I want an explanation from those who listen to Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Sabbath, The Who, etc...

Why not love for the Defenders of the Faith?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX5kiemxOuE

They've done as much for rock and metal as Rainbow, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, The Stones, etc have.

Judas Priest is the shit. I don't have all their albums but I have enough to safely they're one of my favorite, if not my absolute favorite, artist. And you might want to changed that title to 'Metal Gods'. Many heavy metal acts have cited Judas Priest as one of the most influential and respectable bands to emerge from the heavy metal movement since the '70s. Hell, Kerry King from Slayer said he still gets excited whenever they go on tour with Judas Priest.

Dissident Aggressor

Slayer cover

Long live the Metal Gods. Thirty-five years of heavy metal! \m/

Maybe because their last album (Nostradamus) was same song TWENTY THREE TIMES. Their early music is tolerable.

You don't like Nostradamus? I don't have the album but from what I've seen it hasn't seen very warm reception. Painkiller is probably the only album to own if you had to live off of one Priest album alone. It combines all aspects of their earlier work with the speed and recklessness of thrash and power metal. If you listen very closely, most of the songs are directly analogous to one another.

i.e.

A Touch of Evil = Beyond The Realms of Death
Leather Rebel = Hell Bent For Leather

Of course, Screaming For Vengeance is boss too but I've listened to that album so many times it hurts me to hear even one song from it.

Judas Priest is a funny choice of name.

Judas Priest was a character in the Bob Dylan song 'The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest.' Now while it's true that Judas Priest inadvertently causes the death of Frankie Lee by exposing him to a scenario of extreme temptation, he isn't exactly doing the kind of badass thing a heavy metal band might name themselves after. They should have called themselves Stagger Lee...

Judas Priest is underrated? That's news to me. I love them. Have their Screaming for Vengeance album, and have heard Painkiller, Living After Midnight, Breaking the Law, and Heading Out to the Highway. Great band. Rob Halford is a hell of a singer.