The Contrarians Panel: Dark Horse Album #11 - Judas Priest Turbo

[@thecontrarians2438]

Agree? Disagree? Where are you on Turbo? Support us on Patreon or Ko-Fi: www.patreon.com/contrarians ko-fi.com/thecontrarians

[@jasongaylor2232]

Strap me to a chair and force me to listen to "Yacht Rock" for 24 hours. I would rather do that. Listening to "Turbo" is pure torture!

[@anypoxynames]

My least favourite Priest album. I agree with Martin on the Scorpions anlogy. I bought this album and was deeply disappointed in it. It starts off with a, killer song, Turbo Lover then falls away, from there. I'd give it a 4.5. P.S, I class this as my least fave album, by them because Nostredamus, is not a JP album, in my opinion.

[@cameronsmith8328]

I find Turbo to be an incredibly catchy album, full of fun sing-along tracks. It always puts me in a good mood. 1986/7 were the years I really got into hard rock and metal in a huge way and I find many of the albums released in those years are still my favourites from the various bands. I think the music you fell in love with between 16 - 18 makes a huge, lasting mark on you.

[@holveragtz]

I love turbo! Not they’re best but definitely underrated and overlooked because of the pop qualities of it but its got good songs catchy songs and I enjoy it overall i dont think it’s their worst that’s for sure

[@TheProphetJoshua]

Killer verse melodies all over this record, incredibly memorable. "Hot For Love" could've used new words entirely and saved it.

[@parazatico9030]

Totally agree about 'Hot for Love'. 'Parental Guidance' is unsalvageable though, and the video for 'Turbo lover' is an abomination.

[@carl-johanfougstedt199]

I jumped in the Judas Priest band wagon with this album. I was 11 years when Turbo came out and it was my first Priest album so I don´t have any problem at all with this album. Out In The Cold is probably my favourite Priest song. Turbo Lover and Locked In are great tunes too. And I don´t mind any of the other songs either.

[@kevinsmith7-7-7]

Out in the Cold Awesome track I really don't mind the Album as a whole

[@DonJoeBob]

Jumped right on this episode, I love TURBO and have no problems spreading the love for it. I was 13 when this came out but had been a Priest fan for a few years (older brothers kept me up to date and in the know). As a young kid, the sound of the album was right in my wheelhouse but I knew it was a bold choice at the time. An older cousin of mine wasn't into hard rock and this became his favorite album at the time; he took me cruising with him (my first experiences with that) and we blasted this album a lot. So I have a strong personal connection but I still think those songs are great tunes and it's still one of my favorite Priest albums. I rate albums by rating each song 1-10, then getting my average - this one comes to 7.6/10 for me.

[@greenvinyldream]

The first remaster had a bonus track called All Fired Up. Really solid tune that has a Freewill Burnin' Vibe to it. If they had developed it a little bit more, it was have been a great track to include instead of Parental Guidance.

[@Gary-5642]

A couple lame tracks but it is very cohesive which is nice. I love Reckless, Turbo Lover, All Fired Up, Locked In and Hot For Love. Imo it's a better album than Ram it Down mainly for that damn Drum Machine.

[@jimekberg]

My song ranking: 1. Rapid Fire 2. Victim of changes 3. Grinder And the Turbo album: 1. Turbo Lover 2. Hot for love 3. Out in the cold 4. Private Property 5. Reckless 6. Parental Guidance 7. Wild nights,hot and crazy days 8. Locked in 9. Rock you all around the world

[@drewrose374]

Great Episode and Discussion! Loving the new graphics!

[@thecontrarians2438]

thanks Drew!! 🙏

[@drewrose374]

Not my favorite Priest album, but I love it and it holds a lot of great memories... graduating High School and cruising down to the Jersey Shore cranking it every weekend! I don't mix it with other Priest albums (I'm a 70's Priest guy) my 80's Priest comps will always include Turbo Lover, Locked In and my favorite Out In The Cold. I feel the same way about KISS' Crazy Nights, Great Summer cruising the shore album that doesn't mix with the rest of the catalog.

[@JohntheMusicNut]

Excellent discussion here and love the new format! Turbo was my second Judas Priest cassette after Defenders of the Faith. I bought an album here or there over the years and finally bought the six I needed to complete my collection during the pandemic. Turbo is an album I always liked but never loved and my opinion hasn't changed much. Always liked "Turbo Lover" and "Out in the Cold" and really enjoyed "Locked In" and "Reckless". Never cared for "Parental Guidance" or "Wild Nights, Hot Crazy Nights". "Rock You All Around the World" had a cool riff and a terrible lyric. I would give it a 6. Top 3 Judas Priest songs: 1. "You Don't Have to Be Old to Be Wise" 2. "Bloodstone" 3. "Starbreaker"

[@thecontrarians2438]

thanks John much appreciated! 🙏

[@reckia]

I didn’t mind the guitar synthesizers. It was something new for Judas Priest. What I didn’t like....and still don’t....are the increasingly dumbed down lyrics, especially for Parental Guidance. I think the song titles and lyrics were even worse on Ram It Down. And remember the new hairdos and costumes for this album? I like about four songs here...Turbo Lover, Locked In, Out In The Cold and Reckless. I could do without the rest of the album. I would say this album gets a rating of 5.5 from me.

[@thecontrarians2438]

solid rating

[@willd4731]

What would have made it a 5.4?

[@reckia]

@@willd4731 if they had included a pic of the band with their new hairdos and costumes. Tell me, do you question other people’s .5 ratings? And what would YOU rate the album?

[@willd4731]

@@reckia I would give it a solid 5.0 across the board. as a standalone hair metal album it's a 10, but as a Judas priest album it's a zero. So I'm taking the average , and mean of these two figures to compute a figure of 5.0. no decimals needed to cloud the analysis. Thank you.

[@reckia]

@@willd4731 well, everybody has their own way of rating things and nobody’s way is wrong. At least we both agree that this is not a good album. I would rate Ram It Down a 2.

[@RentalRewindGaming]

I personally have always really liked and enjoyed this album, but I cannot ignore that its a big departure from the previous two albums. Couple of filler tracks for me (Hot For Love and Wild Nights, Hot Crazy Days stand out in particular) but overall I really dig Locked In, Out In The Cold, Reckless, Turbo Lover and yes even Parental Guidence....guilty as charged lol. For me its a great sunny day, summer time album. Plus its arguably my wife's favorite JP album....which I did not expect but I don't argue when I come home and its being played on the stereo lol. Great episode as always, would totally cool to see you guys do Ram It Down and maybe the Priest...Live! album. I feel that they are highly underrated and get swept under the carpet so to speak. Especially Ram It Down, some real headbangers on that album I thought.

[@taranguapo]

Diggin the new setup, guys!

[@thecontrarians2438]

Thank you!!

[@jukeboxcowboy]

From the lyrics, to the videos, to the cover art, to the official pink T-shirt, Turbo ain't just for the dudes. Females were starting to fill up stadiums and buy metal records when this album came out. Turbo was both the result of, and the pursuit of, more maidens at the gigs and your girlfriend cranking up the Priest in her car. I'm a Turbo lover. 🤠

[@adamsasso1]

I was a Priest fan starting with the ‘Screaming for Vengeance’ album. I went back and explored a little of their back catalog at that time and loved it all (it was a lot harder to do in the early 80s - no internet, not Spotify, no $ to go buy ten records just to see what they were like). When ‘Defenders’ came out, we were like “Eh, not sure about this…” when ‘Turbo’ came out, we, or at least, I, was pissed! Hated it! ‘Parental Guidance’ was like a bad knock-off of ‘We’re not Gonna Take It’ by Twisted Sister (not a great song to emulate anyway). I rarely go back to this album nowadays. If I’m gonna choose Priest to listen to, why waste time with this one? That said, music is subjective and I have no issues with anyone liking this album. It just didn’t/doesn’t work for me. I’d give this a 4/10.

[@parazatico9030]

My own top three; 1) Run of the Mill, 2) Victim of Changes ( the 'Sad Wings' version, with that awesome, well how to describe it, 'noise' by Halford at the end), and 3), 'Delivering the Goods'.

[@jayjaytee9944]

Run of the Mill is awesome!

[@Carlos-xz3vi]

Turbo is pop metal done right. I love that album from start to finish. From the 2nd track Locked in to the fifth track Rock you all around the world, they are stadium metal gems. Not to mention this is the best version of Rob Halford we ever got. Rob was at the top of his game during the tour for this record.

[@inmyhouse11]

Turbo 3/ 10 New graphics and format for this episode 10/10

[@thecontrarians2438]

wow thank you!! your comment 10/10

[@Horrorfreak106]

I like this album it's a guilty pleasure for me. Yeah there's some stinkers in there, but Turbo Lover, Locked In, Out In The Cold, Reckless, etc. are good tracks that I regularly put in my JP playlist

[@chrisflood9205]

Preist is a band back in the day I thought was excellent but this is one album I never need to hear again.

[@willd4731]

This is a very hard album to objectively review, simply because of who released it. If it were any other run of the mill '80s hard rock or hair metal band, I would rank this fairly high.. it is a good representation of the genre's best facets. HOWEVER, since the producers of this album were not known previously as purveyors of this style, instead at the vanguard of a more heavier style of heavy metal, the album is ranked very low by most fans of said artist...perhaps unfairly. Personally I rank turbo as an eight as a hair metal album. But a five as a Judas priest album.

[@MrMojoRisin]

I agree with Martin, my favourite album is Killing Machine. Turbo is a 7 out of 10 for me. 1. Delivering The Goods 2. Grinder 3. The Ripper

[@Almeida5]

This is such a tough album to come to grips with. At really isn't that good, but the 15-year-old in me at the time devoured this record. There aren't many guilty pleasures I've enjoyed in life music wise, as I usually just own up to whatever it is I enjoy, but this is one of them. It's a turd in many ways, but one that transports me back. Having said all this, I will put "Out In the Cold" up there with any Priest tune. I know that Martin doesn't like that drab/melancholy type of stuff, but it's so damn atmospheric and it shines on that Live record. The other tunes I sort of like are "Wild Nights, Hot & Crazy Days" (which I like the heavy verses), yet the chorus is cringey. "Reckless" is a killer tune and I like the title track. Tracks 2-5 are what really bring this album down, with only "Locked In" somewhat okay.

[@lance98541]

I have a JP fan since the mid 70s, but Turbo killed it for me. I would give it a 2/10 and that is me being generous.

[@stevewhiteside4525]

I’m a newbie as well, only coming to Priest after their current catalogue was already in place, and also quite late on in my listening life, so I feel able to step back a bit. For me Priest kind of jumped the shark with Killing Machine/Hell Bent For Leather, dumbing things down in the pursuit of greater commercial success, and I think from then on everything prior to Painkiller had to some extent a superficiality to it. So Turbo isn’t such a surprise to me, they just went a bit further. The one highly thought of album I just can’t bring myself to acquire is British Steel, something I can’t quite put my finger on, so I’m not sure what possessed me to get Turbo. I do like a lot of Screaming and Defenders despite the lack depth compared to their classic 70s stuff, but Turbo only gets a 5-6/10 from me, needs a few more listens. I like the synths and could have stood them being used a bit more. Like a lot of the panel said there’s lots of good tunes, riffs, solos and verse melodies to be had, but the lyrics and chorus melodies are at about a 2/10. I really like their return of RH stuff, barring you know what. Some of it is kind of generic what HM bands did in the 70s and 80s, but I like the way they mix up elements of their previous eras.

[@EdwardBox]

This is a a really well crafted album that begins and ends with two of the finest ever tracks by JP. In between that are some good songs but it's let down by really inane lyrics. However, I still really like it and I think it has a a great sound that is high tech but a really good example of the time. The solos by KK and Glenn are stellar but this was the beginning of GT really staring to hog the leads. I would give the album 8.5/10 because I was there at the time but in reality it's a solid 7. It is Priest's attempt at a Pop/Hair metal album and in that area it succeeds for the most part.

[@damiangrimm1430]

I believe Turbo was the first Metal album to be recorded completely in digital. I personally really like this album. I still listen to it a fair bit. It does seem like Priest were trying to take their career to the next level with this album.

[@MorryB]

My recollections from being a teenage fan back then: The first single Turbo Lover was sort of ok and had a cool video which got it a lot of airplay, but after buying the album and listening to it, it just got worse and worse. The only partial saving grace being the final track, Reckless, that sounded like it belonged on one of their earlier (better) albums. Sad to say, but this album along with the cover of Johnny B Goode from Ram It Down made me lose interest in them nearly completely.

[@darkhymnsfromthecoldnorth]

Turbo and Point of Entry are almost unlistenable for me. I own them both...but don't need to ever hear them again.

[@matsetizar65]

The songs that people hate on turbo, well the same type of songs are also on screaming and defenders. I don’t have this problem (or is it inconsistency?), I love turbo, its perfect.

[@willd4731]

"I despise parental guidance" .. Martin don't we all!!!!!

[@jfbmf1242]

I can't get past the ice cream cone on the cover.

[@leswadley6792]

I personally was all about it when it came out! It hasn’t aged well with me tho! Still not a bad album, but it’s down the list for me of priest albums!

[@themightydecibel-heavymeta7130]

When Turbo was released most older fans of the band that I know absolutely hated it ... especially after the amazing Defenders of the Faith record two years previous. Dumbing down for the MTV masses and the damned awful "synthesized guitars", Turbo didn't represent a drop in quality, it was an absolute plummet into the abyss. A truly horrid album that remains one of the band's worst of their extended discography. (Please, no Nostadamus episode!)

[@thecontrarians2438]

thanks for the comment and we cannot confirm or deny any upcoming episodes! :P

[@gabriellarrubia1006]

My defense of this album, aside some great points that have already been made, is why something like Living after Midnight is completely acceptable but then Wild Nights, Hot & Crazy Days is considered awful? I agree that Parental Guidance and Rock You Around the World sound like amusement park metal, but so did United and Take on the World... There are minor grievances here and there; for example the intro synth on Locked In used to have me burst out laughing because it vaguely reminds of mario kart... and Hot for Love has vocal melodies that sound awkward... but again, the guitar performances really are insane... If you analyse Glenn's evolution this is where he's overdeveloping his legato. For the pain killer fans out there, The Sentinel (from the previous record) and Locked In are the first Priest songs to feature sweep picking... There's experimental phrasing from both and some of the novelty EVH or Ronni LeTekro-ish sounds KK does seem to surface here. All this is important to reiterate that despite any commercial angle, Turbo was by no means a step backwards musically as it and Ram it Down bridge the technical gap between the early 80s albums and Pain Killer, and this partially explains why another band releasing this would have gotten less heat... Any cringe moment doesn't take away from the instrumental value. I agree with many of the favorite picks and reasons why... My favorite now is Locked In (I got over the Mario Kart sounds and realized the song just slays from start to finish). Turbo Lover comes close because of the amazing build-up, the breakdown and solo that comes after it (out of the box phrasing from Glenn). I've always liked Wild Nights- curiously enough, and Private Property is the song that grew on me over the years... The riffs bang, the synths work well here and I can imagine girls in a car choreographing a dance, moving their hands back... I don't blame these guys at all for writing a couple of tunes the ladies would like, Saints in Hell was never gonna work for them... Love Bites, maybe... but you all get the point. There are better Priest albums, but it's not outrageous that this went platinum- it's a step up from a lot of commercial albums of its time that try to be underwhelming rather than properly technical.

[@SuperStrik9]

If you're gonna champion Turbo as Priest's best album you've lost your mind.

[@thecontrarians2438]

haha i dunno if anyone on the panel said it was the best, but there were a couple of high ratings for sure!

[@Strimbles]

Yeah what a fool, his music reviewers license has been revoked!!!!

[@SuperStrik9]

@@Strimbles Lol. No music reviewers license for you! Like the soup nazi from Seinfeld.

[@SuperStrik9]

@@thecontrarians2438 It's all good. Even if it is someone's favorite Priest album that's ok .

[@MartinPopoff]

Yeah, I don't think anybody is doing that here.

[@damiankarras]

Turbo’s chart peak was not 56, it was 17 in the U.S. ,37 in Canada, 33 in U.K. and 56 in Australia. Also, there was also a special edition of Defenders of the Faith that also included a full live concert. I see no difference between the songs ‘Parental Guidance’ and ‘Living After Midnight’. They are both basically glorified Kiss anthems. I pretty much agree with Martin, although I think he would disagree with me about my Kiss analogy. My favourite album will always be Defenders of the Faith, even though I agree about the compressed drum sound. But the songs are just killer, with the exception of Heavy Duty. The Sentinel is my favourite Priest tune. As far as Turbo, I love Turbo Lover, Locked In, Reckless, and my favourite Out in the Cold. It’s even better on Priest….Live. Rating 7/10. Defenders 9/10. British Steel does not deserve the love it gets based on the production and the 2 biggest songs, which I always hated. And Painkiller I believe is judged highly because of the song Painkiller, much like Kiss - Revenge is judged highly because of Unholy. Both songs are killer, and both albums are decent, but not even close to 9 or 10 out of 10 like a lot of people say. There’s a lot of substandard shit filler on both those albums. Ok, let me have it!

[@jimekberg]

Heavy Duty is the best and heaviest song on the Defenders album.

[@damiankarras]

@@jimekberg that’s crazy. Heavier than Jawbreaker, Freewheel Burning, Eat Me Alive, and The Sentinel. Crazy talk. It’s not even as heavy as Love Bites.

[@jimekberg]

@@damiankarras It´s the Heaviest song on the album and Love Bites is the second heviest.

[@lateramae]

I like the album cover too, but that should've been a sign that 'Turbo' was going to be different from previous Priest albums. The hand has red nail polish on it, for goodness sakes!

[@johnnyparks7316]

Out in the cold alone gives this album a 9!!

[@kevinkaple3615]

I love turbo…I shouldn’t ..it’s weird ,really poppy ..but it works for me

[@tillwesenberg1178]

I remember it wasn't received too well in Germany back then.

[@CJINW]

I was in 11th or 12th grade when this came out and EVERYONE I knew was EXTREMELY disappointed!!!!!

[@rtm8090]

If you're into this album you might also want to check out pop music.

[@MrOctober44]

The guy complaining about the album the most keeps saying how bad 1986 was. Wtf?! In that year Master of puppets Peace sells, Reign in blood were all released. If you like the glam bands Slippery when wet, Night songs, and Look what the cat dragged in, Inside the electric circus, and eat em and smile all came out. Ntm The ultimate sin and Rage for order.

[@Strimbles]

Joe made a fair review at 2/10...then out of pressure bumping it to 3/10. .😂 Can't believe these guys .... talking about this having some of their top 5 priest songs... one of their fave LP's etc.... Are you even versed in the first 5 LP's which all completely DESTROY this garbage, followed by the next 5 which also make this LP look pathetic.......C'MON MAAN!!!!

[@JoeyArmstrong2800]

I don't hate Turbo. I think it's good for what it is and I judge it on that level.

[@MrMaideniac]

My problem with Turbo and overall Judas Priest is their desire to follow trends versus setting them. When you do that, you come across as weak and out of ideas. If your into hair metal, it’s a great hair metal album. They did the same with Painkiller by jumping on the thrash bandwagon. Painkiller is a great album, but it’s hard to respect Priest (mostly KK) for constantly sticking their finger in the air to see what direction the wind was blowing, then to turn around and follow it.

[@jockmctodger]

Reckless, Out In The Cold, Locked In & Turbo Lover are excellent songs. The rest of the album is average to mediocre to me. 6/10

[@MartinPopoff]

That sums up this episode perfectly - wise music swami.

[@chaddunn9621]

I will give Turbo 6.5.

[@srednuasrmit]

Turbo was the best hair metal album ever made, and I hate hair metal.

[@gamleskalle1]

Only listen to the live versions on Priest live.

[@briandunlap8534]

i didn't like this album when it came out and i don't like it now. out in the cold is the only song i like. the rest is dreck. I saw this tour and live these songs weren't any better. this would be dead last in a judas priest album ranking for me. 2.5 out of 10.

[@jayjaytee9944]

I started to come around to Turbo over the last few years.....Still Wild Nights Hot and Crazy Days = Unlistenable and imo the worst Priest song ever!!! I also agree with Martin about Out in the Cold, its OK, but never been a big fan, Rock You all Around the World -= Got a good heavy intro riff, but the song is mediocre at best imo Parental Guidance, bad lyrics in hindsight, but I related to it back in the day and I always thought it was cool how they referenced Another Thing Coming at the end. One Life and I'm Gonna Live It Up! The other songs I love! 6.5/10

[@EDGECRUSHER555]

Love Priest, just cannot listen to this shit, I rate this as their worst release, the song Reckless is the only song I can listen too. 2/10 for me

[@williamgainford9332]

After screaming for vengeance / defenders of the faith - turbo was so disappointing - the best i can do is - ive made my peace with it - over the years lol - love out in cold / locked in / reckless - the rest formulaic pop metal - its contrived to sell rather than written because they wanted to - top 3 priest songs - you dont have to be old to be wise / out in the cold !!!! / victim of changes

[@waynekozik525]

Out in the cold & Turbo The rest are rancid pool of sxxt

[@gamleskalle1]

First JP i heard as, a 13year old in the top year of Heavy Metal, 1986. Like some songs, alot of filler.

[@vinylsolution2522]

They already wrote Sinner !!! You want them to repeat themselves ??? Shitting on Turbo is so lazy and Closed minded. Turbo Production sounds Amazing, fun songs, some dumb lyrics yes... but so what its Rock n Roll. I'm forever grateful Priest took a chance and tried something different. I wish it was Twin Turbo, a double lp Epic.

[@cirjames2540]

Uninspired vocals from Rob is the first thing i noticed when i re-listened to the album. I didn't mind JP trying new things like electronics but the poor song writing.makes it very forgettable. 2/10

[@koopee27]

Turbo is better than Painkiller. There. I said it.

[@gamleskalle1]

Call a shrink, lol.

[@hood_from_the_woods666]

No

[@LarryFleetwood8675]

I agree but I don't know what they were thinking, making a 'radio pop/hair metal' album like Turbo which is about as far away from their '70s stuff as they could possibly get. A very Americanized sound a la Scorpions at the time (think Scorps overall had the better material though), it feels almost like this latter '80s period (Defenders and onward) lacked severely in inspiration relying instead on rather simple poppy hooks, culminating on the mostly disappointing Ram it Down.

[@jasongaylor2232]

No. They're BOTH horrible. "Painkiller" has to be one of the most overrated records ever and "Turbo" is just outright bad. When you have an album where three songs are at least tolerable at best, it's not good. It's about strong songs and consistency and these records have neither. At least "Point Of Entry" has 50% that is pretty damn good.

[@RodrigoAlves-bc8qq]

@@jasongaylor2232 Agree.

[@patrickmcnamara3879]

Possibly the worst album ever made

[@jasongaylor2232]

Turbo is such a horrible album. Everything that was wrong with rock music in the mid to late 80's. This is the garbage that created the environment for Grunge to take over in the early 90's, folks. There might be three songs I can tolerate on the album at best. It's watered down, overly commercial shite. Horrible lyrics that a 12 year old would have been embarrassed to have written. Simple riffs. Bland production. "Point Of Entry" is a masterpiece compared to this trainwreck of an album. Even "Unmasked" by Kiss is better! Don't get me wrong. A rock band can go more commercial and do some pop BUT it better be good. Otherwise, you are going to lose your rock base. And boy, did Priest lose a lot of fans with this one. And they didn't gain many converts or achieve the result they wished for by doing it in the first place. I would give this record a 5. And that's being extremely generous. This album is on the level of the worst from the hair bands. This so reminds of the two albums Twisted Sister released after "Stay Hungry"(good record). "Come Out and Play" and "Love Is For Suckers". Even Dee says those albums suck and should have never been done! I agree! Sorry but I had to rant about this stinker. I would be thoroughly embarrassed if anyone heard me playing this record. I'll even take good Disco over it! Ok, I'm done. Joe is right. And to the dude who gave this album a 9. Please God, go and discover good music. If any band released an album like "Turbo" as their debut. That would be their last album and they would have an extremely short career. Thankfully, Priest have everything that came before that was much better. Especially those excellent 70's records!

[@RodrigoAlves-bc8qq]

Good rrant. Spot on.