"Breaking the Law" is a song by English
heavy metal band
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in th ...
, originally released on their 1980 album ''
British Steel''. The song is one of the band's better known singles, and is readily recognized 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.
![Breaking the Law (Judas Priest)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Breaking_the_Law_%28Judas_Priest%29.svg)
The song features some sound effects, including the sound of breaking glass and a police siren. The band were recording ''British Steel'' at
Tittenhurst Park
Tittenhurst Park is a Grade II listed early Georgian country house set in off London Road at Beggar's Bush near Ascot and over the parish border into Sunningdale, both in the English county of Berkshire. It was famously the home of musici ...
, which was the home of
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
's drummer
Ringo Starr
Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...
. For the breaking glass effect, the band used milk bottles that a milkman brought them in the morning, and the police siren was actually guitarist
K. K. Downing
Kenneth Keith Downing Jr. (born 27 October 1951) is an English guitarist and a former member of the heavy metal band Judas Priest.
Early life and career
Downing was born in West Bromwich, West Midlands. In the late 1960s, he developed a pas ...
using the tremolo arm on his
Stratocaster.
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."
Music video
Directed by
Julien Temple
Julien Temple (born 26 November 1953) is a British film, documentary and music video director. He began his career with short films featuring the Sex Pistols, and has continued with various off-beat projects, including ''The Great Rock 'n' Roll ...
, the video starts with vocalist
Rob Halford
Robert John Arthur Halford (born 25 August 1951) is an English heavy metal singer. He is the lead vocalist of Judas Priest, which was formed in 1969 and has received accolades such as the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. He has b ...
singing from the back of a 1974
Cadillac
The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...
Fleetwood Eldorado
El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...
convertible. Halford meets with two men dressed as priests carrying guitar cases and they enter the bank together. For the ''breaking the law'' chorus the two men remove their disguises and are revealed to be guitarists K. K. Downing and Glenn Tipton. They are then joined by bassist Ian Hill and drummer Dave Holland. The people in the bank are incapacitated by the guitars. Meanwhile, the security guard (who has only just awoken) watches on in amazement on the
CCTV
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...
screens. The band breaks into the safe (with Halford showing 'extraordinary' strength in pulling apart the iron bars). Halford takes from the safe a golden record award for the ''British Steel'' album (the music video was shot before the album went platinum). They soon leave the bank with the record and drive away. Concert footage of Judas Priest is now on the CCTV screens and we see the security guard miming along with a fake guitar very much lost in the music. The video ends with the full band driving back along the A40 repeating the chorus until the song is finished.
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..."
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
The ''World Wide Blitz Tour'' was a 1981 concert tour by English heavy metal music, heavy metal band Judas Priest where the band toured in Europe and North America from 13 February to 14 December 1981 in support of the album ''Point of Entry.''
...
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
''Angel of Retribution'' is the fifteenth studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released in 2005. It is the band's first album since 1990's ''Painkiller'' to feature Rob Halford. The album debuted at on the US Billboard 200 c ...
'' 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
Richard Ian Faulkner (born 1 January 1980) is an English musician best known as one of the lead guitarists for the heavy metal band Judas Priest since 2011, replacing original member K. K. Downing. Faulkner has also performed with Lauren Harris ...
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 . In 2009 it was named the 12th greatest hard rock song of all time by
VH1
VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...
.
''
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'' said the song "opens with one of the most famous riffs in metal history, wasting no time getting into listeners' heads.
Personnel
*
Rob Halford
Robert John Arthur Halford (born 25 August 1951) is an English heavy metal singer. He is the lead vocalist of Judas Priest, which was formed in 1969 and has received accolades such as the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. He has b ...
– vocals
*
K. K. Downing
Kenneth Keith Downing Jr. (born 27 October 1951) is an English guitarist and a former member of the heavy metal band Judas Priest.
Early life and career
Downing was born in West Bromwich, West Midlands. In the late 1960s, he developed a pas ...
– guitars
*
Glenn Tipton
Glenn Raymond Tipton (born 25 October 1947) is an English guitarist. Often noted for his complex playing style and classically influenced solos, he is best known as one of the lead guitarists for heavy metal band Judas Priest.
Early life and ...
– guitars
*
Ian Hill – bass
*
Dave Holland – drums
B-side
"Metal Gods" is a song by Judas Priest from their album ''
British Steel''. The song was also released as the
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
to the song "Breaking the Law".
Composition
Sounds produced by
billiard cues and trays of cutlery can be heard in the song.
Frontman
Rob Halford
Robert John Arthur Halford (born 25 August 1951) is an English heavy metal singer. He is the lead vocalist of Judas Priest, which was formed in 1969 and has received accolades such as the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. He has b ...
said about the song in a
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
article: "I'm a bit of a science-fiction fan, and I think I got the lyrics from that world-robots and sci-fi and metal gods, just by word association. It's a statement against Big Brother or something, about these metal gods that were taking over".
Guitarist
K.K. Downing
Kenneth Keith Downing Jr. (born 27 October 1951) is an English guitarist and a former member of the heavy metal band Judas Priest.
Early life and career
Downing was born in West Bromwich, West Midlands. In the late 1960s, he developed a pa ...
said: "When we were recording that track we had loads and loads of fun trying to make it sound as metal as we can. We were shaking cutlery trays in front of the microphones to create the sound of metal marching feet".
Halford added: "In those days there wasn't an Internet, so you couldn't go online and download samples. So we would whip a piece of guitar chord on a flight case or swish a pool cue in front of a microphone for the audio effects. I lifted and dropped that cutlery tray 100 times, I think".
Downing also added: "
Ringo Starr
Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...
actually owned the house when we were there, so we would go around to see what Ringo had that we could put on our record. So I guess it's Ringo's knives and forks that created the true 'Metal Gods' sound, which is pretty funny to realize".
Charts
References
External links
Official music videoat
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breaking The Law
1980 singles
Judas Priest songs
Songs written by Rob Halford
Songs written by Glenn Tipton
Songs written by K. K. Downing
1980 songs
Columbia Records singles
Music videos directed by Julien Temple
Protest songs