Stained Class  by Judas Priest

The British band Judas Priest have been in the studio from November to December 1977, preparing their fourth studio album. By February 1978, their fans, who have begun to grow in number, have the Stained Class in their hands.

Stained Class is a very good album and particularly important in the career of Judas Priest. It is the first album with the new drummer Les Binks, and the musical style takes on the purely heavy form with which they became established in many albums that followed. Polish artist Rosław Szaybo created the now-classic logo of the band, which would adorn their albums from then onwards, and it was their first album to reach No. 173 on the Billboard, meaning it entered the Top-200 in the USA, where over the years it became gold.

Judas Priest decided to include a cover of a Spooky Tooth song, Better By You, Better Than Me, in Stained Class. Little did Judas Priest know what kind of trouble this song would cause them twelve years later. In Sparks, Nevada, two teenagers, James Vance and Ray Belknap, on December 23, 1985, were both listening to the song with weapons in their possession. They both attempted to commit suicide as they "heard" a repetitive "Do It, Do It!" during the song. Belknap was killed immediately, and Vance, after being severely injured, died three years later from an overdose of methadone. The teenagers’ parents sued the band, and the trial lasted from July 16 to August 24, 1990, with the court ultimately acquitting the band.