Stained Class is the fourth album by British heavy metal group Judas Priest, released in February 1978. A popular album in the band's catalogue, Stained Class showcased a more streamlined songwriting style. The production is crisper, clearer, and cleaner than any of their preceding albums and any trace of blues and progressive rock influence had completely vanished. This is the only Judas Priest album to feature songwriting by all five members (one of Ian Hill's few contributions to the songwriting process for the band, and the sole contribution thereof by then-drummer Les Binks – the guitar riff for "Beyond the Realms of Death"). Following this album the band broke its songwriting team down to Rob Halford, K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton, with occasional contributions solely by Tipton. Lyrically, Stained Class is the darkest album in the band's catalog, its songs being relentlessly grim and violent. These include the horror-themed Saints In Hell, Savage, a song about brutalities inflicted on native tribes by colonialism, Hero's End, lamenting the numerous people made into legends by premature death, and the title track about man being a fallen, corrupted being.
The sleeve artwork, by Roslav Szaybo at CBS Records, introduced their classic logo, replacing the Gothic Script logo of earlier releases. Stained Class was the first Judas Priest album to dent the Billboard 200 and was eventually certified gold in the USA. The album was remastered in 2001, with two bonus tracks added. In 2004, UK magazine Metal Hammer named Stained Class the heaviest metal album of all time.Stained Class is the fourth album by British heavy metal group Judas Priest, released in February 1978. A popular album in the band's catalogue, Stained Class showcased a more streamlined songwriting style. The production is crisper, clearer, and cleaner than any of their preceding albums and any trace of blues and progressive rock influence had completely vanished. This is the only Judas Priest album to feature songwriting by all five members (one of Ian Hill's few contributions to the songwriting process for the band, and the sole contribution thereof by then-drummer Les Binks – the guitar riff for "Beyond the Realms of Death"). Following this album the band broke its songwriting team down to Rob Halford, K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton, with occasional contributions solely by Tipton. Lyrically, Stained Class is the darkest album in the band's catalog, its songs being relentlessly grim and violent. These include the horror-themed Saints In Hell, Savage, a song about brutalities inflicted on native tribes by colonialism, Hero's End, lamenting the numerous people made into legends by premature death, and the title track about man being a fallen, corrupted being.
The sleeve artwork, by Roslav Szaybo at CBS Records, introduced their classic logo, replacing the Gothic Script logo of earlier releases. Stained Class was the first Judas Priest album to dent the Billboard 200 and was eventually certified gold in the USA. The album was remastered in 2001, with two bonus tracks added. In 2004, UK magazine Metal Hammer named Stained Class the heaviest metal album of all time.false2022-11-12 08:54:11Stained Class20012001-10-222001-10-22147Hard RockHeavy MetalMetalRock11198121451825163d2ed-caf2-4b13-bb22-b58e650cd7a16b335658-22c8-485d-93de-0bc29a1d0349c035f09e-430c-3510-9a4d-7cb33dd56ed8/media/data/media5/Music/Judas Priest/Stained Class/folder.jpgJudas PriestJudas PriestJudas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the pioneers of the new wave of British heavy metal movement, and are cited as a formative influence on various heavy metal subgenres, notably speed metal, thrash metal, and power metal. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in the latter half of the 1970s, the band had struggled with poor record production and a lack of major commercial success until 1980, when their sixth studio album British Steel brought them notable mainstream attention.
The band's membership has seen much turnover. During the 1970s, the core of bassist Ian Hill, lead singer Rob Halford and guitarists Glenn Tipton and K. K. Downing saw a revolving cast of drummers, before Dave Holland joined them for ten years from 1979 to 1989. Since Holland's departure, Scott Travis has been the band's drummer. Halford left Judas Priest in 1992, and after a four year hiatus, they regrouped in 1996 with Tim "Ripper" Owens, formerly of Winter's Bane, replacing Halford. After two albums with Owens, Halford returned to the band in 2003. Downing left the band in 2011, replaced by Richie Faulkner. The current line-up consists of Hill, Tipton, Travis, Halford and Faulkner; although Tipton remains as an official member of Judas Priest, he has limited his touring activities since 2018 due to Parkinson's disease, with Andy Sneap filling in for him. Hill and Tipton are the only two of the band to appear on every album.
Halford's operatic vocal style and the twin guitar sound of Downing and Tipton have been a major influence on heavy metal bands. Judas Priest's image of leather, spikes, and other taboo articles of clothing was widely influential during the glam metal era of the 1980s. The Guardian referred to British Steel as the record that defines heavy metal. Despite a decline in exposure during the mid-1990s, the band has once again seen a resurgence, including worldwide tours, being inaugural inductees into the VH1 Rock Honors in 2006, receiving a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2010, and having their songs featured in video games such as Guitar Hero and the Rock Band series. In 2022, Judas Priest were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame via the Award for Musical Excellence.