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The year is 1982. Reagan, Thatcher and
Duran Duran are ascendant. Blade Runner hits theaters
to crickets in the seats and two thumbs down from Siskel
& Ebert. But there’s another, more instantly
flammable debut in the cards for that neon-streaked year:
The Hellion, a sleek, metallic war bird rendered by airbrush
kingpin Doug Johnson. Screaming For Vengeance –
that was the ear-splitting herald of 1982’s New Wave
of Metal, ushered in by Birmingham, England’s own
Judas Priest.
 The
band’s twin guitar, outlaw biker ethos had been building
a passionate touring audience for almost a decade with
no help from commercial radio. No help, that is, until
the 1980 album British Steel beamed metal standards like
“Breaking The Law” and “Living After Midnight”
through U.S. rock radio airwaves. With Screaming, at last
there was no holding back the commercial breakthrough.
The album instantly conquered the mullet underground,
broke wide and went multi-platinum. “You’ve
Got Another Thing Comin’” became the metal generation’s
rebuttal to the Pod People Solution advocated by the family
values-touting B-actor who at that moment was busy giving
aid and comfort to the right wing death squads of Central
America. Teen-age paranoia was never better serviced than
in the lead track “Electric Eye,” marking singer
Rob Halford as one of rock’s canniest lyricists.
Riding a massive new album and tour with all their underground
mystique fully intact, The Golden Age of Priest had fully
arrived.  |
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| © 2002 Hollywood Five-O,
Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
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