Stained Class is the fourth album by British heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 group Judas Priest

Judas Priest

Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,...

, released in February 1978. A popular album in the band's catalogue, Stained Class showcased a more streamlined songwriting style. The production is crisper, clearer, and cleaner than any of their preceding albums. This is the only Judas Priest album to feature songwriting by all five members (one of Ian Hill

Ian Hill

Ian Hill is a founding member and bassist for the Birmingham-based Grammy award winning heavy metal band, Judas Priest....

's few contributions to the songwriting process for the band, and the sole contribution thereof by then-drummer Les Binks

Les Binks

James Leslie Binks , is a Northern Irish heavy metal drummer, who is most notable for having been the drummer for Judas Priest.-History:...

 – the guitar riff for "Beyond the Realms of Death"). Following this album the band broke its songwriting team down to Rob Halford

Rob Halford

Robert John Arthur "Rob" Halford is an English singer-songwriter, who is best known as the lead vocalist for the Grammy Award-winning heavy metal band Judas Priest. He is nicknamed the "Metal God" as a tribute to his influence on metal, and after the Judas Priest song of the same name from 1980's...

, K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton

Glenn Tipton

Glenn Tipton is one of the Grammy Award-winning guitarists for the heavy metal band Judas Priest...

, with occasional contributions solely by Tipton.

The sleeve artwork, by Roslav Szaybo at CBS Records, introduced their classic logo, replacing the Gothic Script

Blackletter

Blackletter, also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule, or Textura, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 to well into the 17th century. It continued to be used for the German language until the 20th century. Fraktur is a notable script of this type, and sometimes...

 logo of earlier releases. Stained Class was highly influential in the development of the speed metal

Speed metal

Speed metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from NWOBHM and hardcore punk roots. It is described by Allmusic as "extremely fast, abrasive, and technically demanding" music....

 subgenre and was the first Judas Priest album to dent the Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

. The album was remastered in 2001, with two bonus tracks added. In 2004, UK magazine Metal Hammer named Stained Class the heaviest metal album of all time.

Legacy

Stained Class received unfortunate negative attention due to the infamous and bizarre 1990 civil action brought against the band by the family of a teenager, James Vance, who entered a suicide pact with his friend Ray Belknap after listening to "Better By You, Better Than Me

Better By You, Better Than Me

"Better By You, Better Than Me" is a 1969 song by the band Spooky Tooth which was covered in 1978 by Judas Priest.The song was the subject of the much-publicized 1990 "subliminal message trial" in which Judas Priest was involved in a civil action that alleged they were responsible for the suicide...

" on 23 December 1985. Belknap succeeded in killing himself, and Vance was left horribly disfigured. The suit alleged that the band recorded subliminal messages on the song that said "do it". The suit was eventually dismissed. The song lyrics are actually about a person who's upset at the world's current state and is leaving his lover to try to change things by joining the war effort.

Track listing

Personnel

• Rob Halford
  Rob Halford
  Robert John Arthur "Rob" Halford is an English singer-songwriter, who is best known as the lead vocalist for the Grammy Award-winning heavy metal band Judas Priest. He is nicknamed the "Metal God" as a tribute to his influence on metal, and after the Judas Priest song of the same name from 1980's...
  
  : vocals
• K.K. Downing: guitars
• Glenn Tipton
  Glenn Tipton
  Glenn Tipton is one of the Grammy Award-winning guitarists for the heavy metal band Judas Priest...
  
  : guitars
• Ian Hill
  Ian Hill
  Ian Hill is a founding member and bassist for the Birmingham-based Grammy award winning heavy metal band, Judas Priest....
  
  : bass guitar
• Les Binks
  Les Binks
  James Leslie Binks , is a Northern Irish heavy metal drummer, who is most notable for having been the drummer for Judas Priest.-History:...
  
  : drums
• Dave Holland
  Dave Holland (drummer)
  Dave Holland is an English rock drummer, best remembered from his stint with Judas Priest between 1979 and 1989. He served time in prison for attempted rape of a 17-year-old boy...
  
  : drums (Only on the Bonus track "Fire Burns Below")

Charts

Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1978	Pop Albums	104

External links

• Stained Class at the Judas Priest Info Pages site. Accessed July 10, 2005.