Judas Priest - Living After Midnight

Sunday, time for a classic.

By 1980, more than a decade into their career, JUDAS PRIEST were ready to take on the world. With the release of their sixth album, the classic "British Steel" and the single "Livin After Midnight" they were really delivering the goods.

The song title came about when Glenn Tipton awakened Rob Halford with his loud guitar playing at 4 AM, during the band's stay at Tittenhurst Park to record British Steel. Halford commented to Tipton that he was "really living after midnight", and Tipton replied that Halford's comment was a great title for the song he was working on.

On live performances, the line, "I took the city 'bout one a.m.", is sometimes changed to the particular city or venue the band is performing. For example, on the DVD Rising in the East, lead vocalist Rob Halford sings, "I took the Budokan 'bout one a.m.", in reference to the stadium in Tokyo, Japan, that hosted the concert. On the Westwood One recording from the 1983 US Festival Halford recites, "I took some acid about 1 a.m ..."

The music video, directed by Julien Temple and shot live at the Sheffield City Hall, begins with drummer Dave Holland playing an invisible drum kit. During the guitar solo, fans on the front row play along with their cardboard guitars (which were the prominent fan symbols of the new wave of British heavy metal movement).

This song has been covered by THE DONNAS on their album "The Donnas Turn 21" (2001), by Saul Blanch on the tribute album Acero Argentino: Tributo a Judas Priest (2006), by L.A. GUNS on Hell Bent Forever: A Tribute to Judas Priest (2008) and by IRON SAVIOR as a bonus track on the Japanese release of their Condition Red (2002) album.

It was covered by DISTURBED on the Tribute to British Steel (2010) CD by Metal Hammer UK music magazine, incorporating the opening drum salvo from "Painkiller". It also appears as one of the bonus songs available with some distributions of "Asylum" (2010), and also features on their B-sides compilation album "The Lost Children" (2011).

The guitar solo in the song is played by Glenn Tipton.

The song packed a real one-two punch that woke up U.S. fans to the power of the Priest. "Livin After Midnight", with its simple, almost KINKS-like riff, was a perfect melding of metal and pop, in the best sense of both worlds. In just over three minutes, Priest packed all the power of their metallic sound into a simple, direct pop track. Leaving behind earlier, more complicated songwriting, the band turned in a riff, melody and driving beat that was irresistible to rock radio. Record buyers also got hooked, giving JUDAS PRIEST their first major hit.

Enjoy!



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