Judas Priest
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
At the beginning of the 80s, Judas Priest was a top concert attraction around the world, in addition to being a best-selling recording artist. Featuring the hit single Youve Got Another Thing Comin, Screaming for Vengeance (1982) marked the height of their popularity, peaking at number 17 in America and selling over a million copies. Two years later, Defenders of the Faith nearly matched its predecessors performance, yet metal tastes were beginning to change, as Metallica and other speed/ hrash metal groups started to grow in popularity. That shift was evident on 1986s Turbo, where Judas Priest seemed out of touch with current trends; nevertheless, the record sold over a million copies in America on the basis of name recognition alone. However, 1987s Priest...Live! was their first album since Stained Class not to go gold. Ram It Down (1988) was a return to raw metal and returned the group to gold status. Dave Holland left after this record and was replaced by Scott Travis for 1990s Painkiller. Like Ram It Down, Painkiller didnt make an impact outside the bands diehard fans, yet the group was still a popular concert act. In the early 90s, Rob Halford began his own hrash band, Fight, and soon left Judas Priest. In 1996, following a solo album by Glenn Tipton, the band rebounded with a new young singer, Tim Ripper Owens, (formerly a member of a Priest tribute band and of Winters Bane). They spent the next year recording Jugulator amongst much self-perpetuated hype concerning Priests return to their roots. The album debuted at number 82 on the Billboard album charts upon its release in late 1997. Halford had by then disbanded Fight following a decrease in interest and signed with Trent Reznors Nothing label with a new project, Two. In the meantime, the remaining members of Judas Priest forged on with 98 Live Meltdown, a live set recorded during their inaugural tour with Ripper on the mic. Around the same time, a movie was readying production that was to be based on Rippers rags-to-riches story of how he got to front his all-time favorite band. Although Priest was originally supposed to be involved with the film, they ultimately pulled out, but production went on anyway without the bands blessing (the movie, Rock Star, was eventually released in the summer of 2001, starring Mark Wahlberg in the lead role). Rob Halford in the meantime disbanded Two after just a single album, 1997s Voyeurs, and returned back to his metal roots with a quintet titled simply...Halford. The group issued their debut in 2000, Resurrection, following it with a worldwide tour that saw the new group open up Iron Maidens Brave New World U.S. tour, and issuing a live set one year later (which included a healthy helping of Priest classics) -- Live Insurrection. In 2001 the Ripper-led Priest issued a new album, Demolition, and Priests entire back catalog for Columbia was reissued with remastered sound and bonus tracks. In 2003 the band--including Halford--collaborated on the liner notes and song selections for their mammoth career-encompassing box Metalogy, a collaboration that brought Halford back into the fold. Owens split from the group amicably in 2003, allowing the newly reunited heavy metal legends to plan their global live concert tour in 2004, with their sixteenth studio album, Angel of Retribution, to be released the following year. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Greg Prato,
