Judas Priest – a British group founded in 1969 in Birmingham by guitarist K.K. Downing and bassist Ian Hill – is one of the representatives of the heavy metal classics, which – directly or indirectly – has influenced almost all varieties of this genre.
Alan Atkins (vocals) and John Ellis (drums) completed the band’s first composition. Judas Priest took the band name after one of the local formations, which broke up in 1970, and the idea comes from the title of one of Bob Dylan’s song “The Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest”.
In 1971, the group was joined by singer Rob Halford, new drummer John Hinch and shortly thereafter by the second guitarist – Glenn Tipton. Soon the band recorded the first album of “Rock Roll” (1974). The position of Judas Priest was strengthened only by the excellent album “British Steel” from 1980 (1.35 million records sold in the USA), although the albums “Sad Wings of Destiny” (1976), “Sin After Sin” (1977) and “Stained Class “(1978) many musicians, members of the biggest hard rock and heavy metal groups and fans consider as the basis for “pure” heavy metal.
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Queen was formed in 1971 in London. From the beginning, it was composed of Freddie Mercury (vocals and piano), John Deacon (bass guitar and keyboards), Roger Taylor (drums, keyboards, and vocals), and Brian May (guitar, keyboards, and vocals). Two years later, the band signed their first record deal and released their debut album “Queen”.
In 1975 Queen presented their next album “A Night at the Opera” and the single “Bohemian Rhapsody” was released. The 5’55 “track turned out to be one of the most popular singles in history. It stayed at number one on the UK charts for 9 weeks. Bruce Gowers’s music video for this song is considered the first promotional video. A great success” A Night at ” the Opera “was just as astonishing – the album was the first in the group’s career to be certified platinum.
In the spring of 1976, all four of the band’s albums made it to the UK’s top 20 albums list. In the same year, the album “A Day at the Races” was released. A year later, another “News of the World” and the legendary double single, “We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions”.
On the album “Jazz”, released in 1978, there was another great hit – “Bicycle Race”. The group spent most of 1979 touring in Europe and Japan. Then their first concert album – “Live Killers” was released. In addition, Queen was asked to compose a soundtrack for the movie “Flash Gordon”. Before that, however, the band released the album “The Game” in 1980. “Another One Bites The Dust” from that album became the group’s best-selling single in the US. At the end of the year, the track to “Flash Gordon” was released and the combined sales of Queen’s records worldwide exceeded 45,000,000.
In 1981 three albums were released simultaneously: “Greatest Hits”, “Greatest Flix” and “Greatest Pix”. Greatest Flix was the first-ever set of music videos to be released. A year later, during the European tour, Queen’s twelfth album – “Hot Space” was released. 1984 saw the premiere of “The Works”. The single “Radio Ga Ga” became a huge hit all over the world, reaching the top of the charts in 19 countries. Another hit from the album was “I Want To Break Free”. The song promoted one of the most famous music videos in the history of the group, in which all the musicians performed disguised as women. In 1985, the band made history once again with a fantastic concert for Live Aid at Wembley Stadium. This performance turned out to be a turning point in the group’s career. The first release after Live Aid was “One Vision”.
1986 is the premiere of the 14th album – “A Kind of Magic”, which was the soundtrack to the movie “Immortal” by Russell Mulcahy. The title track became another big hit and the album debuted on the UK chart at number 1. Released in the same year, the concert album – “Live Magic”, jumped straight to third place on the list. In the years 1988-1991, three more albums were released: “The Miracle” (1989), “Innuendo” (1991), and “Greatest Hits Two” (1991). All three albums as well as the single “Innuendo” debuted at # 1 on the UK chart.
On November 23, 1991, Freddie Mercury announced to the world that he had AIDS. The next day, he died at home, surrounded by family and friends. The news of Mercury’s death was a real shock to fans.
