Listening to some vintage Brit metal again - British Steel, in point of fact. Every time I hear this song I get the nagging feeling that the same thing must have happened to Judas Priest’s ‘Breaking the Law’ that happened to Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born in the USA’ - though perhaps not to the same extent, naturally. Rob and Glenn were never as overtly political as Bruce, of course (or even some other Brit metal acts), but this song in particular certainly has an anti-Thatcher political angle which is rather difficult to ignore. Actually, it’s a fairly straightforward song - it takes the perspective of someone who just can’t win by playing by the rules that the neoliberal economy and its cheerleader state lay down on him, and who robs a bank out of protest. There are a number of really nice touches to this video - one of them being that they come to the bank disguised as 17th-century Puritans, only to break out into their jackets and leather pants!
Enjoy, gentle readers!
Heavy metal has often been unfairly portrayed as a mindless genre of music. In fact, I would say that metal often has a distinctly working-class sentiment that gives it more credibility than say, college rock. At least that is my two cents!
ReplyDeleteIndeed! :)
ReplyDeleteSadly, Judas Priest do occasionally descend into album-oriented rock territory even on this album (with 'Living After Midnight')... but yes, on the whole they are pretty faithful to their blue-collar roots.
Don't know about college rock, though. Furthest I got into that genre was Coldplay, Soundgarden, a little bit of Weezer and Nirvana...