Judas Priest

A Judas Priest album and song called "Ram It Down" leave themselves prey to all sorts of sniggering conjecture, but K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton play like they could care less what you and your stupid friends think. From the first note, Rob Halford peals operatic mastery practically at dog-whistle levels of, uh, open-throated shriek. While Painkiller is still considered Judas Priest's return to form, there were exactly zero New Wave of British Heavy Metal albums released in 1988 with anything as awesome as the one-two punch of the title cut and "Heavy Metal." "Johnny B. Goode"? Not so much.