Judas Priest tee-shirts
Teenage smokers gather around the Schuyler statue every morning at the high school in Mix Tapes and Stuff. Compared to Mix Tape and Orville, these guys are scary looking with long hair and heavy metal tee-shirts. They huddled to hide their smokes, but everyone knew they had smokes.
One band that these guys had merchandise of, was Judas Priest. (This band will also turn up on a later story.)
Who is this band?
Judas Priest formed in 1969 as a British blues band. They took their name from a Bob Dylan song called The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest.”
They were successful in England but didn’t have much cross-over appeal until the album, British Steel, released in 1980. That album featured two modern day classic hard rock songs: Breaking the Law and Living After Midnight. It wasn’t a mainstream success in America, but it put Judas Priest on the radar. The next album called “Screaming for Vengence” had the song “You Got Another Thing Coming.” This song got airplay on Mtv. This broke the band in America.
They also changed their image. I saw a documentary about the band and when they started, they wore jeans and open shirts. The music was blues and heavy. When the 1980s popular albums came, the band changed their image. There was leather, spikes, fist-pumps and howls. This would change the image of the band and heavy metal as a whole.
The music was and is good so their popularity isn't just image and name.
Judas Priest played Live-Aid in 1985.
At the time of Mix Tapes and Stuff, which takes place in September 1986, Judas Priest would release Turbo. This album featured synthesizers. This was unheard of for a band like this. Heavy metal bands that have names that sound satanic didn’t use synthesizers. The album was just too good and it sold really well in every country.
They changed the image of everything again.
Because Mix Tapes and Stuff takes place in 1986, I'm not going to tell the story of Judas Priest after Turbo. They would be the inspiration for movies, documentaries and they still get radio airplay today.
The band would have future successes and still tour today.
Here's the link for You Got Another Thing Comin
Here's the link for Living After Midnight
The Judas Priest Website: