Unpopular Metal Opinions

According to the latest studies, 14 years of age is where this phenomenon is at its strongest.

Psych major here - During adolescence, our bodies are hyper-sensitive to stimulus of all kinds, especially emotional stimulus. This means that experiences and feelings we have at this stage in our life are intensified, and therefore solidified as significant memories in our brain. Anything that makes us feel strongly is more liable to be remembered and considered important to us, and since we are prone to feel more of everything in this period of our lives, what we experience often becomes ingrained much more significantly than in other periods of life. Evolutionary purpose? Humans need to take risks to evolve, and this risk taking behavior stems from the extreme sensitivity to feeling and the drive for more of it in this period of our lives. Favoring music (or anything) from this time period is a by-product of this.

At least, that was the consensus when I learned it. The field is always changing (and it's been some time since studying psych) so the details might not be 100%, but that's the gist of it.

Good to know that there's some scientific basis to what I thought was a personal theory. Interesting stuff, and explains why I still play Amiga games that I originally played around 1990.

Live albums are overrated

Live albums are overrated

I've got a good one:

Ben's opinions are overrated.

Live albums are overrated

I've got a good one:

Ben's opinions are overrated.

That is indeed a very unpopular thing to say Daniel. I guess this is the place for it.

OK, so it's time for me to share some of my wacky Judas Priest opinions. Don't say I didn't warn you. :)

1. Priest's best 70's studio albums were "Killing Machine" & "Rocka Rolla".

2. "Turbo" is one of Judas Priest's top three studio albums.

3. "Screaming For Vengeance" isn't as metal as it's made out to be & is overrated.

4. "Stained Class" is a consistent release but is lacking in the highlights department.

5. "Sin After Sin" has a three track quality hole in the middle of the album which makes it Priest's weakest 70's release.

6. "Living After Midnight" is an absolute shocker.

OK, so allow me to retort...

1. Killing Machine is a good album, but Rocka Rolla is unremarkable. Neither are a patch on Stained Class and Sad Wings.

2. Really?? err... OK. That IS an unpopular opinion (and it IS a shit record).

3. I agree.

4, I disagree. Exciter, Stained Class and Beyond the Realms of Death are all among Priest's best songs.

5. I kinda disagree, although Last Rose of Summer is a bit drippy.

6. This is a true statement. Although it's not as bad as Take on the World or the truly execrable United (in fact British Steel as a whole is their most overrated album).

OK, so allow me to retort...

1. Killing Machine is a good album, but Rocka Rolla is unremarkable. Neither are a patch on Stained Class and Sad Wings.

2. Really?? err... OK. That IS an unpopular opinion (and it IS a shit record).

4, I disagree. Exciter, Stained Class and Beyond the Realms of Death are all among Priest's best songs.

Quoted Sonny92

Unlike most people, I don't find "Rocka Rolla" to be all that unremarkable. I can understand the claims that it's lacking a bit of focus as there's certainly a lot of jumping around stylistically but you could also say that this equates to some interesting variety. I really enjoy the progressive & psychedelic components & (with the exception of "Winter Retreat") find it to be a very consistent record as far as overall quality goes. In fact, "Run Of The Mill" is an amazing piece of work & it takes up over 20% of the run time. I think "Rocka Rolla" suffers a lot from the fact that it's not a metal record. In my experience Priest fans don't generally take too kindly to that sort of thing.

I really like "Sad Wings Of Destiny" (with the exception of "Epitaph") but I just don't think it has as many highlights as people make out. "Victim Of Changes" is the only classic for me personally & I've never thought a track like "Tyrant" was as special as some people make it out to be.

There's definitely a strong case for claiming "Stained Class" to be the most consistently metal release to the time but that doesn't make me like it more than some of Priest other 70's releases. I've never understood why "Exciter" is held up on such a pedestal. It sounds pretty light-weight & bouncy to my ears & makes me feel like tapping my toe more than bang my head which is not a positive observation. It's not in the same league as an absolute banger of an opener like "Delivering The Goods" or "Victim Of Changes" in my opinion. I've never thought the title track was all that remarkable either actually. My faves from "Stained Class" are "Better by You, Better Than Me", "Beyond the Realms of Death" & "Heroes End" with the cover being my pick of the bunch. I dunno about you but I actually don't like "Invader" much. It's the only dud on the tracklisting for mine.

"Turbo" was my introduction to Priest & came at a very impressionable time in my life. It was the age of arena rock megastars so I was already well accustomed to a bit of hair metal pomp. "Turbo Lover" & "Out In The Cold" not only sit amongst my favourite Priest tracks ever but I actually hold them up as some of the greatest heavy metal anthems ever recorded so that obviously skews my opinion a bit. Sure there are a couple of overly commerical duds in the middle of the tracklisting (see "Rock You All Around the World" & "Parental Guidance") but that was hardly unusual for a Priest album to the time & the rest of the album is actually very strong if you can deal with a bit of 80's synth work in the production (which I clearly can). I honestly can't fault tracks like "Locked In" & "Hot For Love". Even "Private Property" gets me going if I'm honest.

I'll give Turbo the accolade of being underrated, I personally prefer it to British Steel and Killing Machine myself, but it does have some weak material. That being said... "Reckless" is in my top Judas Priest songs. Super underrated closer, amazing riffs and solos.

The track Stained Class is one of my Priest favourites, as is Genocide from Sad Wings and while Epitaph is no classic in itself, I fuckin love the way it segues into Island of Domination. 

As an old ex-biker (grebo was the old expression), I hate glam and hair metal and that Eighties arena rock sound so Turbo was never going to rev me up the way the earlier material did.