Victim of Changes
The decline of Judas Priest through hip Gen-X eyes! (with albums reviewed out of a possible five stars)
The decline of Judas Priest in seven phases, as seen from a Gen-X perspective
Phase One: ‘Rodger Bain welcomes you to the club.’ Picture, if you will, five long-haired minor-label artists in bell bottoms and floppy hats, happy to be creating cutting-edge heavy rock albums in the tradition of Zeppelin II, Paranoid, Salisbury, Squawk, Battle Hymn, Argus, and Machine Head. A blue-collar ethic tempered with sci-fi influences permeates the numbers. Some people suggest that what they’re playing is a loud, distorted blues-derived form of music that a few critics have been calling heavy metal. “We’re not a heavy-metal band,” insists vocalist Rob Halford, however. “We’re a progressive band.”
Rocka-Rolla ****
Sad Wings of Destiny ****½
The Best of Judas Priest compilation *****
Hero, Hero compilation ****½
Phase Two: ‘This is the Big Time, kid.’ Complex multi-part arrangements and prog influences go out the window as Roger Glover streamlines the band’s sound for the majors. The sci-fi elements are gradually replaced with what seems like misunderstood themes from graphic magazine Metal Hurlant (Heavy Metal). Their hippy horse gallops off as the Harley hog is wheeled out on stage. The Ramones and other punk bands are dismissed in Priest interviews while Rob and the boys co-opt their fashion sense and snarling attitude left, right, and centre.
Sin After Sin ***½
Stained Class ***
Killing Machine / Hellbent for Leather **½
Unleashed In The East (Live in Japan) ****
Phase Three: It’s piss-or-get-off-the-pot time. “If you wanna stay on a major label, boys, then score some hits. Haven’t you learnt a damn thing from David Cassidy and The Bay City Rollers — or at least AC/DC?” Jamming and extended performances are dropped in favour of the three-minute AM pop structure (verse/chorus/verse/chorus/guitar lead/repeat first verse/repeat chorus to fadeout). Art with a capital ‘A’ takes a decided back seat to entertainment with a lower-case ‘e’. Bearded bassist Ian Hill takes a back seat to everything. With such modifications in place, junior-high soccer/football fans and Sunday-school pupils the world over shall be chanting ‘United we stand’ in no time! Teenaged girls are starting to take notice, so Halford and drummer Dave Holland must keep their true passions on a tight rein, while gay themes get buried in symbolic lyrics (e.g., ‘Desert Plains’) and subliminal cover art (the phallus and testicles on DOTF). Meanwhile, in popular culture, new bands that play in the tradition of early Priest (Saint Vitus, Rollins-era Black Flag, The Plasmatics) are labelled ‘punk’, ‘hardcore’ or ‘fags’.
British Steel **½
Point of Entry **
Screaming for Vengeance ***
Defenders of the Faith **½
Phase Four: There’s nowhere to go but down. Topically, there’s Iran Contra, South African Apartheid, Thatcher-era recession, Central American civil war, etc.; but the fellas would prefer to warn 11-year-old boys of the dangers of ‘Parental Guidance’. K K Downing would rather be playing golf. Musically, many artsy new-wave bands (U2, The Cult, Killing Joke) and avant-noise groups (Sonic Youth, Live Skull, Spacemen 3) are now heavier and vastly more cutting-edge than Priest. With hindsight, though, the band during this phase can actually be seen as seminal and even prophetic: paving the way for prepubescent pop and fashion a full decade before The Spice Girls!
Turbo **
Priest… Live! **½
Ram it Down *½
Phase Five: ‘Clueless outside Seattle.’ Halford has heard of Pantera; Glenn Tipton just discovered something called ‘thrash’ (which he secretly doesn’t like); so now the boys feel compelled to ‘rejuvenate’ their sound, ripping the stage limb from limb like it’s 1982! Meanwhile, bands like Soundgarden, Alice In Chains and Jane’s Addiction release bestselling albums that not only owe quite a bit musically to early Priest and their ’70s contemporaries, but also address the sociopolitical concerns of Generation X. “End the Gulf War and put a stop to American hegemony and multi-sector conglomerates!” scream flannel-shirted Nirvana and Mudhoney fans! “Me, leather rebel!” growls Halford over the roar of his mighty Harley!
Painkiller *½
Phase Six: ‘La Thrash di Metallo Vita.’ Middle age is tapping everyone on the shoulder, and ambivalent Rob Halford is not immune to a crisis. He decides to run off with the new drummer — not to Seattle or New York, or even back to Birmingham; but to Phoenix — in search of thrash metal! Yes, Fellini may be dead, but the spirit of adventure lives on! The result of Halford’s quest is Fight — a band built for 1983, er ’93, that can be easily put on hiatus if a Priest compilation album (or two) needs assembling for posterity’s sake (if not Blind Melon and Pearl Jam fans). It appears ageing rock stars on such a journey of discovery nowadays need extra royalties for security — not a decadent heiress or intellectually challenged clown. Such irrelevant vanity ventures and needless compilations are not without their social benefits, however: with no new Guns ’n’ Roses or AC/DC material anywhere on the horizon, such releases give 30-year-old big-rig drivers with mullets and Confederate flags new reason to hope.
Metal Works 1973–1993 compilation **½
Living After Midnight: The Best of Judas Priest compilation ***
Phase Seven: ‘Dead Meat indeed.’ Seventeen-year-old Janis is composing her essay on Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent lectures while Mirror Ball, Washing Machine and Purple Blue play in the background. “Mother, could you please persuade little Billy to play a little less noisily with his toys?” she pleads. “Yes, Ethyl. At nearly nine years of age, I do believe Billy is getting a little too old for such silly playthings,” says Father. “But Roger,” implores Mother, “isn’t he cute in his Power Rangers jammies, playing with his Jugulator!”
Jugulator *
All photos courtesy of Wikipedia (fair usage), except as indicated.
