British Steel (album)
| British Steel | ||||
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| Studio album by Judas Priest | ||||
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Publication |
April 14, 1980 |
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admission |
January - February 1980 |
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| Label (s) | Epic | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, LP, MC |
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Title (number) |
9 |
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running time |
36:03 |
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| occupation | ||||
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Studio (s) |
Startling Studios , Ascot ( England ) |
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British Steel (English for: " British steel ") is the sixth studio album by the British heavy metal band Judas Priest . It is the first album with drummer Dave Holland .
background
The live album Unleashed in the East was mixed by Ringo Starr at Startling Studios . As the band was very pleased with the result, they returned there to work on British Steel . The producer was Tom Allom, who had already produced Def Leppards On Through the Night in the same year . The album was recorded within 28 days.
With Breaking the Law , Living After Midnight and United , the album contains three of Judas Priest's most famous songs. The band recorded music videos for the songs Breaking the Law and Living After Midnight with the help of Julien Temple .
In the run-up to the release, the band's PR agent , Tony McBrain, spread false reports about stolen tapes. These would have allegedly been bought back by Judas Priest for an amount of £ 50,000 . The band and their management were unaware of the hoax.
In 2001, as part of the Classic Albums series, a DVD documentary on British Steel was published, which was included free of charge with Metal Hammer in Germany in May 2010 .
Musical content
Music genre
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Musically, British Steel differs little from the previous albums. The album is characterized by sharp guitar riffs and hymn-like singing in some of the songs.
The album contains some sound effects, such as broken glass, thunder and robot noises. Since sampling was still relatively unknown, the effects were created through “manual work”. For example, the thunder was generated by slamming a door, the clinking glass by a smashed milk bottle. Other noises were made with a pool cue and Ringo Starr's kitchen utensils.
Song lyrics
In terms of content, British Steel hardly differs from its predecessors. Lyrically propagated the community feeling of the fans (especially in the song United ) and the general attitude towards life of the youth generation at that time (e.g. in Breaking the Law and Living After Midnight ). With the title Metal Gods , the band finally created their own nickname.
Track list
- Rapid Fire - 4:08
- Metal Gods - 4:00
- Breaking the Law - 2:35
- Grinder - 3:58
- United - 3:35
- You Don't Have to be Old to be Wise - 5:04
- Living After Midnight - 3:31
- The Rage - 4:44
- Steeler - 4:30
All songs were written by Tipton / Halford / Downing.
Breaking the Law comes first on the US edition .
Bonus tracks (re-release 2001)
- Red White & Blue - 3:42
- Grinder (Live) - 4:49
Singles
- Living After Midnight / Delivering the Goods
- Breaking the Law / Metal Gods
- United / Grinder
All three singles hit the charts in the UK. Living After Midnight and Breaking the Law up to 12th, United 26th. The latter was featured on Top of the Pops as a playback .
successes
The album benefited most from the fact that it was released in 1980 at the height of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and Judas Priest was considered a pioneer of the new British Metal. Presumably that is why it is considered the "classic" Judas Priest album by many critics and fans. Titles like Breaking The Law , Metal Gods or Living After Midnight are among the most famous songs of the band and have been played continuously at the band's concerts since then. In Great Britain it reached number 4 in the charts, making it the only Judas Priest album that was able to position itself in the top 5 there. It reached number 34 on the Billboard charts.
The following tour took the band through all of Western Europe and North America. The opening act was Iron Maiden in Europe , Def Leppard and the Scorpions in the USA .
The album was awarded a gold record by the RIAA in 1982 . In 1989 the album reached platinum status .
Individual evidence
- ↑ METAL HAMMER presents DVD special for the Judas Priest anniversary . In: presseportal.de . ( presseportal.de [accessed on August 21, 2018]). METAL HAMMER presents DVD special for the Judas Priest anniversary ( memento of the original from August 21, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ "Classic Albums: Judas Priest - British Steel" , Video-DVD, Edel (Hamburg), 2001
- ↑ US version of the album on discogs
