Judas Priest – The Story Behind Breaking The Law | Louder
Judas Priest singer Rob Halford tells the story behind the band's top 20 UK hit from 1980, Breaking The Law.
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MusicTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC]
00:24 That song was written at John Lennon's former house in Tittenhurst Park,
00:33 just outside of London, with Tom Allen on the British Steel Sessions.
00:39 And we had about 30 days to write and record that album.
00:45 [MUSIC]
00:51 There was a time in the UK, particularly around the end of the 70s and
00:56 the early 80s, when this country was just, there was riots going on,
01:00 there was strikes going on.
01:02 There was a lot of pissed off people in this country, rightfully so.
01:06 [MUSIC]
01:11 As a lyricist, I'm always picking up on what's going on around me.
01:16 And I just remember seeing the news that night and
01:18 seeing all this stuff kicking off.
01:21 And it just made me feel about another area of the news,
01:26 which was that there was all these problems with young people leaving school or
01:32 university or college.
01:33 They'd been promised a job.
01:35 They'd been said, you know, if you complete all this and do all this,
01:40 you'll, you know, there'll be an opportunity to do this.
01:42 And there wasn't, which is sadly a bit like today's world.
01:47 [MUSIC]
01:50 The knee-jerk reaction for some people is to not exactly break the law,
01:56 but kick back at the system.
01:57 So we wrapped up that idea around this breaking the law.
02:02 There I was completely wasted out of work and down.
02:05 Well, there's your statement right away.
02:08 You're acknowledging a portion of society that's really,
02:13 you know, having a tough time in life.
02:16 [MUSIC]
02:19 It's almost a protest song, but it's just a very vibrant,
02:24 uplifting moment for
02:28 priests in our metal world, and it's become legendary.
02:33 [MUSIC]
02:43 It's in us all.
02:48 Not only the love of that priest song, but what that song represents,
02:52 breaking the law.
02:54 [MUSIC]