Screaming For Vengeance - Overview

Overview

Screaming for Vengeance reached No. 11 in the UK and No. 17 on Billboard 200 Pop Albums. It went gold (RIAA) on 29 October 1982, platinum on 18 April 1983, and 2x platinum on 16 October 2001, being the band's first album to achieve the two latter awards. This album includes the hit single "You've Got Another Thing Comin'", a song which still receives regular airplay on classic rock radio to this day.

The album came 15th on IGN's 25 most influential metal albums. Screaming for Vengeance also came 10th on Metal-Rules.com's 100 greatest metal albums. Kerrang! magazine listed the album at No. 46 among the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time".

During the U.S. tour to support the album in 1982, Judas Priest were supported by bands such as Iron Maiden, Krokus, and Uriah Heep (in support of their album Abominog).

This album was the first entire album released as downloadable content for the video games Rock Band and Rock Band 2.

The title song "Screaming for Vengeance" was played on the main site for the video game Brütal Legend. Rob Halford plays both a villain in the game (named General Lionwhyte) and a heroic character called the Fire Baron.

The song "Riding on the Wind" was featured in the 2012 video game Twisted Metal.

The album's most successful track, You've Got Another Thing Comin', was a last minute addition. According to guitarist K.K. Downing, "We were quite happy with the album but decided late on that we could add one more song. I know we had some of the parts but we set about completing "Another Thing Comin'" during the mixing sessions at Bee Jay studios. It came together quite quickly and I seem to remember that we all had a good feeling about it as it did sound like a good driving song and possibly a good radio track."