Breaking the Law
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"Breaking the Law" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Metal Gods" | ||||
Released | 23 May 1980 | |||
Recorded | January–February 1980 | |||
Studio | Startling, Ascot, England | |||
Genre | Heavy metal | |||
Length | 2:35 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Tom Allom | |||
Judas Priest singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Breaking the Law" on YouTube |
"Breaking the Law"[1][2] is a song by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, originally released on their 1980 album British Steel. The song is one of the band's better known singles, and is readily recognised by its opening guitar riff.
Composition
Prior to releasing 1980's British Steel, Judas Priest had been making moves toward streamlining their music into a simpler, less processed sound. That approach came to full fruition on British Steel. "Breaking the Law" combines a recognisable minor-key opening riff and a rhythmic chorus as its main hooks. There is a change-up on the mostly instrumental bridge, a new chord progression with Halford shouting "You don't know what it's like!" before the sound effect of a police car's siren leads back into the main riff. More recent live performances of the song have featured a short solo by Downing over the bridge. The outro of the song is the main riff played repeatedly with Halford singing the chorus and Downing playing power chords.
Halford later said, "It was a time in the U.K. when there was a lot of strife-a lot of government strife, the miners were on strike, the car unions were on strike, there were street riots. It was a terrible time. That was the incentive for me to write a lyric to try to connect with that feeling that was out there."[3]
Music video
Directed by
Downing later said, "I have to chuckle to myself really about how they got us to do whatever it was we were doing. But we were young and it was exciting and we were making probably the first ever heavy metal conceptual video. It reminds us that however big and powerful we were, we still did everything that people wanted us to do..."[4]
Performances
Since British Steel was released, "Breaking the Law" has been a popular staple at some of Judas Priest's most famous performances. The performance version of the song has changed since it was first performed on the 1981 World Wide Blitz Tour for the follow-up to British Steel, Point of Entry: at first, the band would play it the original way it was on British Steel. Later, the band sometimes (for example on the Angel of Retribution tour) played the opening riff with Halford picking for Downing, Downing picking for Tipton and Tipton picking for Hill, then quickly spreading apart to their respective usual positions on the stage for the verse. Over time, the band have raised the tempo of the song during live performances, and a solo was added by Downing (since his departure, his replacement Richie Faulkner composed a new solo, replacing Downing's). In live performances, Halford ends the song by screaming the words "Breaking the Law".
Critical reception
The song made VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs at No. 40.[5] In 2009 it was named the 12th greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.[6]
PopMatters said the song "opens with one of the most famous riffs in metal history, wasting no time getting into listeners' heads.'"[7]
Rolling Stone ranked the song number four on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs.[8]
Personnel
- Rob Halford – vocals
- K. K. Downing – guitars
- Glenn Tipton – guitars
- Ian Hill – bass
- Dave Holland – drums
B-side
"Metal Gods" | |
---|---|
Single by Judas Priest | |
from the album British Steel | |
A-side | "Breaking the Law" |
Released | 14 April 1980 |
Genre | Heavy metal |
Length | 4:00 |
Label | Columbia |
Songwriter(s) |
|
Producer(s) | Tom Allom |
"Metal Gods" is a song by Judas Priest from their album
Composition
Sounds produced by billiard cues and trays of cutlery can be heard in the song.[9]
Frontman
Charts
Chart (1980) | Peak position |
---|---|
Ireland (IRMA)[10] | 19 |
12 |
References
- ^ "Judas Priest: Breaking the Law". IMDb.
- ^ "Judas Priest – Breaking the Law".
- ^ a b c d e "Judas Priest's 'British Steel' Track-By-Track". Billboard. Archived from the original on 23 May 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
- ^ Joel McIver. "Judas Priest: British Steel, Stronger Than Ever". Rock's Backpages.(Subscription required.)
- ^ "VH1 40 Greatest Metal Songs", 1–4 May 2006, VH1 Channel, reported by VH1.com Archived 6 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine; last accessed 10 September 2006.
- ^ "spreadit.org music". Archived from the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
- ^ Adrien Begrand. "THE 15 BEST JUDAS PRIEST SONGS". PopMatters.
- ^ "The 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 13 March 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
- Sony Music Entertainment. 1980.)
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link - ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Breaking the Law". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
- ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 September 2022.