JUDAS PRIEST BROUGHT CLASSIC BRITISH HEAVY METAL TO MEMPHIS

British heavy metal, besides LED ZEPPELIN, which was a band more accurately described as amplified stadium blues than metal in any case, has never been my thing particularly.

Of all the metal bands which come out of the UK during the NWOBHM era ( short for NEW WAVE OF BRITISH HEAVY METAL), which included DEF LEPPARD and IRON MAIDEN, I could probably admit to liking around about 20 songs of 10 bands put together. As you would gather, the clunky and oft times contrived metal associated with the NWOBHM didn't tickle my fancy too much.

Arguably the UK's best ever 'true metal' band, JUDAS PRIEST, always lacked consistency but the band nonetheless cranked out some innovative albums during their career, the now 'out of the closet' ROB HALFORD, who's been that way since the late 1990's, was always an imposing figure as the frontman of the band, and so too were his twin guitar leather clad associates, K.K. DOWLING, who left the band some years ago, and GLEN TIPTON.

The definitive Priest album will always remain the apocalyptic and doom laden SAD WINGS OF DESTINY (1976), but albums like SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE, with it's stripped bare brutal riffing, and TURBO LOVER, which in part is a good attempt at slick power techno rock, is probably as good as UK heavy metal ever got.

But the band's greatest song will always remain that immensely ballsy and hooky melodic rocker off their 1977 album BRITISH STEEL, called LIVING AFTER MIDNIGHT. Here the band was performing it live in Memphis in 1982, in support of their then just released album SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE.