| "Turbo Lover" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Judas Priest | ||||
| from the album Turbo | ||||
| B-side | "Hot for Love" | |||
| Released | 7 April 1986 [1] | |||
| Recorded | 1985 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 5:33 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Tom Allom | |||
| Judas Priest singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "Turbo Lover" on YouTube | ||||
"Turbo Lover" is a song by the British heavy metal group Judas Priest that the band released as a single from their album Turbo . Both came out in 1986. Unlike the album, which reviewed mixed and often critical responses, most of the reception for this song has been positive, and it has been praised as a Judas Priest classic by music journalists. [4] [5] [6]
The song's lyrics alludes to motorcycle riding, and it broadly features an aggressive, sexual tone, with frontman Rob Halford having described the single as embodying "escapism". [7] Musically, it incorporates a synthesizer-based sound to the band's traditional type of heavy metal music. [6]
The song's lyrics have been described as being about "auto"-eroticism. [8] An article by the musical publication Loudwire remarked that the track succeeded by "[c]elebrating the band's connection with motorcycle culture and everything leather". [5]
Frontman Rob Halford has said: "I just liked the analogy of the motorcycle as a euphemism for love. And 'I'm your turbo lover, Tell me there's no other.' It's got kind of a sexual undertone to it – which is fine. It's been done many times in rock n' roll: to use a machine, car, or motorcycle. It's just a fun bit of escapism more than anything else." [7]
The music journalist Steve Huey, writing for the service AllMusic, praised the track as "a successful reimagining of the Priest formula" and otherwise stated in his review of the song's parent album, Turbo , that he viewed it "easily the best song on the record". [6] A piece published by Decibel Magazine described the single as "one of the classiest songs in [Judas Priest's discography]". [9] As well, the musical publication Loudwire ranked the song at number ten on its list of the "10 Best Judas Priest Songs". [5]
| Chart (1986) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Mainstream Rock ( Billboard ) [10] | 44 |
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. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the pioneers of the new wave of British heavy metal movement, and are cited as a formative influence on various heavy metal subgenres, including speed metal, thrash metal, power metal, and the hard rock/glam metal scene of the 1980s. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in the latter half of the 1970s, the band had struggled with poor record production and a lack of major commercial success until 1980, when their sixth studio album British Steel brought them notable mainstream attention.
Robert John Arthur Halford is an English heavy metal singer. He is best known as 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 been noted for his powerful and wide ranging operatic vocal style and trademark leather-and-studs image, both of which have become iconic in heavy metal. He has also been involved with several side projects, including Fight, Two, and Halford.
Turbo is the tenth studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released in the UK on 7 April 1986 by Columbia Records. The album is notable for the band's change to a commercial glam metal sound, that had them using synthesizers for the first time.
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Ram It Down is the eleventh studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 13 May 1988 by Columbia Records. It was the band's last album to feature longtime drummer Dave Holland, and was promoted in Europe and North America with the Mercenaries of Metal Tour.
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"Breaking the Law" 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.
"You've Got Another Thing Comin'" is a song by English heavy metal band Judas Priest. It was originally released on their 1982 album Screaming for Vengeance and released as a single later that year. In May 2006, VH1 ranked it fifth on their list of the 40 Greatest Metal Songs. It became one of Judas Priest's signature songs along with "Electric Eye" and "Breaking the Law", and a staple of the band's live performances. "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" was first performed on the opening concert of the Vengeance World Tour at the Stabler Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on 26 August 1982 and had been played a total of 673 times through the 2012 Epitaph Tour.
"Living After Midnight" is a song by English heavy metal band Judas Priest. It was originally featured on their 1980 album British Steel, which was their first gold album in the United States selling more than 500,000 copies. The song speaks to the hedonistic, rebellious spirit of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and is among the band's most popular songs.
Nostradamus is the sixteenth studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, focusing on the 16th-century writer Nostradamus. It is a double album and a concept album. It was originally intended to be released in late 2006 before being pushed back to a 2007 release, and was finally released on 16 June 2008 on Epic Records. It is the last Judas Priest studio album to feature the Painkiller-era lineup with guitarist and founding member K. K. Downing retiring in April 2011.
"Painkiller" is a song by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released in 1990; it was later released as a single on Columbia Records. It is off the band's twelfth album of the same name as the opening track. The lyrics tell the story of the Painkiller, the character featured on the cover of the album, who is a cyborg superhero who saves mankind from destruction.
"Heading Out to the Highway" is a song by English heavy metal band Judas Priest from their 1981 album Point of Entry. It was released as a single later that year, and was the band's first single to reach the US Mainstream Rock chart, peaking at No. 10.
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Firepower is the eighteenth studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest. Released in 2018, it was the band's first studio album since 1988's Ram It Down to be produced by Tom Allom and the first one with Andy Sneap as co-producer. The album sold around 49,000 copies in the United States within its first week of release, debuting at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart, making it the band's highest-charting album in the US. The album also reached No. 5 in the UK, making it their first top-ten album in the UK since British Steel. Music videos were made for "Lightning Strike", "Spectre" and "No Surrender". A lyric video was made for "Never the Heroes". The record also produced three singles.
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