Classic Albums - Judas Priest: British Steel

BRITISH STEEL made them a world-famous band.

The welding of BRITISH STEEL is told in this exclusive program in the band's own words, and by their once long-term producer Tom Allom. Featuring archive footage, interviews and rare live performances, plus all of BRITISH STEEL'S finest songs, including "Living After Midnight", "Breaking the Law", "Metal Gods", "The Rage", "United" and "Grinder", this is a compelling, witty and exhilarating look at the making of one of heavy metal's most artful creations, a true Classic Album.

Watch, listen and kneel to the Metal Gods!


This installment of the Classic Albums series, in which rock stars talk about the creation of their albums, focuses on the making of British Steel, the 1980 album by Judas Priest, a working-class British, heavy-metal band led by screechy lead singer Rob Halford. As Halford (who has since left the band) and his mates explain what went into the lyrics and recording of the songs that made up the record, the talking heads are intercut with performance footage of a band that helped launch the metal and speed-metal surge of the 1980s and early 1990s. The interviews are not particularly insightful if you're not a fan and are probably redundant if you are; it's fascinating, however, to watch the way the band's studded-leather image evolved over the years. --Marshall Fine