British Steel (album)

Untitled

British Steel is the sixth album by the British heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 14 April 1980. It saw the band reprise the commercial sound they had established on "Killing Machine" however; this time, they abandoned many of the dark lyrical themes which had been prominent on their previous releases. British Steel was recorded at Tittenhurst Park, home of former Beatle John Lennon, after a false start at Startling Studios, a recording studio located on Tittenhurst's grounds. Sampling did not yet exist at the time of recording, so the band recorded the sounds of smashing milk bottles to be included in "Breaking the Law", as well as various sounds in "Metal Gods" produced by "trays of cutlery" and "billiard cues". It was released in the UK at a discount price of £3.99, with the advertisements in the music press bearing the legend, "British Steal". Songs "Breaking the Law", "United", and "Living After Midnight" were released as singles, while the track "Metal Gods" earned the band members their moniker.

The album was remastered in 2001, with two bonus tracks added. Bonus track "Red, White, and Blue" was written in the earlier years of Priest's career. It was recorded at Compass Point Studios in Nassau in July 1985. The second bonus track, a live performance of "Grinder", was recorded on 5 May 1984, in Los Angeles during the Defenders of the Faith tour.

In 2009 Judas Priest kicked off the 30th anniversary tour in the US playing the entire album live for the first time.

Anthrax guitar player Scott Ian said in an interview in the documentary Heavy Metal: Louder than Life that British Steel was probably the album that really defined heavy metal, because it, according to him, did away with the "last shards of blues" that had otherwise been characteristic of the genre. He said, "Even the title... how does it get more metal than that?"

The 30th Anniversary release of the album, came with a Live DVD, and Live CD recorded on 17 August 2009 at the Seminole Hard Rock Arena in Hollywood, Florida as part of the British Steel 30th Anniversary tour. The Live versions of all the British Steel tracks from this release were also made available as downloadable content for the Rock Band series beginning 11 May 2010.

Track listing

Original vinyl and remastered CD

All tracks are written by Halford, Downing and Tipton

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Rapid Fire"	4:08
2.	"Metal Gods"	4:00
3.	"Breaking the Law"	2:35
4.	"Grinder"	3:58
5.	"United"	3:35
6.	"You Don't Have to Be Old to Be Wise"	5:04
7.	"Living After Midnight"	3:31
8.	"The Rage"	4:44
9.	"Steeler"	4:30

All tracks are written by Halford, Downing and Tipton

2001 bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
10.	"Red, White & Blue" (Recorded during the 1985 Turbo sessions)	3:42
11.	"Grinder" (Live at Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California; 5 May 1984)	4:49

Original US vinyl and original US CD issues

All tracks are written by Rob Halford, K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Breaking the Law"	2:35
2.	"Rapid Fire"	4:08
3.	"Metal Gods"	4:00
4.	"Grinder"	3:58
5.	"United"	3:35
6.	"Living After Midnight"	3:31
7.	"You Don't Have to Be Old to Be Wise"	5:04
8.	"The Rage"	4:44
9.	"Steeler"	4:30

2010 Bonus Live DVD/Special Edition CD

All tracks are written by Halford, Downing and Tipton (On British Steel tracks)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Rapid Fire"	4:18
2.	"Metal Gods"	4:34
3.	"Breaking the Law"	2:43
4.	"Grinder"	4:06
5.	"United"	3:45
6.	"You Don't Have to Be Old to Be Wise"	5:24
7.	"Living After Midnight"	4:53
8.	"The Rage"	5:04
9.	"Steeler"	5:23
10.	"The Ripper"	3:09
11.	"Prophecy" (DVD Only)	6:12
12.	"Hell Patrol"	3:57
13.	"Victim Of Changes"	9:29
14.	"Freewheel Burning"	5:49
15.	"Diamonds And Rust"	4:07
16.	"You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'"	8:58

Personnel

• K.K. Downing - lead guitar, backing vocals
• Rob Halford - lead vocals
• Ian Hill - bass, backing vocals
• Dave Holland - drums
• Glenn Tipton - lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
• Scott Travis - drums (For 2009 Live Tour DVD/CD)

Charts

Chart (1980)	Peak position
UK Albums Chart	4
US Billboard Pop Albums	34