I have been, on and off, a Priest fan since, oh, Screaming For Vengeance. I probably would have liked them sooner, but back then, even with a major label, it wasn't that easy to find metal records; really. I remember buying Piece of Mind for instance...there was one copy on the shelf (cassette) where I got it, and there was no fanfare or anything. Funny how the Net has changed things. Anyway, we're talking about Priest here...not Maiden.
I got into them around 'Screaming', then bought some of the older stuff. My favorites are probably Defenders of the Faith, Unleashed in the East, and Screaming for Vengeance - in that order.
I don't know. They are pretty great, but they (for me anyway) never really managed to push it over the edge. Speaking purely on the stuff that was available at the time....I mean....I was obsessed with Master of Puppets, Number of the Beast, that kind of thing. For me, even though they were/are seminol, and a very early metal band....they just never managed to get all the elements right in one single place. That's not a put down really. Just that Priest's masterpieces are really only masterpieces (again, for me) in juxtaposition to other Priest albums. As soon as you put Screaming for Vengeance up against Maiden's best....it just isn't quite as good. Still, if I made a list of "the best 20 heavy metal albums of all time"...Priest would have at least one or two entries there. Halford is one amazing singer and always has been. I MIGHT go to Ozzfest this year, purely to see Judas Priest. Well, now that Sabbath is there, maybe I've a double reason to go. Anyway, a great band; legendary in ways. Just never my favorite. I think it's like the Beatles/Elvis thing. You are either a Beatles fan or an Elvis fan. Two different versions of the same thing....then again completely different. I think it's like that with the New Wave of Brittish Heavy Metal stuff. You are either a Priest fan or a Maiden fan. You might own albums by both (and probably do), but one of them really speaks to you more. I'm a Maiden man. Actually, just to put a weird thorn in this whole conversation....from that era I would actually put Saxon ahead of Priest. Even now really, Saxon's last 3 albums have been great. I think Maiden/Priest/Saxon should do a tour together, but that's just me.
