Judas Priest "Screaming for Vengeance" [1982]

Because they were already caricatures of 70s arena metal when they first started, Judas Priest made an effortless transition -- for them, not the listener -- into 80s hair metal. Proto-fascist, power-hungry conceits fit in so well with the Reagan Era it's actually kind of a wonder there was any other type of music happening back then. And Judas Priest themselves were consummate pros of the lunkheaded metal guitar gallop, with the perfect (as in horrendous) soaring scree of their sleeveless, studded-leather lead singer, Rob Halford. In fact, Halford was an A&R rep's spontaneous ejaculation of a cross between Ozzy Osbourne and Freddie Mercury, and obviously a lot closer to the latter than the former as far as sexual orientation, as we were to find out later. But Halford was, in fact, making his desires known in plain sight even back then; the lack of sexual savvy of the Priest's suburban teenage boy fan-base, however, saw the overtly gay lyric sheet going "straight" over their heads. Even the major hit single off "Screaming for Vengeance" -- "You Got Another Thing Comin'" -- is a perfect description of the male gay experience (subtly switching the original catch-phrase's "think" for "thing," and "thing = penis" was a "masterstroke" of sorts), so one can hardly fault people like Billy Squier for jumping on the gay metal bandwagon (Google: pink tanktop, video in the).