Judas Priest – Breaking the Law

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.