Judas Priest

I can live with this top 10 (posted and liked on Facebook by Judas Priest):
https://www.kerrang.com/features/th...3644ILIbiyKufDYjSUVmC4foN3h-xlsqwCcapfKeWpSAk

Great top 5. Sin After Sin is the best seventies album and Defenders is the number one.

"Defenders of the Faith is frequently overlooked in favour of its predecessor Screaming for Vengeance. In terms of breaking the band and overall impact, there’s no denying that Screaming… was more important but here they perfected the formula. Freewheel Burning, The Sentinel, Jawbreaker… these are slabs of pure metal perfection and this is the pinnacle of Priest. And, therefore, classic metal as a whole."


British Steel above Screaming for Vengeance. Excellent decision.
 
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I prefer Painkiller over Defenders, although the latter has the best A side of all records. I prefer Steel somewhat over Vengeance.
 
Forostar said:
I prefer Painkiller over Defenders, although the latter has the best A side of all records
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Definitely can't argue with that. Painkiller's first half is only really let down by "All Guns Blazing", I feel like that's the most filler-ish song on that album. Sweet solo from Glenn (of course), I can't help but compare it to the title track, I don't think it quite captures the same energy as that song.

I think BS has a little too much filler to be ranked so highly. SFV certainly has its share, but I'd say it's a more well thought-out album and it's closer to the "true" Judas Priest sound.
 
I am not so bothered by the least interesting songs such as Living After Midnight and United but I really enjoy the rest.

The highs on Vengeance are very great though. I love the eeriness of the melodic, haunting stuff such as Fever and Take These Chains. Powerful works.

Steel is simpler but every song has memorable riffs.
 
https://www.planetrock.com/news/roc...pset-debut-south-african-gigs-have-been-axed/

Judas Priest said:
“Due to circumstances totally beyond our control we are extremely sorry to have to announce that because of logistical and technical reasons the South African shows have been cancelled - we are very disappointed that this has happened as we were looking forward to performing in South Africa for our fans there for the first time - we have been touring the world for nearly 50 years and have always honoured our commitments - we are all very upset about this situation”.
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I wonder if the logistical reasons have anything to with not having sold enough tickets...
 
JP has issues generating new fans and playing new markets. The first, last, and only time they played in Croatia we were still in Yugoslavia. They had organized a show in late 2000s, we bought tickets, they canceled. I cannot believe someone compares this band with Iron Maiden.
 
Does really the Painkiller album wasn't very big when it was released back in 1990 ? o_O

I thought it was an instant classic. For me it was and I think the fans really liked it and considered it to be a classic from day one. Although, K.K. says otherwise:
The Painkiller album wasn’t very big when we first released it; it was just medicore. But it started to gain momentum year after year, and it started to become a big album.

https://metalheadzone.com/ex-judas-priest-guitarist-reveals-surprising-fact-about-painkiller-album/
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Kalata said:
Does really the Painkiller album wasn't very big when it was released back in 1990 ? o_O

I thought it was an instant classic. For me it was and I think the fans really liked it and considered it to be a classic from day one. Although, K.K. says otherwise:
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That's where you realize that a good management is crucial: how many records are deemed "classic" and yet the bands that have created them are not that big...
 
I remember some member on here never having heard Painkiller because he'd left them behind after the previous albums. Those people definitely existed at the time and may still exist today.
 
Edington said:
Had Priest really lost that many fans after Turbo and Ram It Down? With Painkiller being a return to form, I'd have thought it was massively popular.
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Turbo was massively popular... for right or wrong reasons is not the point. Ram It Down was mainly a collection of rejects of Turbo, which was originally intended to be a double album called Twin Turbos. No wonder that it failed to sell a lot. As far as the American market is concerned, I think that in 1990, the trend wasn't very favorable to "old bands" like Priest, Deep Purple (Slaves and Masters bombed) or Black Sabbath (Tyr was very confidential). It was mostly the young bands that were doing well at that time: Pantera, Skid Row, Guns N Roses, Whitesnake (which -to the American audience- hadn't been on the radar until 1984). One notable exception: Aerosmith (Pump).
 
Could you say Priest lost both camps of fans: first losing their original fans after Turbo/Ram It Down, then losing those new fans by making a far less commercial album in Painkiller? Add "old bands" not doing well at that time and K.K.'s comment makes some more sense.
 
Speaking as someone who grew up in the '80s and at the time considered Priest his favourite band, it wasn't really considered a return to form when it landed.
Perhaps hardcore fans of the thrash scene at the time may have regarded it as such, but for the mainstream fans that had cut their teeth on Another Thing Comin' and Living After Midnight, it was a bit too extreme. Music was in transition and the scene for that type of record was quite small. People had moved away from the band and it didn't really pull them back.
Heavy music fans were still mostly in the dying days of hair, looking to Guns and Roses and Skid Row to keep it alive and bands like Soundgarden and Korn and Rage Against the Machine had yet to really arrive.
It's only in retrospect that a lot of people really discovered that record.
 
Black Bart said:
Turbo was massively popular... for right or wrong reasons is not the point. Ram It Down was mainly a collection of rejects of Turbo, which was originally intended to be a double album called Twin Turbos. No wonder that it failed to sell a lot. As far as the American market is concerned, I think that in 1990, the trend wasn't very favorable to "old bands" like Priest, Deep Purple (Slaves and Masters bombed) or Black Sabbath (Tyr was very confidential). It was mostly the young bands that were doing well at that time: Pantera, Skid Row, Guns N Roses, Whitesnake (which -to the American audience- hadn't been on the radar until 1984). One notable exception: Aerosmith (Pump).
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Pantera just broke out in the 1990. Anselmo/Power Metal album and their local gigs in Texas opened up the possibility of a major label debut.
 
Zare said:
Pantera just broke out in the 1990. Anselmo/Power Metal album and their local gigs in Texas opened up the possibility of a major label debut.
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True. Pantera was just becoming big at that time (the others mentioned were already)... and opening for Judas Priest (in the USA) helped a lot by the way. ;)
 
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