Judas Priest In The Studio For Unleashed Anniversary

K. Wiggins | 12-18-2019

The 40th anniversary of Judas Priest's 1979 live album, "Unleashed In The East" is celebrated with this week's episode of the syndicated radio show InTheStudio With Redbeard: The Stories Behind History's Greatest Rock Band.

The show's host Redbeard had this to say, "It took a full five albums and the entire 1970s decade for Judas Priest to break out, but few of the music critics who slagged them initially were around to write about the band's multi-million selling successes in the Eighties, starting with the live Unleashed In The East in late 1979 followed by the definitive metal statements British Steel in 1980, Point Of Entry in 1981, and Screaming For Vengeance mid-1982.

"All of the members of Judas Priest grew up in or around the northern industrial English city of Birmingham amidst coal mines, steel factories, iron ore smelters, and the mountainous piles of waste, or "slag", an inevitable by-product from such heavy industry (the most notorious "slag heap" in rock is the album cover photo on The Who's Who's Next ). In English slang, to "slag off" somebody or something meant to reduce its value to nothing.

"While still trying to get a band together, Judas Priest lead guitarist Glenn Tipton actually worked at British Steel for his day job. Recently it appeared that some 21st century Madison Avenue "Mad Men" advertising exec was a closeted heavy metal fan, slipping Judas Priest into the soundtrack of last year's Honda Accord car tv commercial. Point Of Entry which includes 'Hot Rockin'' and 'Heading Out To The Highway' will be marking a significant anniversary in a few weeks, so be sure to listen to Rob Halford's interview here including reinventions of Peter Green/ Fleetwood Mac's 'Green Manalishi' and Joan Baez's 'Diamonds And Rust', 'Living After Midnight', 'You've Got Another Thing Coming', and 'Turbo Lover'." Stream the episode here.