A screaming sermon from the pulpit of rock and roll

In high school I often associated grades with the band(s) I was listening to most during that particular year. Junior year was the Judas Priest year of my school career.

I had been a fringe fan for a year or so, of course being familiar with their handful of radio-heavy hits because I had been an avid listener to classic rock stations since eighth grade. The summer after my sophomore year I became interested in combing my father’s record collection for inspiration in my quest for good music. I came across two LPs from Priest’s pre-British Steel catalog; an era of Judas Priest most people with a working knowledge of “Breaking the Law” have no idea exists.

Around the same time I was researching late-70s hard rock on the internet and found discographies of influential NWOBHM artists. The site mentioned JP’s 1978 release Stained Class as the greatest classic metal album of all time. I took note in the back of my mind but didn’t scour Amazon or local music stores for the release as classic Priest still wasn’t entirely on my radar.

In the fall of 2001 I was a high school junior driving my way around town and listening to the likes of AC/DC, Ted Nugent and Scorpions. I had read online that Priest would be releasing remastered CDs of their Columbia releases and decided the 70s-era Priest was something worth trying. I debuted their epic live Unleashed in the East in my Sony Discman on the bus for our annual Wurstfest field trip and was pleased with the results.

In early January I was still on Winter Break and spent the majority of my free time abusing my still newfound driving privileges by commuting around Austin (when it was more novelty than hassle), finding the occasional music store to blow my allowance on. I found another re-release, 1977’s Sin After Sin. This was the band’s first release after signing with Columbia and signaled a move in a heavier direction away from the more bluesy hard rock they had gone with on their first two albums. This was the tour where they were joined by Les Binks on drums and made their U.S. debut, blowing away audiences who hadn’t heard anything close to the style of rock Priest were playing live.

The following month I was preparing for another German Club trip to San Antonio for the Texas regional high school contest. The day before I went to the mall and finally bought Stained Class as listening material for the trip. In my haste to leave the house that morning I had brought the Discman but forgotten the headphones. Cockblocked.

That night when I returned home I raced to my bedroom and put in the CD. What I heard for the next hour was unlike any other listening experience I had had to date. What amounts to the first side of the album is simply amazing. The album opened with Exciter, which was a strong tone setter for what was to come. Better By You, Better Than Me is of course the band’s cover song which led a couple of doped-up Nevada teens to try and blow their heads off while listening to in 1985. It’s not the strongest track on the album, but is a pretty heavy take on the original Spooky Tooth version and doesn’t sound too out of place on this release.

Then it came to the fourth (and title) track, Stained Class. My head exploded as I listened again. And again. And again. The galloping flange guitar effect. Rob Halford’s perfectly executed high notes. And Glenn Tipton’s guitar solo! My god! (3:30) That 20 seconds alone got replayed for the next two hours. With repeated future headphone listens, the subtleties of the song slowly get recognized and appreciated. What I seem to take away more and more from this song is just how beautiful Binks’ drumming is on the track. The timing of the cymbal crashes during the bridge are phenomenal and make me wish he had stayed with this group through their commercial successes in the 80s.

Stained Class was behind many user/screen/account names I had in the past, and for good reason, because as music became a more important piece of my life this album and song were consistently the favorite. Since moving through college I have moved away from the rock album and more toward individual mp3 tracks, but this particular release will always have a special place with me when I remember my high school years. And besides, it just fuckin’ rocks.