The world of hard rock and heavy metal is a pretty diverse place. Be
it the 70s pub rock of Australia or the current wave of speed and
glam metal in Canada, one phrase that never ceases to get thrown
about is “sell-out”. Perhaps as old as the genre itself, the
frustrated cry that eases the pain whenever your favourite band
decides to cut their hair, down-tune or throw in clean vocals never
fails to sum it all up. Or does it?
Take for instance a band that, throughout their career, have been met
with the two word phrase a number of times, and undoubtedly proved
their detractors wrong every time: Judas Priest.
When examining the diverse sounds of Judas Priest's extensive
catalogue, a trend-hopping mindset might be the first thing to
explain the often starkly different flavours throughout, but in
reality what is on offer is a band who have always written their own
book, playing metal exactly how they see fit – ranging from
straight-up rock n' roll on Rocka Rolla, to early speed metal and
occasionally funky sounds on sounds of Screaming For Vengeance,
Killing Machine/Hellbent For Leather and British Steel, to the
heavy-as-a-heartattack, metal extravaganzas of Jugulator and
Domination, and right up to the symphonic metal leanings of
Nostradamus. The band have adapted to the metal environment that
surrounds them - but on their terms, not the trend's.
Wit that said, it is easy for a 20-something to look back on the 80s
glam scene and see it as nothing but a good time. After all, there
are guitar solos, bluesy riffs and pounding drums – what's the
problem? I can't vouch for how much the hatred may have been
exaggerated over time, but it does seem that to a lot of headbangers,
Glam was the enemy – watered down riffs, poppy lyrics and way too
much synth.
Even as a big fan of the genre, (Although beer and my stomach seem to
have other plans for my wardrobe...), it was clear to see that the
corporate music world saw they could make a lot of money out of glam
metal – did some of the bands, too? Saxon, Whitesnake and Tygers Of
Pan-Tang all at some point – for whatever reason – took their
cues from the synth-laden genre to varying degrees of success, and so
did Priest with Turbo.
Turbo was – to put it lightly – busting at the seems with big
happy riffs, choruses for stadiums, and hairspray. Not only that, but
the band were donning a lot more colours, and put out a number of
commercials that were...well...
Undoubtedly, songs like “Turbo Lover” and “Parental Guidance”
had more hooks than a fisherman's tackle box, opening the band up to
a new market of fans. The after-effects of this resonated into the
release of Ram It Down and subsequent tour with Dokken. As well as
making this guy pretty damn famous:
So, was Turbo a “sell-out”? For my money, absolutely not. Sure,
it might seem convenient that the band had decided pompadours and
colourful clothes were a good idea around about the same time the
record labels did - but despite what may have gone on behind the
scenes, Turbo spawned some Priest classics that could easily be woven
into live sets today without too much trouble - “Out In The Cold”
being an undeniably epic, fist-raising ballad.
The thing is – what's the difference between Priest's turn to a
glammier sound with Turbo, and their reverting to a much heavier
sound on Painkiller? Both fit in nicely with the metal surrounding
them at the time, but stand out as benchmarks in the genres. Priest,
like many of their peers, took cues from the younger generation in
the 80s. This is something that Priest has done throughout their
career,drawing on the influences of the bands that surround them, and
releasing records that offer their own – often superior – take.
No one can know the true thought process behind a band's latest
record except for the band themselves. The way it is marketed, the
image adopted, and the bands they tour with are often decided by
management and promoters. With this in mind, is it really fair to
sweepingly judge all bands who “went glam” in the 80s as
sell-outs and dishonest? The notion can be echoed throughout the
history of popular music.
Priest are an example of growth for the better – they are a band
who have stood the test of time by remaining fearless enough to look
at the current state of metal music and say “we can do better”.
Hell, I'm still waiting on that Halford/Ihsahn project I heard
rumours about awhile back.
So whilst sometimes a change in a band might be based completely on
the dollar signs in their eyes, other times? Its just the nature of
The Priest.
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