With the newly remastered, deluxe 30th anniversary edition of British Steel about to be released, guitarists Tipton and Downing sat down to reflect on the original nine-song disc that changed their lives.

Rapid Fire:

Glenn Tipton: “We wrote it on the spot. Unlike our other albums, we weren’t fully prepared when we starting cutting British Steel, so many of the songs were written as we went along. “With Rapid Fire, I think we just wanted to jolt the listeners and really grab them. Our attitude was, ‘All right, people. No mucking around. Here’s an album you’re going to listen to.’”

KK Downing: “What’s amazing is, the whole album was written and recorded in 28 days, so we probably should have called the record Rapid Fire. That’s how fast we were going. “It’s a cool track. I remember that we played it on stage last year and I thought, Wow, this is a really unusual song, composition-wise. It holds up extraordinarily well.”

Metal Gods:

Glenn Tipton: “I used an SG on this cut - actually, on a lot of the album - and I remember I had a lot of Marshall stacks in the downstairs living room and I was getting a good sound there. “We were emerging at the time as, well, ‘metal gods,’ if you will. Everything was falling into place with our sound, our image, how we were being seen. I would say this song reflects our confidence.”

KK Downing: “It’s stayed in the Priest set since 1980, so I would say that’s a bold testimony to the song’s power and longevity. “What’s funny is, there were no samples in those days, so we created our own. The clanking of the chains you hear is us raiding through Ringo Starr’s cutlery drawer and shaking knives and forks around. I don’t think he ever knew that… but he will now!”

Breaking The Law:

Glenn Tipton: “It’s one of our biggest hits, and funnily enough, we didn’t labour over it. It wasn’t written beforehand; in fact, I clearly recall bashing that riff out one afternoon as we were getting set to record something else. “The best songs are always the ones that just happen, and this song exemplifies it. I sat down with the guitar and had nothing, and suddenly I had something pretty amazing. It was just meant to be that day. Good thing I picked up the guitar when I did or else it might not have popped into my head and fingers.”

KK Downing: “The sounds of the breaking glass was another one of self-created samples. In this case, it was us crashing milk bottles against the side of Ringo’s house. We did the clean-up job pretty well, I must say.
“I love the energy of the song. It might be one of our shortest cuts. Get in, punch hard and get out, you know?”

Grinder:

Glenn Tipton: “It’s a typical Priest song. A ‘grinder’ can represent a being of some sort, either human or otherwise. It can be anything you like. “That’s one of the great things about our songs: you can attach your own fantasies onto them. We might create the songs, but the fans make them their own.“

KK Downing: “Probably a song that AC/DC could have done. It’s got that same kind of groove to it that they’re famous for. We weren’t trying to emulate them - it just worked out that way. “Grinder definitely made a real connection with our fans, and it’s still in our repertoire. The message we were sending out was, ‘Be strong. Don’t let all the crap grind you down.’”

United:

Glenn Tipton: “It’s a great anthem. Even though it’s not the last track on the record, it’s a great way to finalise the album. It says it all, really. “We love creating songs where we can take them to the stage and make people feel as one - one with themselves, with us - and when that happens, it‘s overwhelming.”

KK Downing: “The song titles keep coming at me. Sometimes I think that if you have the perfect title, the rest of the tune will come to you if you just let it. “With United, we wanted our fans to know that we were just like them. We weren’t this rich, money-making machine; we were just regular guys trying to forge our way in the world. We were normal people, but together, we had incredible strength.”

You Don’t Have To Be Old:

Glenn Tipton: “What a terrific statement. There’s a bit of a rebel quality to it. It’s us saying, ’We know what we’re doing.’ Even though we were pretty young at the time, we were asserting our independence. “Is it punk? I guess there’s that essence. It was in the air at the time, the whole us-against-the-establishment movement. But that’s always happening. We just decided to write a song about it.”

KK Downing: “You could write this song today and it would still be relevant. Back then, we were tired of people putting us down for having long hair and thinking that we were nothing. Young kids nowadays probably feel the same way with how they dress and wear their hair. “As metal artists, we were seen as louts and what have you, so this is us saying, ‘No, we do matter. We’re important and we’re not stupid.’”

Living After Midnight:

Glenn Tipton: “Rob had gone to bed one night - he’d had a bit to drink after a session, as he used to do in those days - but I decided to break out the guitar and crank it up to 11. “So I’m bashing out these chords and Rob comes downstairs, with his hair all a mess - yes, he did have hair back then - and he goes, ‘What are you doing? It’s after midnight!’ And I went, ‘Yeah. Living after midnight!’ We had a laugh, but then we realised that it was a cool title.”

KK Downing: “Nobody believes me, but we had no idea it would be a massive hit. Quite frankly, we were shocked when it reached as many ears as it did. “Glenn came up with the riff late at night, and after we stopped throwing shoes at him, like, ‘Cool it. It’s late, man. Go to bed,’ we quickly recognised that he might be on to something. Lo and behold, the masses agreed.”

The Rage:

Glenn Tipton: “A killer song, if you ask me, and probably one that was quite daring for us as a metal band at the time because it starts out with a reggae riff. Who would have expected that from Judas Priest? “Also, the fact that it starts out with that riff makes everything even more forceful when the metal comes pouring in. I love The Rage. It’s probably one of my favourites.“

KK Downing: “A bit more moody, this one. We were always trying to broaden our horizons and expand what heavy metal could be. So you’ve got the reggae beginning and my solo is a bit bluesy and Paul Kossoff-like. He was a brilliant guitar player. “Like with a lot of the other songs, we wanted to throw it to all the people who were putting us down. We were raging, hence the title. It was loads of fun to record.”

Steeler:

Glenn Tipton: “As good an album closer as I can imagine. It relates to the album title, but it also says a lot about us as a band, as well, that we came from Birmingham, a rough town but one that was built, literally, from the British steel industry. “I myself worked in the steel factory for a time; it’s where I apprenticed before I became a professional musician. I have tremendous respect for steel workers, but I guess it’s true that I dreamed of getting out and seeing the world, doing my own thing. Steeler is a song that speaks to that desire.”

KK Downing: “Go out as you come in - that was our motto. We started off with a bang with Rapid Fire and went out pounding away. “Plus, there’s the end part with me and Glenn trading off on guitars and having a good time. It’s very much a Black Country song. The steel workers were called Steelers, and we felt as though we were one of them, taking heavy metal - steel, if you will - and creating something with it. A beautiful way to end an album.”