Judas Priest
Screaming For Vengeance
(hear it)

My wife Lea got this album by Sahara Hotnights, a Swedish band, that sounds just like Judas Priest. I assumed they were some also-ran from the time of The Runaways and The Raincoats, because they had that all-girl punk-rock look on the cover. I guess they're actually a contemporary band that tours with other Swedish "hard rock" bands like the Hives or whoever.

I love how a band that sounds like Judas Priest now could easily be a critical favorite, as long as they're from Nova Scotia or Azerbaijan. I have a first-order enjoyment of Judas Priest's music.

First or second-order love of a thing is an idea Lea and I talk about sometimes. Second-order means that it isn't the thing itself that you like - you like the fact of liking it, or the effect that your enjoyment has on you or others. I guess people typically refer to second-order liking as ironic, but that seems too dismissive. Irony is not serious, but a second-order love of a thing is honest, in my view.

Judas Priest just kicks ass.

bb, 22 jan 08