Priest ... not too hard here. Ridiculous, yes, but in a tongue in cheek way.
Although Halford's coming out of the closet act and subsequent ejection from the band surprised many, I think that sequence of events is easy to make sense of. In light of Halford's choice of stage costumes, I suspect the rest of the group was mighty worried about being considered "the ultimate rough trade" band upon his outing, so they felt like they had to take measures against it.

Ah, I fondly remember the time in 1982 when Judas Priest announced two shows in my area, both with Iron Maiden as the opening act. ( Quiet Riot could not make it. ) I remember the feeling of excitement and anticipation more clearly than I remember the shows themselves.

From 1979-1983, Judas Priest were LAW. Heavier than Oprah's badunkadunk, great songs, and they dressed in leather and studs because they were FUCKING METAL, not because they were gay ( or so I would have told you at the time ). Defenders of the Faith, not so much with the good. I lost interest after that.

I watched the VH1 Budokan show the other day. While it's nice to see the band still kicking the posteriors of Japanese headbangers, Rob Halford seems to be going through his Fat Elvis period. Singing "Painkiller" took so much out of him that he spent most of the song lying down on his monitor. Sad to see.

I had a good friend in high school who was very much into the Iron Maiden. So much so that we would periodically end up at a store thirty miles away from us called "Things From England" where they would get the NWOBHM stuff that Disc-O-Mat wouldn't. It was so totally fucking worth it to get the "Trooper" picture disc with "Cross-Eyed Mary" on the flip side ( or so I would have told you at the time ).

Maiden always tried harder to be doomy and mythic and shit, and so obviously they weren't as cool as Priest. An odd thing: I remember thinking at the time that Bruce Dickinson was hands-down a better singer and performer than Paul Di'anno. Upon seeing old Maiden footage recently, it appears that I was wrong.

Judas Priest wins.

Maiden.

delivering the goods does, in fact, the deliver the goods. that song is HEAVY. priest is definitely the heavier band -- maiden's strength is in the galloping basslines and harmonized guitar melodies etc.

priest has a lot of uptempo bluesy riffs with barred 4ths -- that's a total biker sound. them and motorhead, or on a slower tip, zz top and george thorogood.

Halford's stage performance totally blows on that reunion DVD. The band is killer, and the rest of the guys have their stage moves down. Especially Ian Hill....

Coming soon is Priest's concept album about Nostradamus. Will it outshine their last album's ten-minute track about the Loch Ness Monster?

Limmo wrote: While it's nice to see the band still kicking the posteriors of Japanese headbangers, Rob Halford seems to be going through his Fat Elvis period. Singing "Painkiller" took so much out of him that he spent most of the song lying down on his monitor. Sad to see.

I had a good friend in high school who was very much into the Iron Maiden. So much so that we would periodically end up at a store thirty miles away from us called "Things From England" where they would get the NWOBHM stuff that Disc-O-Mat wouldn't. It was so totally fucking worth it to get the "Trooper" picture disc with "Cross-Eyed Mary" on the flip side ( or so I would have told you at the time ).

Thank you. That was funny.

trilonaut wrote:maiden's strength is in the galloping basslines and harmonized guitar melodies etc. priest has a lot of uptempo bluesy riffs with barred 4ths -- that's a total biker sound.

I don't dig the galloping and harmonizing. I vote Judas Priest. Better and funnier.

elmofreech wrote:Coming soon is Priest's concept album about Nostradamus. Will it outshine their last album's ten-minute track about the Loch Ness Monster?

Sounds like Priest has become Iron Maiden. So Maiden wins.

I hate to say "amazing" but, really, this record:



......is truly amazing on many different levels.

The 80's were less-kind to Priest than they were to Maiden.

Barely(as they both kinda "lost it" a bit), but moreso with Priest, if you ask me.

I've gotta go with Maiden. It's a bittersweet vote though.

Pure L wrote:The 80's were less-kind to Priest than they were to Maiden.

Eh, "Turbo" and "Ram It Down" are both pretty gitch, but that shouldn't discount the great tuneage found on "British Steel," "Point Of Entry," "Screaming For Vengeance," (and to a slightly lesser extent) "Defenders Of The Faith."

Limmo wrote:I had a good friend in high school who was very much into the Iron Maiden. So much so that we would periodically end up at a store thirty miles away from us called "Things From England" where they would get the NWOBHM stuff that Disc-O-Mat wouldn't. It was so totally fucking worth it to get the "Trooper" picture disc with "Cross-Eyed Mary" on the flip side ( or so I would have told you at the time ).

I'm not so sure about Rainbow's Gold though.
Maiden couldn't do "boogie."

-A