Judas Priest Album: “Fuel for Life”

It's too bad that this collection ends just as Judas Priest were hitting their stride in video making. The first few are absolutely terrible, and the later ones show promise but never really evolve into something truly groundbreaking. Their best one of the bunch is probably "Locked In". Here's a rundown:

"Living After Midnight" (1980) - remarkable only for how truly bad it is, and for getting a glimpse at the band before their leather-n-studs look was fully realized. Watching the hired extras play air (and worse, cardboard) guitars is a truly painful experience. Nice head of red hair on Rob there, he looks like Emo Phillips. And about those tights, Rob - I really don't care to know what religion you are.

"Breaking the Law" (1980) - another exercise in video making before anyone had a clue what they were doing. Has anyone figured out what's going on with the security guard here? He awakens to see the band on his monitor breaking into the bank, grabs his guitar and appears to run out of the room as if he's going to use it as a weapon, and then ends up merely sitting back in his chair and playing it. Stupid. Beavis & Butt-Head put it best when they said, "I still like Judas Priest and stuff, but...this is HORRIBLE."

"Don't Go" (1981) - Anyone who had their doubts about Rob's sexuality need look no further than this clip, in which he had the biker-dude-from-the-Village-People look down cold. And what a discredit to Ian Hill that his longest continuous scene in any Priest video consists of him being serenaded practically nose-to-nose by Rob with the line "I'd do, I'd do anything for you". And what's the deal with the rabbits?

"Hot Rockin'" (1981) - hands down the worst Priest video ever. Those hours in the gym look like they're really paying off...NOT. Nice suntans there too, boys. Things get a little better (emphasis on the word LITTLE) at the end when it's just the band playing with Rob singing into a flaming microphone and his boots on fire.

"Heading Out To The Highway" (1981) - Rob goes with a simple Fruit-of-The-Loom t-shirt and faded blue jeans and acts as the starter for a drag race a la "Grease". Nice backdrop there, apparently the scenery budget was pretty low. By the way, The Knack called. They want their drummer back.

"You've Got Another Thing Coming" (1982) - by hiring director Julian Temple (who later directed some of the best rock videos of the era for David Bowie and Duran Duran), Priest comes up with something a little more stylish and cutting edge, although the ending where a guy's head gets blown off by some sort of "energy channeling" from Rob is still pretty cheesy. By this point, drummer Dave Hollard and bassist Ian Hill are relegated to token milliseconds of camera time, which is where they will stay for the rest of the videos in this collection.

"Freewheel Burning" (1984) - another cool clip, even though it's little more than shots of the band interspersed with a kid playing a racing video game. I like the little mirrors on Rob's spiked outfit. Filmed very well, the band was actually starting to pay more attention to production values now, because they HAD TO.

"Love Bites" (1984) - standard fare concert video, which is cool since it came from the Defenders of the Faith tour, the first one I saw.

"Locked In" (1986) - A Priest video that is actually MEANT to be funny. This one has a storyline which consists of a little search and rescue mission plot to save Rob from the clutches of some skeleton warriors, using outdated effects from old Sinbad and Jason & the Argonauts movies. Dave Holland and Ian Hill are demoted to mere "ladder holders" for this one. Gets my vote for Most Humorous Use of a Twinkie in a Rock Video. Notable for the fact that there are no shots of the band playing in the clip, and no lip synching by Rob. The song is purely a soundtrack to the video.

"Turbo Lover" (1986) - Basically just the sequel to "Locked In", in which the skeleton warriors pursue Priest on motorcycle following their escape. Interspersed with B&W cuts of the band playing over the colorized scenes. Loses major points for being a severely edited version of the song. One skeleton loses her bra. Didn't know skeletons had breasts, much less nipples.

Priest rocks no question about it. All the tunes on this vid are memorized by most Priest fans. However the videos, through no fault of the band, are downright silly. By the time 'British Steel' came out MTV and videos were in their infancy. Every band was rushing to get them done, and any crackpot director would take the job to turn a song into a three minute movie, cartoon, or disaster. Judas Priest's video efforts were for the most part, cheese-ridden celluloid wastelands.

1. Livin' after midnight - Fans playing cardboard instruments. Notice the backwards flying V, and Rob Halford's spandex jumpsuit.

2. Breakin' the Law- The infamous bank robber video. Note Rob's 'shoulder thing' made famous by Beavis & Buthead. Stealing a platinum album from the bank vault.

3. Don't Go - The first indication from even back then of Rob being a bit 'fruity'.

4. Hot Rockin' - Judas Priest in the gym with Rob doing pushups while lip-synching.

5. Free Wheel Burning - One of their greatest and fastest brought down by eight year olds in an arcade playing the 1982 Atari Pole Position game.

6. Another thing Coming- Probably their first decent one. Gotta love the lasers.

7. Heading out to the Highway - Drummer in black leather jacket and necktie. Singing on a painted road and acting out the race from Grease.

8. Turbo lover - pretty good. Love the bum on the chick chasing her spare tire.

9. Locked In - Lots of chicks and little skeleton dudes.

10. Love Bites - Awesome concert type video.

If u love Judas Priest u will love this.I think these videos are cool and Breaking The Law is very funny.I bought this off of this site,$1.69 but for 2.00 thats a good price,Collecters item for any Judas Priest fan who realli has apprectiation for the best line up of Priest,which is Rob Halford,Glenn Tipton,K.K. Downing,Ian Hill and Dave Holland.I love this video any Priest fan who doesnt own this u must get it and also buy Electric Eye!

This is a silly compilation of Judas Pirest videos, that only serve for a good laughing. Don't waste your time on it, unless you wanna see tha band dressed like Motley Crue (on the TURBO videos) or watch Halford give over the top fake performance for the videos of BREAKING THE LAW.