Episode #254 |10.21.25

Judas Priest: Satanic Panic, Censorship, Heavy Metal Suicide, and Defenders of the Faith

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In this episode

They helped create the genre of heavy metal, and then Satan and the censors tried to destroy them. Judas Priest defended the metal faithful on stage and in the courts, and became icons in the process.

Sources

Heavy Duty: Days and Nights in Judas Priest, by K.K. Downing with Mark Eglinton

Dawn of the Metal Gods: My Life in Judas Priest and Heavy Metal, by Al Atkins & Neil Daniels

AL ATKINS: How Original JUDAS PRIEST Lineup Came Together (Blabbermouth)

It’s Time to Revisit The Satanic Panic (NY Times)

Revisiting America’s Satanic Panic: When Heavy Metal and the Devil Himself Stalked The Earth (Vice)

SATANIC PANIC: AMERICA’S WAR ON HEAVY METAL IN THE 1980’S (heavyblogisheavy.com)

How JUDAS PRIEST Debunked Existence Of Hidden Messages In It’s Songs (Ultimate Metal)

2 Families Sue Heavy-Metal Band As Having Driven Sons to Suicide (NY Times)

JUDAS PRIEST’S SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE TRIAL: ROB HALFORD LOOKS BACK (Rolling Stone)

Another Day in Court for Rock Music: Law:Just Weeks After the Judas Priest Case, Ozzy Osborne Faces Similar Suits Over Subliminal Messages (LA Times)

How a suicide pact was almost the end of Judas Priest (Loudersound)

The Filthy Fifteen: Censorship, Gore And The Parental Advisory Sticker (udiscovermusic.com)

The West London Neighbourhood that was once ‘Soho of the West’ where gay venues have all but vanished (mylondonnews)

Meet the Leather World, circa 1975 (thornyc.livejournal.com)

Credits

Hosted by Jake Brennan.

Written by Jake Brennan.

Copy edited by James Sullivan.

Mixed by Matt Beaudoin.

DISGRACELAND theme song, “Crenshaw Space Boogie,” written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava, and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.

*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak