Judas Priest: Heavy Metal Painkillers An Illustrated History

by Martin Popoff

With the 2005 release of their acclaimed new album Angel of Retribution, a comprehensive biography of the legendary heavy metal band Judas Priest was long overdue. Packed with full-color photos from the stage, album covers, and memorabilia shots, each album is recounted song by song alongside interviews that span the rocky, often comical ride of heavy metal€™s proudest ambassadors in this definitive biography. Covering all the major moments—from Rob Halford's outing as gay, to their notorious subliminal message trial, to the fan who inspired the Mark Wahlberg film Rockstar by becoming the lead singer—this collector€™s item is sure to satisfy true metalheads and rock aficionados alike.

Genres: Music, History

360 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2007

About the author

At approximately 7900 (with over 7000 appearing in his books), Martin has unofficially written more record reviews than anybody in the history of music writing across all genres. Additionally, Martin has penned approximately 85 books on hard rock, heavy metal, classic rock and record collecting. He was Editor-In-Chief of the now retired Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles, Canada’s foremost metal publication for 14 years, and has also contributed to Revolver, Guitar World, Goldmine, Record Collector, bravewords.com, lollipop.com and hardradio.com, with many record label band bios and liner notes to his credit as well. Additionally, Martin has been a regular contractor to Banger Films, having worked for two years as researcher on the award-winning documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, on the writing and research team for the 11-episode Metal Evolution and on the ten-episode Rock Icons, both for VH1 Classic. Additionally, Martin is the writer of the original metal genre chart used in Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey and throughout the Metal Evolution episodes. Martin currently resides in Toronto and can be reached through martinp@inforamp.net or www.martinpopoff.com.

Reviews

[Brent Venton · Rating 3 out of 5]

No one is more qualified to write a book about Judas Priest than Martin Popoff. His knowledge of the albums and the band itself is encyclopedic and he has interviewed them many many times over the years. Take his inimitable style, add to that tonnes of photos and obscure album details and you have as good a book on Priest as you are going to find. Unfortunately it can only be so good. Interviewing the band is an exercise in absolute futility. As Popoff admits they are maddening; either they can't remember or the responses are so canned, cagey or clicheed that I basically stopped reading any quotes about half way through. The album-by-album approach is scholarly and dense which makes the book a bit less of a compelling story than, for example, the authorized Iron Maiden bio book out there. But this book is surely for the hardcore fans who want details, details, details. Like what song from the Unleashed in the East set wasnot released on vinyl until what year but that set still did not include the other song which was only available in East Germany for 3 weeks as a part of collector's choice special edition 8-track. I made that up but you get the picture.

[Adam Light · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a great, informative, and fun read about one of my favorite metal bands. No complaints at all. If you are curious about Priest, this is a good way to learn more about them.

[Alejo · Rating 3 out of 5]

For die-hard fans only, it can get boring.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book, so many pictures and a thorough history of the band.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great journey through Judas Priest's legacy, with each chapter covering individual albums from Rocka Rolla through Angel Of Retribution, as well as hitting upon Fight, Halford, and Tipton's solo albums. I listened to each album in Priest's catalog as I dove into each chapter, and it was a great ride.