Hi folks and welcome to another Simpsons On Sundays post. This week as promised, a post on Judas Priest. Yes, I know I had done a post on them before, but it was meant to focus on The Simpsons and the connections to heavy metal in general. This time, it’s all about the band. I’m probably going to repeat most of what I said, but I have new material for this post about practical jokes by both the band and managers from their past.
Judas Priest happens to be another veteran band who are among my favourites, as well as being very influential. They have been around for over 50 years and have released 19 studio albums, with their latest album Invincible Shield having been released on Friday. They have shifted styles of metal over the years from time to time but have always stayed heavy. Of course, they wouldn’t be where they are today without singer Rob Halford and his high pitched operatic singing style. He guest starred on The Simpsons on the episode Steal This Episode, parodying the classic Priest song Breaking The Law, singing instead “Respecting The Law.” On the show they were refered to as a death metal band and some fans didn’t like that. The Simpsons producers apologized for this but I had no problem with it. Besides, as I had said in the other post a lot of bands and musicians within the various subgenres of heavy metal regard Judas Priest as a major influence. For example: Slayer, Cannibal Corpse, Opeth, Pantera and many others. If you are not a metalhead, I know that those names are rather foreign to you, but if you are you know why I have mentioned all of the bands.
Another part of the secret sauce to Judas Priest’s music is the twin guitar attack of Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing, until Ken had quit the band in 2011 and Richie Faulkner joined and has been there ever since in Ken Downing’s place on guitar and as a part of the songwriting triumvirate between Ken (before he left the band in 2011) Richie (2011 to present day), Glen and rob. Unfortunately, Glen has had to step down because of Parkinson’s disease. Producer and guitarist Andy Sneap stepped up for live performances, even when Glen would come on stage to play a song or two at the end of shows (when he was up to it). Glen may have stepped down from life performing and playing in this studio sometimes, but not as a part of the songwriting trio.
The twin guitar sound was inspired by a band called Wishbone Ash, who also inspired Iron Maiden to do the same thing. Smile (Brian May and Roger Taylor’s pre-Queen band) even opened for Wishbone Ash around 1969! The addition of a second guitarist was suggested by Judas Priest’s first record label Gull, that they get a fifth member as they were a four piece at the time and such no frills bands seemed boring. So, ideas were considered such as a keyboardist, saxophonist and rightly chosen, a second axman.
Glen was in a band calledThe Flying Hat Band, who were not all that bad. They were heavy, but they weren’t slow like Black Sabbath. Anyway, Rob, Ken and bassist Ian Hill found Glen, asked him if he would like to join. When they told Glen that they had a record deal, he said yes after thinking about it for a short time and after a second call from manager David Cork. Glen came in with his own vision of the band and I wonder if that was the source of friction, between the two guitarists, besides their differing playing styles. Rob refers to Glen as a singing guitarist and I think Brian May of Queen is too, with KEN being more of a wild player with his solos. I would say the same for Richie Faulkner and that isn’t a bad thing as you have differing styles of guitar solos, dependent on the song and the same with playing. I prefer to stick to rhythm and not solo as much, so I like two guitar bands as it makes the sound more full live and in the studio, you have a similar full sound, with some extra backbone.
I can’t forget about bassist Ian Hill as another part of the secret sauce And a revolving door of drummers over the years, with: John Hinch (born June 19 1947 and died April 29 2021), Alan Moore, Simon Phillips, Les Binks, Dave Holland (born April 5 1948 and died January 16 2018) and current sticksman Scott Travis. Oh yes, I can’t forget that the original singer for Judas Priest was Al Atkins and he had a hand in writing at least one early Priest classic. The track Victim of Changes, which is a great song, but it is even better live. Just look for any Judas Priest live albums and you will hear what I mean.
I was introduced to the band in the early 80s when I had heard a number of songs from the albums British Steel, Point of Entry and Screaming for Vengeance on the radio, in regular rotation and later on, I would hear newer songs as they came out through 1986. I would also hear older tunes as well, but on shows which were programmed to play metal. Speaking of which, I would discover how large Judas Priest’s discography was at in March 1986, when a radio show called Metalshop had done an hour on nothing but Judas Priest. The idea of this episode was playing 1 song from all 10 albums, including their 1979 live album Unleashed In the East. I have something else to say about the show later on, but that’s further down.
I am glad I had learned about the band and had been following them ever since 1982, through Rob leaving in 1992, Tim “Ripper” Owens joining in 1996 and Rob’s return in 2003 present. I even followed Rob’s solo and band career outside Judas Priest. Rob’s first post-Priest band Fight had put out 2 albums: War Of Words and A Small Deadly Space, which the latter didn’t do as well as the first. One of the members was Russ Parrish, now known as Satchel from comedy metal band Steel Panther, who had toured with Judas Priest in 2014. Another known name from Rob’s time outside of Priest is guitar virtuoso John Lowry (AKA) John five, who would play with Rob on his industrial metal project 2wo and after that, David Lee Roth and Marilyn Manson. Then, John would be selected to play with Rob Zombie from 2005 to 2022. Now John has replaced Mick Mars in Motley Crue, as Mick has retired from touring.
Yet another guitarist who would end up in another band started with Rob, with his solo band Halford is Patrick Lachman and after 2 albums with Rob, Patric would join Damageplan as the singer with Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul, after Pantera had broken up. Unfortunately, Patric was also present when Dime was killed on December 8 2004. I believe Rob, when he says in Confess that he had kept in touch with both Patric and Dime over the years. After all, Rob met Dime and the rest of Pantera in 1990, when they were in Toronto and Rob saw them on Much Music, Canada’s counterpart to MTV. Either way, Rob has helped to give us 3 guitarists and 1 new band, thanks to accidentally leaving Judas Priest.
Rob is back and everything is all good, except for any health issues over the years. The biggest one was Rob having prostate cancer and getting the cancer removed. He also had to fart for his supper, before being allowed to go home and I can’t imagine, having to wait for the backside to naturally let out the wind, rather than pushing it out.
By the way, you may have read about a bit of a back and forth between Queen singer Freddie Mercury and Rob Halford about the leather jacket Freddie wares in the video for Crazy Little Thing Called Love and it did bother Rob at the time, but I don’t believe that there was anything to it other than comments made by Rob and Freddie in the press. I had wondered if this may have been the work of publicist Tony Brainsby, who had represented both Queen and Priest at various times throughout their careers. Maybe not, but in Confess Rob tells the story of a story in The News of the World about Rob making a porno film, which was not true. Yup, Tony Brainsby was the brains behind the story and when Rob called his parents on the following Sunday (as usual) his father was none too pleased about what he and his wife had read about their eldest son. The penny dropped, when Rob’s father had mentioned the pornographic film. Rob told his dad that there was no such movie and it was all made up and Mr. Halford may have believed his son. Because of the story, Rob’s parents would never read News of the World again, after many years of loyal readership. Oh yes, I should also mention that any tiff Freddie and Rob may have had was all water under the bridge, when Rob spotted Freddie in a bar in Mykonos and the Queen frontman gave Rob Halford a wave and a wink. Rob also noticed Freddie on a yacht with a bunch of guys, but sadly they weren’t able to meet and talk about things during either occasion. Also, Rob has said in both of his books Confess and Biblical, that Freddie was his hero and Queen is his favourite band, besides The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and any heavy metal band out there who has been and is currently active.
As for Invincible Shield, I took a listen to the entire album on Friday morning, including the 3 bonus tracks and I did a mini review as a comment on a recent video from the Metal Pilgrim Youtube channel. I will have it below. https://youtu.be/Uh3JC_rAUxc?si=JdwM3mlXRn_WHCrc
I took a listen to the entire album, including the 3 bonus tracks and I love it. Even The Lodger is okay with me, even if it sounds more like David Bowie than Priest, as I love both. I am happy that not every song uses the same guitar tuning and I think that one or two songs even goes back to E standard tuning. Sons of Thunder and Vicious Circle come to mind as they are both in the key of E natural. This brings me to the previous track Sons of Thunder, with Escape from Reality starting in D and modulating to E, leading right into the next song nicely. With Fight of Your Life, the word bluesy guitar riff came to mind, something like Jimi Hendrix or something from the 70s and again, I don’t mind that because I like all things rock and metal. However, I believe I may have heard a very similar riff before, not unlike Revolution and Mountain Song by Jane’s Addiction, which bothered me at first, but I have let it go a long time ago. No matter, I love it and this is probably among the best of the 2005 and onward albums. By the way, the Hendrix type riff I was thinking of from Fight of Your Life reminded me of an album track on Extreme’s 3rd album III Sides to Every Story called Peacemaker Die, with a sample of Martin Luther King and his “I Have A Dream” speech near the end.
Something Judas Priest and Bart Simpson have in common is a proclivity to playing practical jokes. Rather than prank calling Moe’s or some other bar asking for a fake name, they would prank each other and their manager, in the early days. For example: their first manager David Cork was a master practical joker and he enjoyed doing such things as scaring people on bicycles, delivering items to blameless people and scaring Rob with a pixie costume. Dave was also afraid of flying (like Marge) and so, Judas Priest and other bands on a Bill with them had an idea to get back at Corky. They had a flight attendant make announcements about the plane possibly having trouble with fuel, having to make an emergency landing in the sea and other things. All of which, made Dave rather nervous and naturally, scared. It was obviously a joke and he didn’t like that and I guess you could say that he could dish it out, but he couldn’t take it all that much. However, he loved the band and did a lot for them during the first two albums, but even they realized that they had to let him go, when they had signed with CBS Records and I hope that Dave is still around, either to confirm, or deny the stories rob told, in both of his books.
Rob also had a thing for pranks and especially fire extinguishers for a time, with their next manager and unfortunately, that backfired in Japan when the wrong person was targeted and the cops were called. Fortunately, Rob was not arrested or didn’t get into trouble, so he got off free that time. What most of us don’t understand that the reason for such pranks and other things like throwing TV sets out of hotels is because on tour, there’s not much to do. You’re going from gig to gig on a bus, or a plane and it’s boring and you may not be able to sleep all that much either. So, what else can you do besides let off steam that way? Better that than simply breaking stuff for the sake of breaking stuff. Right? Besides, someone will have to clean it up and it may cost the band dearly in finances which could go towards other things that the band needs like new guitars, new guitar strings, other musical instruments and even gas money. Then again, some of the damage caused may have been fuelled by alcohol or drugs.
Both The Simpsons and Judas Priest had issues with back masking, with The Simpsons including a recipe for lentil soup, played backwards at the end of the episode Lisa the Vegetarian, which was silly and I guess more of a non-issue than anything else. Unfortunately, Judas Priest had a more serious case to deal with, when those 2 boys 20-year-old James Vance and 18-year-old Raymond Belknap shot themselves in 1985, as part of a suicide pact. Apparently, something told them to do it, but do what? Why did it have to mean kill yourself? This was because of a cover of a 1969 Spooky Tooth track Better By You, Better Than Me from their 1978 album Stained Class, which apparently had something in it which sounding like “do it”. This was stupid and I feel bad for the parents, but not for the two boys as much. After all, they had chemical help before shooting themselves, with one dying instantly on the other passing away three years later, also due to chemical help. Again, why does do it mean kill yourself? Why doesn’t it mean mow the lawn, walk the dog, take out the trash, eat your food, do your homework or something more constructive then taking your own life? Anyway, thankfully Judas Priest ended up on the right end of this trial, as they were found innocent, but to my mind and Rob’s mind too, not completely cleared of wrongdoing. Basically, it sounded as if the prosecution couldn’t prove the case well enough, to find the band guilty and if they were, this could be bad for everyone.
The Simpsons has Waylon Smithers as its resident queer and in real life, Rob Halford came out in 1998. Smithers came out to Mr. Burns in The Burns Cage. However, the funniest episode spotlighting gay culture is Homer’s Phobia, because of Homer not wanting Bart to be gay. These days there couldn’t be an episode like that and anyway, it was hilarious, even to myself as a heterosexual. Sure, I experimented and thankfully, I know what I am and nothing is going to change that for me. With Rob Halford coming out as gay, I was surprised as it didn’t dawn on me that he could be homosexual. Well, he obviously is and he has a partner and is quite happy and you know what, I’m happy for them too. I hope to find a woman for me some day.
Back to Metalshop for a moment in that there would be guest hosts from time to time, as regular host Charlie Kendall would go on vacation every so often and a musician would fill in. One week in April 1986, Rob Halford was guest host and the format went something like this as I remember it: the third most valuable metal, ask the stars, fresh metal with a new song from a new or newish band, master classic, second most valuable metal, feature interview and finally, the most valuable metal and the show would end for the week. Rob hosted an episode with James Hetfield of Metallica as the feature interview, as they had released the third album Master Of Puppets and Rob was great. I am talking about this because you have Metallica and Rob Halford, as two future Simpsons guest stars, on a metal show, out of New York in the 80s.
I think what had attracted me to Judas Priest was not just the music, but their record label. They were on CBS and in another post I did in another blog on Queen, I had gone on a bit about how in Canada, cassettes in the 80s and 90s would start off side one and end side two, with either a series of beeps or an electronic noise, going up. This was along with how the tapes were designed with either a circle, half circle or square surrounding the reels and the rest of the tape being variations of either smooth, or rough from front to back on the outer case of the tape itself. I liked the sound that I heard, when someone at school had an album by a CBS artist as it was cool to me. Not that I didn’t like other record labels and their marker sounds in Canada, but I thought what CBS was doing sounded neat. This was my 10, -11 and 12-year-old self back then and I often wonder, how that idea of putting an electronic sound at the beginning and end of a cassette in Canada, came to be. Was it in fact a Dolby calibration tone in Canada? If it was, cool! This is something like what I am talking about! https://youtu.be/ijErD7eJlgQ?si=lnCY_po01aYkHsNS
Anyway, I am glad that Judas Priest are still active and making new music in this day and age of streaming. If you are interested in hearing music from Judas Priest, I suggest looking for the compilations: Metal Works ’73-’93, The Essential Judas Priest, Living After Midnight and Single Cuts to get you started. Then, you can go from there to any of the available live albums or studio albums as you wish. I believe that any Simpsons fan who is also a rock fan, should check out Priest, if they haven’t already. Also, check out both of Rob Halford’s books Confess in 2020 and Biblical in 2022. I suggest getting the audiobook as Rob narrates them both, as you get to hear him speak in his actual speaking voice, as opposed to talk singing, or what he sounds like on stage. With stage banter. Also, a little bird told me that there could be a new book in the works, as rob has written both books with co-author Ian Gittins and the same width the new book. I hear it’s fiction and of course, I am intrigued.
Simpsons on Sundays 