Friday, June 5, 2009

The Best from Judas Priest in the 80's...

Post #62 Poll Winner: Favorite Judas Priest album from the 80's.
The 1980's saw a rise in the popularity of heavy metal music. The genre diversified into Pop/Hair Metal on the more mainstream end of the spectrum, and Thrash and Death Metal at the other, more extreme end. For most of the 80's Judas Priest stayed right in the middle of the road, clinging to the fundamentals of heavy metal music.

One of the few (N)WOBHM bands to perservere throughout the decade, Priest stayed true to a classic style of heavy metal. Rob Halford's versatile voice gave them the freedom to write heavy metal songs of a broader variety than many of their peers. Many of their songs are credited as being the groundwork upon which thrash metal grew, while others seemed to sound like they were pushing for the mainstream of pop-metal.


Whether you like the harder edged music of Judas Priest, or the radio-friendly hits they created during this era, it is hard to argue against their consistency in the 1980's. The band seemed to grow more confident with each album. As a result, some of their best work can be found on these albums. When it came time for you to choose a favorite Judas Priest album from the 80's, the poll ended in a tie. Screaming For Vengeance and Defenders Of The Faith are both deserving of this award, so I'll recommend songs from them both!


Screaming For Vengeance:
-The Hellion/Electric Eye
-Riding on the Wind
-Screaming for Vengeance
-You've got Another Thing Coming
-Devil's Child


Defenders Of The Faith:
-Freewheel Burning
-Jawbreaker
-Eat Me Alive
-Love Bites
-The Sentinel

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