The musical tastes in the hangout are so vast, but I'm not too sure if we have any Priest fans here or not. But I was having a debate with a friend over the weekend and he was adamant that you had to either be a Priest fan or a Sabbath fan, you couldn't like both because they were sort of "Rival Bands." He said it's like Arnold or Stallone, Deniro or Pacino, Metallica or Megadeth, The Stones or The Beatles, etc. Is this true? I never heard of this before then but doing a bit of Googlin' and I see it is quite a common statement. Regardless, I love both bands and have every album by them both (excluding the Priest albums when they replaced Halford with Ripper Owens). I guess I've just always been a big enough fan of music that I could just enjoy both of them. Any metal heads here have an opinion?
I wasn't aware that these were rival bands at all. I thought Sabbath's heyday was mostly in the 70's and JP's was in the 80's. Seem like two totally different eras. If I had to choose one (which seems odd), I guess I'd go with Sabbath. JP is good, but a lot of their songs sound alike to me. Sabbath just has better songs.
Priest put out 5 albums in the 70's, they just didn't hit mainstream success until 1980 when "British Steel" came out. Ironically, that's around when Ozzy got the boot.
that's asinine. Ex: Two of my favorite bands when I was in high school (79-83) were Iron Maiden and Judas Priest...both charter members of the NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal for those that dont know that acronym) The thought of not liking one band over the other because of a perceived rivalry would have never occurred to us back then. Basically, I agree with imad2k, if forced to choose one over the other, I would go with Sabbath simply because they ARE the godfathers of heavy metal. They did it before anyone else.
I can admit that Sabbath should be the choice because of their influence, I would probably lean Priest personally. I LOVE Ronnie James Dio, but Sabbath didn't do much for me after Ozzy was booted. Whereas Priest has over three decades of material with Rob Halford. Plus, I'm a metal guy and Priest was always a bit more heavy than Sabbath. I know it isn't the popular choice, but if I HAD to choose which albums to keep it would be Priest. Another controversial choice, I like Megadeth's work as a whole more than Metallica's as a whole. Metallica has three or four immortal albums, but they have five or six that are garbage. But I guess I shouldn't start that debate. Just giving you an idea that I don't always go with the "mainstream" choice.
good lord no please dont start *that* debate. In a theoretical debate, Metallica's first three albums are just as wonderful as a speed metal band can be. None of Megadeth's albums are at the level of the first 3 Metallica albums, but Megadeth's work over their entire catalog has been better.
Eh, I don't even consider Black Sabbath Black Sabbath after Ozzy left. Dio is great and all, but to me, there has never been a better metal vocalist than Ozzy. He gets a lot of (well deserved) hype for his front-man abilities, but you hardly ever hear people talking about his actual vocal talent. He really had an underrated voice.
Absolutely can like both. Priest is more of a lean, tight metal, and Sabbath is more lumbering and grungy. Halford is a much better singer than Ozzy, but Iommi is definitely the best guitarist among the two groups. If I had to pick...ugh... I like my favorite Priest songs better than my favorite Sabbath songs But I like my favorite Sabbath CDs more than my favorite Priest CDs. Tie. I would put The Scorpions in there, too. Animal Magnetism, Lovedrive, and Blackout are supremely excellent CDs, equal to anything from Sabbath and Priest. Auf Wiedersehen!!
You summed up my exact thoughts perfectly. And the difference is that Megadeth is STILL putting out quality albums. I liked Death Magnetic, but only because it was their first album that wasn't complete garbage in about two decades.
Oh, my Gosh....I would take Heaven and Hell over any Ozzy-Sabbath CD except for Paranoid- and maybe the one with Sweet Leaf. Neon Knights, Heaven and Hell, Children of the Sea, and especially Die Young. I'm biased because Heaven and Hell was one of the first cassettes I bought when I got my first cassette player in 1979. The first cassettes (Dad let me get 10 for my birthday- woot!!- remember it like it was yesterday): ELO- Greatest Hits Led Zeppelin II Jethro Tull- Stormwatch Supertramp- Breakfast in America Black Sabbath- Heaven and Hell Yes- Fragile Aerosmith- Toys in the Attic Boston- Boston Bad Company - Desolation Angels Pink Floyd- The Wall
Yes, Scorpions and Iron Maiden certainly should get some love here. Much like Sabbath without Ozzy though, I could give a damn about Maiden albums without Bruce.
Oh, I forgot about Iron Maiden. I remember one day buying 3 things- Iron Maiden's Piece of Mind, Genesis' Genesis, and about 5 packs of incense sticks. Smoked my room out and listened to both of those cassettes over and over. To this day, whenever I hear The Trooper or That's All, the sweet smell of incense is in the air.
I have to claim ignorance here. I never paid them any attention after Ozzy left. I was too busy worshiping Randy Rhodes (RIP). No KISS?? We are about the same age - maybe I'm a bit older, but I seriously think my first 5 albums I ever owned were KISS albums. Well those, and a 45 of the Houston Oiler Fight Song.
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This is the first I've heard of a Sabbath Judas Priest rivalry. I heard of a Sabbath Led Zeppelin rivalry though. Like both Sabbath and Priest, Sabbath a little more but they are both good.
Oh come on, Im just as big a Randy fan as anyone, but I most certainly paid attention to Sabbath w/RJD when they put out Heaven and Hell and then followed it up with Mob Rules. I coudnt say my "first 5" but they certainly held at least two of those five positions. (Alive II and Love Gun) I didnt get anything other than a transistor radio until around 75 so my first actually owned albums were from that time period. EDIT: agreed with Bob, IM a huge JP fan, but Sabbath did it heavier and earlier than anyone. They were the originators of drop tuning to get that low dirty sound