The Final Frontier and The Book Of Souls. These two albums each made it to number four in the US as well.

Judas Priest seemed to finally get noticed in the UK with Redeemer of Souls and Firepower reaching number 12 and number 5 respectively. They continued their success in the US as well with these two albums reaching to number 6 and number 5 respectively.

Not since the 80’s have these two band’s been as close in popularity to each other than they are now.

If we’re to believe the “W” site, looking at total album sales history today (2019) shows that Iron Maiden have outsold Judas Priest about 2:1. So as far as the biggest band is in terms of album sales and concert tickets sold I think this goes to Iron Maiden.

As far as who is the best is a matter of personal taste.