GLENN TIPTON
As half of Judas Priest’s twin-guitar firepower he’s one of the architects of heavy metal.
With KK Downing his vital and equally undersung counterpart, Glenn Tipton was half of Judas Priest’s highly influential twinaxe attack, helping to forge the sound of heavy metal as it moved into the 80s.
Like many players of his generation, Tipton’s lead technique hasn’t always been Yngwie-precise, but, more importantly, his parts are delivered with guts, speed, and real edge. Priest has always been a band greater than the sum of its parts, and Tipton’s heavy, nimble playing and squealing adds heft, intensity and excitement to their irresistible slabs of genre-defining metal. Tipton can bring the shred (Screaming For Vengeance’s Electric Eye; Painkiller’s A Touch Of Evil), but his melodic, lyrical side is too often overlooked (see Dream Deceiver, from Sad Wings Of Destiny). It’s also a tribute to him that he has continually improved as a player – Painkiller, 2018’s Firepower (with Richie Faulkner) and Tipton’s 1997 solo album Baptizm Of Fire are master classes in metal melodics. GM
Listen to this: Beyond The Realms Of Death (Judas Priest, Stained Class, 1978)