Judas Priest have crafted one of the most recognisable and popular metal sounds in the genre’s history. As the lead singer and band leader, Rob Halford has reinstated what it means to be a frontman, his operatic and powerful vocal style setting the bar high for influential figures in metal.
What makes Halford’s artistry so particularly intriguing is the fact that most of his interests are traditional metal acts, but the way he repurposes their style is completely original. As he recently explained to The Guardian: “I’ve always defined metal to the greatest extent by the bass, that big, meaty, Black Sabbath-style riff.”
While Priest’s inception coalesced with the punk explosion in London, Halford enjoyed the differences in musical offerings at the time, realising that his favourites all centred around the same kind of attitude: “I remember seeing the Sex Pistols at a club in Wolverhampton, and I thought they had some metal vibes to them – the attitude and some of the riffs,” he said. “I welcome anything like this because it’s the true essence of what rock’n’roll should be all about.”
Everything the band worked towards at the time ended up providing the appropriate stepping stones for their opus, British Steel, an album that adopted a different approach as they reached for even more greatness. Recorded at Tittenhurst Park, home of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and later Ringo Starr, the band sought to create a sound that appeared far less polished than their earlier material.
One of the songs, ‘Breaking the Law,’ was created to confidently and overtly address Margaret Thatcher’s Britain and the frustrations that working-class people had to face during such a tumultuous time. “It was a time in the UK when there was a lot of strife-a lot of government strife, the miners were on strike, the car unions were on strike, there were street riots,” Halford told Billboard. “It was a terrible time. That was the incentive for me to write a lyric to try to connect with that feeling that was out there.”
‘Breaking the Law’ might sound more accessible than any of the band’s other songs, but it was created with that in mind. Despite its commercial leanings, the song offered social commentary during a time when change was needed, becoming the perfect clarion call for class oppression by utilising anthemic qualities and catchy, melodic charm.
According to Halford, the song is their best, and not just because British Steel more generally signalled a huge moment for big metal. “I’m gonna go with ‘Breaking the Law’,” he told Shortlist. “I think was just a great moment for us. It was like a bit of a watershed for metal to some extent. We were just banging out song after song.”
Although the lyrics come from the point of view of someone who had been wronged, the song is far from a promotion of violence and is more of an optimistic beacon of the possibilities of change. Even though Halford sings about having “every promise broken” and “anger in my heart”, ‘Breaking the Law’ represents the power of unity and how equity is something that’s achieved with collaboration and respect.
