document_title: Judas Priest

question_text: where did the band judas priest get their name

question_tokens: where did the band judas priest get their name

text: Judas Priest

text: History[edit]

text: Origins (1969–1974)[edit]

text: Judas Priest were formed in 1969 in industrial West Bromwich, in the Black Country, by vocalist Al Atkins and bassist Brian "Bruno" Stapenhill, with John Perry on guitar and John "Fezza" Partridge on drums. Perry soon died in a road accident, and amongst the replacements the band auditioned were future Judas Priest guitarist Kenny "K. K." Downing; at the time, they turned him down in favour of 17-year-old multi-instrumentalist Ernest Chataway, who had played with Birmingham band Black Sabbath when they were still called Earth.[1] Stapenhill came up with the name Judas Priest from Bob Dylan's song "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" on the album John Wesley Harding.[2] No member of that early lineup lasted long enough to play on the band's recordings, though several songs co-written by Atkins appeared on their first two albums.[1]

text: The band gained a three-album recording contract with the label Immediate in late 1969 after a gig in Walsall,[a] but the label went out of business before an album could be recorded, and the band split in 1970. Late in the year, Atkins found a heavy rock band rehearsing without a singer called Freight, made up of K. K. Downing on guitar, his childhood friend Ian "Skull" Hill on bass, and drummer John Ellis.[3] He joined them, and they took on Atkins' defunct band's name. Their first gig was on 6 March 1971. Ellis quit later that year and was replaced with Alan Moore. Early shows included Hendrix and Quatermass covers, and in 1972 the set list included the originals "Never Satisfied", "Winter", and the show-closer "Caviar and Meths".[4]

text: Moore left and was replaced with Christopher Louis "Congo" Campbell, and the band joined Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi's management agency Iommi Management Agency.[b] Atkins continued to write material for the band—including "Whiskey Woman", which became the base for the Judas Priest staple "Victim of Changes"—but as finances were tight and he had a family to support, he played his last gigs with the band in December 1972.[6] Campbell left soon afterwards, and the band enlisted two members of the band Hiroshima: drummer John Hinch and vocalist Rob Halford, the brother of Hill's girlfriend.[c] Judas Priest made their first tour of continental Europe in early 1974 and returned to England that April to sign a recording deal with the label Gull.[8] Gull suggested adding a fifth member to fill out the band's sound; they took on as a second lead guitarist Glenn Tipton,[8] whose group The Flying Hat Band were also managed by Iommi's agency.[5]

text: Rocka Rolla (1974–1975)[edit]

text: Judas Priest went into the studio in June–July 1974 with Black Sabbath producer Rodger Bain.[9] The band released their debut single "Rocka Rolla" that August[citation needed] and followed in September with an album of the same name.[9] The album features a variety of styles—straight-up rock, heavy riffing, and progressive.[10]

text: Technical problems during the recording contributed to the poor sound quality of the record. Producer Rodger Bain, whose resume included Black Sabbath's first three albums as well as Budgie's first album, dominated the production of the album and made decisions with which the band did not agree.[11] Bain also chose to leave fan favourites from the band's live set, such as "Tyrant", "Genocide" and "The Ripper", off the album and he cut the song "Caviar and Meths" from a 10-minute song down to a 2-minute instrumental.

text: The tour for Rocka Rolla was Judas Priest's first international tour[12] with dates in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Denmark including one show at Hotel Klubben[13] in Tønsberg, one hour from Oslo, Norway, which scored them a somewhat negative review in the local press.[14] The album flopped upon release, leaving Priest in dire financial straits. Priest attempted to secure a deal with Gull Records to get a monthly pay of 50 pounds, however, because Gull Records were struggling as well, they declined.[15] Rocka Rolla (1974) has been for the most part dismissed by the band and none of its songs were played live after 1976[16] except for "Never Satisfied", which was revived during the Epitaph Tour in 2011.[17]

text: Sad Wings of Destiny (1975–1977)[edit]

text: The band performed "Rocka Rolla" on BBC Two's The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1975, as well as the "Dreamer Deceiver"–"Deceiver" pair the year before the songs appeared on Sad Wings of Destiny.[18] Hinch left the band for reasons that are disputed and was replaced with Alan Moore,[19] who returned to the band in October 1975.[20] Finances were tight: band members restricted themselves to one meal a day—and several took on part-time work—while they recorded their follow-up album on a budget of £2000.[21] The group intended to make an album mixing straight-ahead rock with a progressive edge.[22]

text: The band recorded Sad Wings of Destiny over two weeks in November and December 1975 at Rockfield Studios in Wales.[23] The band stayed sober during the 12-hour recording sessions.[22] The cover depicts a struggling, grounded angel surrounded by flames and wearing a devil's three-pronged cross,[24] which became the band's symbol.[25] The album was released in March 1976,[26] with "The Ripper" as lead single.[27] The band supported the album with a headlining tour[20] of the UK from April to June 1976.[28] By this time Halford joked that fans should burn their copies of Rocka Rolla.[29]

text: The album had little commercial success at first[30] and had difficulty getting noticed due to critical competition from the rise of punk rock,[31] though it peaked at No. 48 in the UK and had a positive review in Rolling Stone.[20] Fans, critics, and the band have since come to see Sad Wings of Destiny as the album on which Judas Priest consolidated their sound and image.[25] It features heavy riffing and complex song arrangements that Tipton and Downing have said were inspired by the factories of The Black Country.[32] The album's centrepiece "Victim of Changes" evolved from a combination of Atkins' "Whiskey Woman" and Halford's "Red Light Woman", and went on to become a fan favourite.[24]

text: The band grew dissatisfied with Gull;[33] the tight finances led Moore to leave the band a second time—this time permanently.[34] Sad Wings of Destiny caught the attention of CBS Records, and with the help of new manager David Hemmings, the band signed with CBS and received a £7004600000000000000♠60000 budget for their next album. The signing required breaking their contract with Gull, resulting in the rights to the first two albums and all related recordings—including demos—becoming property of Gull.[33] Gull periodically repackaged and re-released the material from these albums.[35]

text: Major label debut (1977–1979)[edit]

text: Judas Priest recorded their major-label début in January 1977 at The Who's Ramport Studios, with Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover as producer.[36] Moore left again during the sessions and was replaced with session drummer Simon Phillips.[37] The album features significant developments in heavy metal technique, in particular its use of double-kick drumming on tracks such as "Dissident Aggressor",[38] and includes a pop-metal cover of "Diamonds & Rust" by folk singer Joan Baez.[39]

text: Their next album, Sin After Sin, appeared in April 1977.[1] It was the first Priest record under a major label, CBS, and the first of eleven consecutive albums to be certified Gold or higher by the RIAA.[citation needed] Phillips declined to become a permanent member of Judas Priest, so the band hired Les Binks on Glover's recommendation. Together, they recorded 1978's Stained Class, produced by Dennis MacKay, and Killing Machine (released in America as Hell Bent for Leather).[40] Binks, credited with co-writing "Beyond the Realms of Death", now regarded as one of the band's classics, was an accomplished and technically skilled drummer and his addition added a dexterous edge to the band's sound.[original research?] Binks also played on Unleashed in the East (1979), which was recorded live in Japan during the Killing Machine tour. While the first three Judas Priest albums had considerable traces of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple in them, as well as ballads, Stained Class did not contain any ballads aside from "Beyond the Realms of Death".[citation needed] Killing Machine was the first nod to a more commercial sound, with simpler songs that brought back some blues influences. At about the same time, the band members adopted their now-famous "leather-and-studs" image.[41]

text: Mainstream success years (1979–1991)[edit]

text: Following the release of Killing Machine (1978) was the live release from the supporting tour, Unleashed in the East (1979). It was the first of many Judas Priest albums to go platinum. There was some criticism of the band's use of studio enhancements and overdubbing in what was marketed as a live album.[42] By this point the playing style of the band had grown progressively heavier, with live versions of songs such as "Exciter" and "Diamonds and Rust" sounding much heavier and faster than their studio counterparts.[citation needed]

text: Les Binks quit in late 1979, as he was unhappy with the band's desire to move towards a simplified radio rock sound, so they replaced him with Dave Holland, formerly of the band Trapeze. With this line-up, Judas Priest recorded six studio and one live album, which garnered different degrees of critical and financial success.

text: In 1980, the band released British Steel. The songs were shorter and had more mainstream radio hooks, but retained the familiar heavy metal feel. Tracks such as "United", "Breaking the Law", and "Living After Midnight" were frequently played on the radio. The next release, 1981's Point of Entry, followed the same formula, and the tour in support of the album featured new songs such as "Solar Angels" and "Heading Out to the Highway".

text: The 1982 album Screaming for Vengeance featured "You've Got Another Thing Comin'", which became a major radio hit in the US. Songs such as "Electric Eye" and "Riding on the Wind" also appeared on this album, and proved to be popular live. "(Take These) Chains" (by Bob Halligan, Jr) was released as a single and received heavy airplay. This album went Double Platinum.[43]

text: On Sunday, May 29, 1983, the band played on Heavy Metal Day of the US Festival, a music festival in San Bernardino, California sponsored by Steve Wozniak. The band was fourth in the lineup that also included Quiet Riot, Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne, Triumph, Scorpions, and Van Halen.

text: Priest continued their success through the mid-1980s. "Freewheel Burning", released in 1983, was a regular on rock radio. Its album Defenders of the Faith was released the following year. Some critics dubbed it "Screaming for Vengeance II", due to its musical similarity to the previous album.[44]

text: On 13 July 1985, Judas Priest, along with Black Sabbath and other performers, played at Live Aid. The band played at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. Their setlist was "Living After Midnight", "The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)" and "(You've Got) Another Thing Comin'".

text: Turbo was released in April 1986. The band adopted a more colourful stage look and gave their music a more mainstream feel by adding guitar synthesisers. The album also went Platinum and had a successful arena tour in support, with 100 concerts in North America, Europe and Japan in 1986. A live album recorded on the tour, titled Priest...Live!, was released the next year, offering live tracks from the era. The video documentary Heavy Metal Parking Lot was created by Jeff Krulik and John Heyn in 1986. It documents the heavy metal fans waiting on 31 May 1986 for a Judas Priest concert (with special guests Dokken) at the Capital Center (later renamed US Airways Arena) in Landover, Maryland.

text: In May 1988, Ram It Down was released, featuring several reworked songs left over from Turbo, in addition to new songs. The band recorded three tracks with pop producers Stock-Aitken-Waterman: two originals, "Runaround"[45] and "I Will Return",[46] and a cover of The Stylistics' hit "You Are Everything"; however, they were ultimately not included on this album due to a management decision. A reviewer has called Ram It Down a "stylistic evolution" that resulted from the band's "attempt to rid themselves of the tech synthesiser approach ... and return to the traditional metal of their fading glory days". The reviewer argued the album showed "how far behind they were lagging ... the thrashers they helped influence" in earlier years.[47] In 1989, longtime drummer Dave Holland left the band.

text: In September 1990, the Painkiller album used a new drummer, Scott Travis (formerly from Racer X). This comeback album dropped the 1980s-style synthesisers for all songs except "A Touch of Evil". The tour used bands such as Annihilator, Megadeth, Pantera, Sepultura and Testament as opening bands, and culminated in the Rock in Rio performance in Brazil in front of 100,000+ fans.

text: Part of the Judas Priest stage show often featured Halford riding onstage on a Harley-Davidson motorbike, dressed in motorcycle leathers and sunglasses. In a Toronto show in August 1991, Halford was seriously injured as he rode on stage, when he collided with a drum riser hidden behind clouds of dry ice mist. Though the show was delayed, he performed the set before going to a hospital. Hill later noted "he must have been in agony". In a 2007 interview, Rob claimed the accident had nothing to do with his departure from the band.[48]

text: Subliminal message trial[edit]

text: In 1990, the band was involved in a civil action that alleged they were responsible for the self-inflicted gunshot wounds in 1985 of 20-year-old James Vance and 18-year-old Raymond Belknap in Sparks, Nevada, USA.[49] On 23 December 1985, Vance and Belknap, after hours of drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana and allegedly listening to Judas Priest, went to a playground at a church in Sparks with a 12-gauge shotgun to end their lives. Belknap was the first to place the shotgun under his chin. He died instantly after pulling the trigger. Vance then shot himself but survived, suffering severe facial injuries. Following numerous complications, Vance too died in 1988, three years after the suicide pact.[50]

text: The men's parents and their legal team alleged that a subliminal message of "do it" had been included in the Judas Priest song "Better by You, Better than Me" (a cover of the Spooky Tooth number) from Stained Class (1978). They alleged the command in the song triggered the suicide attempt.[49] The trial lasted from 16 July to 24 August 1990, when the suit was dismissed after the judge ruled that the so-called "do it" message was a result of an accidental mixup of background lyrics.[49] One of the defence witnesses, Dr. Timothy E. Moore, wrote an article for Skeptical Inquirer chronicling the trial.[49] The trial was covered in the 1991 documentary Dream Deceivers: The Story Behind James Vance Vs. Judas Priest.

text: Comedian Bill Hicks ridiculed the lawsuit as part of his act, pointing out the absurdity of the notion that a successful band would wish to kill off their purchasing fanbase.[51]

text: The Ripper Years (1991–2003)[edit]

text: After Painkiller's tour in 1991, Halford left Judas Priest. In September 1991, there were indications of internal tensions within the band. Halford went on to form a street-style thrash metal group named Fight, with Scott Travis on drums for the recording sessions. He formed this band to explore new musical territory, but due to contractual obligations, he remained with Judas Priest until May 1992.[52]

text: Halford collaborated with Judas Priest in the release of a compilation album entitled Metal Works '73–'93 to commemorate their 20th anniversary. He also appeared in a video by the same title, documenting their history, in which his departure from the band was officially announced later that year.

text: In a February 1998 interview on MTV, Halford publicly revealed his homosexuality.[53]

text: Tim "Ripper" Owens, who had previously sung in a Judas Priest tribute band called British Steel, was hired in 1996 as Judas Priest's new singer. This line-up released two albums, Jugulator (1997) and Demolition (2001), as well as two live double-albums – '98 Live Meltdown and Live in London (2003), the latter of which had a live DVD counterpart. Although Jugulator sold relatively well, it was given mixed reviews.

text: Reunion and Angel of Retribution (2003–2006)[edit]

text: After eleven years apart, faced with an ever-growing demand for a reunion, Judas Priest and Rob Halford announced they would reunite in July 2003, to coincide with the release of the Metalogy box set (despite Halford's earlier insistence that he "would never do it"[54]). They did a concert tour in Europe in 2004, and co-headlined the 2004 Ozzfest, being named as the "premier act" by almost all US media coverage of the event. Judas Priest and "Ripper" Owens parted amicably, with Owens joining American heavy metal band Iced Earth.

text: A new studio album, Angel of Retribution, was released on 1 March 2005 (US) on Sony Music/Epic Records to critical and commercial success, earning the band a 2005 Metal Hammer Golden Gods Award for Best Album.[55] A global tour in support of the album ensued. Award As for the band Halford, writing for the fourth release was cut off. After the Retribution tour in June 2006, however, Halford announced he would create his own record company, Metal God Entertainment, where he would release all his solo material under his own control. In November 2006 he remastered his back catalogue and released it exclusively through Apple's iTunes Store. Two new songs allegedly set for the fourth release, "Forgotten Generation" and "Drop Out", were released through iTunes as well.

text: Along with Queen, Kiss and Def Leppard, Judas Priest was an inaugural inductee into the "VH1 Rock Honors".[56] The ceremony took place 25 May 2006 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and first aired on 31 May.[56] Their presentation was preceded by Godsmack performing a medley of "Electric Eye"/"Victim of Changes"/"Hell Bent for Leather." Judas Priest then played "Breaking the Law", "The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)" and "You've Got Another Thing Comin'", before which Halford rode a Harley onstage.

text: Nostradamus (2006–2010)[edit]

text: In a June 2006 interview with MTV.com, Halford said of the group's concept album about the 16th-century French writer Nostradamus, "Nostradamus is all about metal, isn't he? He was an alchemist as well as a seer – a person of extraordinary talent. He had an amazing life that was full of trial and tribulation and joy and sorrow. He's a very human character and a world-famous individual. You can take his name and translate it into any language and everybody knows about him, and that's important because we're dealing with a worldwide audience."[57] In addition to digging new lyrical ground for the band, the album would contain musical elements which might surprise fans. "It's going to have a lot of depth", Halford said. "There'll be a lot of symphonic elements. We might orchestrate it, without it being overblown. There may be a massive choir at parts and keyboards will be featured more prominently, whereas they've always been in the background before."[57] The album Nostradamus was released in June 2008; the band began a support tour in that same month.[58]

text: In early February 2009, the band joined the ranks of bands speaking out against ticket-touting ("scalping"), issuing a statement condemning the practice of selling tickets at well above face value, and urging fans to buy tickets only from official sources.[59] In the same month, Judas Priest continued their tour, bringing their "Priest Feast" (with guests Megadeth and Testament) to multiple arenas in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland in February and March 2009. From there the tour progressed to multiple venues in Sweden. Later in March, Judas Priest performed in Portugal (at Lisbon on the Atlantic Pavilion), which they had not visited since 2005. The tour then continued to Milan, Italy, and then Paris, France; Halford had last performed with Judas Priest in Paris in 1991.

text: From June through August 2009, Judas Priest completed a North American tour to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the release of British Steel (1980); the album was performed in its entirety on each tour date, with some other songs thrown in. This tour was to be a joint effort with fellow Englishman David Coverdale and Whitesnake. Unfortunately, Whitesnake would have to leave the tour after the show in Denver, Colorado on 11 August 2009 due to Coverdale falling ill with a serious throat infection; he was advised to stop singing immediately to avoid permanently damaging his vocal cords.[60][61]

text: On 14 July 2009, Judas Priest released a new live album, featuring 11 previously unreleased live tracks from the 2005 and 2008 world tours, A Touch of Evil: Live. The performance of "Dissident Aggressor" won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.[62]

text: In May 2010, Halford said the band had been offered a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but "we've just never been there when they wanted to do the ceremony." He also revealed that a Nostradamus tour was still being contemplated: "We were in Hollywood recently and met with some producers and agents, so there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes."[63]

text: Downing's retirement and Epitaph World Tour (2010–2011)[edit]

text: Judas Priest announced on 7 December 2010, that their Epitaph World Tour would be the band's farewell tour and would run up until 2012.[64] In a January 2011 interview, Rob Halford said about the band's impending retirement: "I think it's time, you know. We're not the first band to say farewell, it's just the way everyone comes to at some point and we're gonna say a few more things early next year, so I think the main thing that we just want to ask everybody to consider is don't be sad about this, start celebrating and rejoicing over all the great things we've done in Judas Priest."[65]

text: On 27 January 2011, it was announced that Judas Priest was in the process of writing new material; the band also clarified their plans for the future, saying, "this is by no means the end of the band. In fact, we are presently writing new material, but we do intend this to be the last major world tour."[66] Speaking at a press conference in Los Angeles on 26 May of the new material Glenn Tipton said: "It's quite a mixed bag. Really, there's more sentiment on this album. In a way, I suppose, it's also our farewell album, although it might not be our last one. There are some anthems on there, which pay tribute to our fans".[67]

text: On 20 April 2011, it was announced that K. K. Downing had retired from the band and would not complete the Epitaph World Tour. Downing cited differences with the band and the management, and a breakdown in their relationship. Richie Faulkner, guitarist for Lauren Harris's band, was announced as his replacement for the Epitaph World Tour.[68] Downing's retirement leaves bassist Ian Hill as the only remaining founder member of the band.

text: On 25 May 2011, Judas Priest played during the finale of American Idol season 10 with James Durbin, making it their first live performance without K.K. Downing.[69] The band played a mixture of two songs: "Living After Midnight" and "Breaking the Law".[69]

text: On 7 June 2011, the band announced that it planned to release the box set Single Cuts, a collection of singles, the following August.[70]

text: Redeemer of Souls (2011–2015)[edit]

text: In an August 2011 interview with Billboard, Halford explained that he and Tipton had "about 12 or 14 tracks completely mapped out" for a new studio album, with four of those tracks already recorded and mixed.[71] The band made a point to take its time with the album, with Halford explaining "I'm of the attitude it'll be ready when it's ready ... I don't think we're going to slack off. We're determined to do a lot of work and be just as dedicated as we've always been and take a lot of care and attention with all the songs. We're not going to just bang this one out, so to speak."[72]

text: On 13 September 2011, Priest announced its plans to release a new compilation album, The Chosen Few, a set of Priest songs chosen by other iconic heavy metal musicians.[73]

text: On 5 June 2013, Rob Halford confirmed that the Epitaph World Tour would not be the band's final tour.[74] On 22 December, Judas Priest released a short Christmas message on their official website, which confirmed that they would be releasing their next album in 2014.[75]

text: On 17 March 2014 at the Ronnie James Dio Awards in Los Angeles, Rob Halford announced that the band's 17th studio album was finished.[76] On 28 April, the band released the album's title track "Redeemer of Souls" for streaming on their official website.[77] Redeemer of Souls was released on 8 July 2014. It sold around 32,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 6 on The Billboard 200 chart, the band's highest charting position in the US after the double-disc concept album, Nostradamus, debuted at No. 11. This was the band's first top 10 album in the US.[78] The band went on tour in support of the album which ran from 1 October 2014 until 17 December 2015. The Redeemer of Souls Tour led to the sixth live album Battle Cry, which was released on 25 March 2016 after being recorded at the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany on 1 August 2015.[79][80][81][82]

text: Firepower and Tipton's retirement from touring (2015–present)[edit]

text: In a November 2015 interview with Reverb.com, Richie Faulkner said that the band would start work on a new album in 2016.[83] In April 2016, Loudwire posted a photo showing Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton and Faulkner himself in the studio beginning the process of the album,[84] with Halford confirming in a radio interview that the album would be ready by early 2017.[85] During an interview at the 2016 edition of the Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp, Halford expressed dissatisfaction on making a Redeemer of Souls part two: "I think it's very important that we make another stand alone record again, a heavy metal record that's going to have its own legs and just be as different as all of them have been so far."[86] Faulkner then stated that the band would begin recording in January 2017 and also said that they would not go on tour until 2018.[87]

text: While discussing the 30th anniversary release of Turbo with Ultimate Classic Rock in January 2017, Halford hesitated to say that the band was "still slaving away in the studio. It's sounding great. I can't really say any more than that, because it's still very nebulous, but it is sounding incredibly exciting and I'm sure we'll talk about that when the time comes."[88] In March 2017, the band confirmed that they had entered the studio to begin recording the new album with support from long time producer Tom Allom along with former Sabbat guitarist and producer Andy Sneap and engineer Mike Exeter, who worked with the band on the previous album. This marks the first time since 1988's Ram It Down that they had worked with Allom.[89][90]

text: In an April 2017 interview with Planet Rock, Halford said that the band was "coming to some of the final moments" of completion of the new album. He also promised "a very exciting 2018 period" with a world tour taking place next year.[91] In a post on Instagram in June, Andy Sneap said that the band completed tracking.[92] In October 2017, Judas Priest, along with 18 other artists, were announced as nominees for the 2018 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,[93] but lost to Bon Jovi.[94] They later announced their eighteenth album Firepower, which was released on 9 March 2018 with a world tour taking place thereafter, beginning in North America with Saxon and Black Star Riders as their support acts.[95][96] The cover artwork was then unveiled along with a 15-second audio sample of the title track.[97] On 5 January 2018, the band released a music video for the song "Lightning Strike".[98]

text: On 12 February 2018, Glenn Tipton revealed that he had Parkinson's disease, with which he was first diagnosed with in 2008, thus ceasing his duties to perform on tour. He stated that he was still a member of the band despite his diagnosis and did not rule out future on-stage appearances. Sneap was then announced as his replacement for the tour.[99] Faulkner later assured fans that Tipton would perform with the band "at some point in the tour."[100] When speaking to Long Island Pulse in March 2018, Faulkner said that there had been "no discussions yet" on whether Judas Priest would continue without Tipton or not,[101] with Halford disregarding any talks of retirement.[102]

text: At the 20 March 2018 show in Newark, New Jersey, Tipton joined the band on stage to perform "Metal Gods", "Breaking the Law" and "Living After Midnight.[103]

text: Musical style and influence[edit]

text: Musical style[edit]

text: Judas Priest's style has always been rooted in heavy metal, and many of their albums reflect diverse aspects of the genre. For example, their first album, Rocka Rolla (1974), is primarily rooted in heavy blues rock. From Sad Wings of Destiny (1976) through Stained Class (1978), their style was somewhat progressive, with complex guitar passages and poetic lyrics. Songs would often shift in dynamics and tempo, and the music was some of the heaviest of its day. This would later have a major influence on progressive metal bands.[citation needed] 1977's Sin After Sin used a combination of double bass drum (or "double kick") and rapid 16th bass rhythms combined with rapid 16th guitar rhythms used by Black Sabbath, Venom, and Motörhead that came to define the genre.[104] While the double-bass rhythms of Judas Priest are generally measured and technical, the song "Dissident Aggressor" (1977) pushed an increase in "tempo and aggression" which was later adopted by other bands with a much harder-edged approach.[104]

text: Starting with their fifth album, Killing Machine (1978), the band began to incorporate a more commercial, radio-friendly style to their music. British Steel has been referred to as the "record that, more than any other, codified what we mean by heavy metal".[105] The lyrics and music were simplified, and this style prevailed up to their seventh album, Point of Entry (1981). With their eighth album, Screaming for Vengeance (1982), the band incorporated a balance of these two styles. This continued on Defenders of the Faith (1984). With the follow-up album, Turbo (1986), the band incorporated guitar synthesizers into its signature heavy metal sound. On 1988's Ram It Down the band retained some of the more commercial qualities of Turbo but also returned to some of the fast tempo heavy metal found on their earlier works. This fast-tempo style continued with 1990's Painkiller. Jugulator (1997) tried to incorporate some of the 1990s contemporary groove metal styles. Demolition (2001) has a more traditional heavy metal sound with nu metal elements. Following the return of Halford for Angel of Retribution and Nostradamus, the band returned to the style of its early albums.[106]

text: The band's popularity and status as one of the exemplary and influential heavy metal bands has earned them the nickname "Metal Gods" from their song of the same name.[107]

text: Vocal style and influences[edit]

text: Halford listened to and was influenced by Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin and Robert Plant as a vocalist. He learned to push to the limits of his vocal abilities by their vocal demonstrations on record.[108] He developed a powerful, operatic vocal style with an impressive range from lower throaty growls to ear-piercing high screams with strong vibrato. He was also a fan of Freddie Mercury, referring to him as his ultimate hero.[109]

text: Media recognition and legacy[edit]

text: Judas Priest have influenced a great deal of metal music since the late-mid 70s. They were ranked by MTV as the second "Greatest Metal Band" of all time (after Black Sabbath), and VH1 named them the 78th greatest artist of all time in 2010.[110] The band has sold over 45 million albums to date.[111][112][113] They were nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018, but were passed over despite placing among the top 5 fan-voted nominees.[114]

text: The band has sold over 50 million records so far, having 11 top 30 albums in the United Kingdom.[115]

text: Fashion[edit]

text: In addition to the sound, Judas Priest is also known for being revolutionary in heavy metal fashion.[41] In the late 1970s, Rob Halford began incorporating leather and studs into his stage wardrobe, with outfits inspired by S&M style. The rest of the band adopted a similar style which became prominent at the time of their 1978 release, Killing Machine. This style would go on to be adopted by many heavy metal bands in the early 1980s, especially those of the NWOBHM and early Black Metal movements.[116] To this day, it is not uncommon to find metal artists and fans sporting such a look at concerts.

text: In popular culture[edit]

text: The 2001 drama-comedy film Rock Star starring Mark Wahlberg, is loosely based on the story of how Tim "Ripper" Owens replaced Rob Halford as the vocalist in Judas Priest.

text: The Judas Priest song "Electric Eye" was used in the temp score for Toy Story 3[117] but was ultimately replaced by another piece of music.

text: On 5 January 2014, the band appeared in the episode "Steal This Episode" of comedy cartoon show The Simpsons playing a parody of their song "Breaking the Law". Their music was referred to as "death metal",[118] for which the producers subsequently apologised by having Bart Simpson write "Judas Priest is not 'Death Metal'" in the opening sequence chalkboard gag.[119]

text: Accolades[edit]

text: Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards

text:
Year
Nominee/work
Award
Result

2005
Judas Priest
The Metal Guru [120]
Won

text: Grammy Awards

text:
Year
Nominee/work
Award
Result

1991
Painkiller
Best Metal Performance
Nominated

1999
"Bullet Train"
Best Metal Performance
Nominated

2009
"Visions"
Best Hard Rock Performance
Nominated

"Nostradamus"
Best Metal Performance
Nominated

2010
"Dissident Aggressor"
Best Metal Performance
Won

text: Kerrang! Awards

text:
Year
Nominee/work
Award
Result

2007
Judas Priest
Hall of Fame [121]
Won

2015
Judas Priest
Inspiration [122]
Won

text: Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards

text:
Year
Nominee/work
Award
Result

2005
Angel of Retribution
Best Album [123]
Won

2011
Judas Priest
Icons [124]
Won

text: Members[edit]

text:
Ian Hill – bass (1969–present)
Rob Halford – vocals (1973–1992, 2003–present)
Glenn Tipton – guitars (1974–present; Studio and occasional live appearances since 2018)
Scott Travis – drums (1989–present)
Richie Faulkner – guitars (2011–present)

tag: ul

text: Andy Sneap – guitars (2018–present)

text: Discography[edit]

text:
Rocka Rolla (1974)
Sad Wings of Destiny (1976)
Sin After Sin (1977)
Stained Class (1978)
Killing Machine (1978)
British Steel (1980)
Point of Entry (1981)
Screaming for Vengeance (1982)
Defenders of the Faith (1984)
Turbo (1986)
Ram It Down (1988)
Painkiller (1990)
Jugulator (1997)
Demolition (2001)
Angel of Retribution (2005)
Nostradamus (2008)
Redeemer of Souls (2014)
Firepower (2018)

text: Notes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ The gig was on 25 November 1969, and Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant was in the audience.[3]
Jump up ^ The Iommi Management Agency changed its name to Tramp Entertainments in 1973.[5]
Jump up ^ Hill and Sue Halford were married from 1976 to 1984 and have a son together.[7]

tag: ol


document_title: The Flintstones

question_text: what is the name of fred flintstones wife

root

text: The Flintstones

text: Overview[edit]

text: The show is set in the Stone Age town of Bedrock. In this fantasy version of the past, dinosaurs and other long-extinct animals co-exist with cavemen, saber-toothed cats, and woolly mammoths. Like their mid-20th century counterparts, these cavemen listen to records, live in split-level homes, and eat at restaurants, yet their technology is made entirely from preindustrial materials and powered primarily through the use of animals. For example, the cars are made out of stone, wood, and animal skins, and powered by the passengers' feet.

tag: p

text: Animation historian Christopher P. Lehman considers that the series draws its humor in part from creative uses of anachronisms. The main one is the placing of a "modern", 20th-century society in prehistory. This society takes inspiration from the suburban sprawl developed in the first two decades of the postwar period. This society has modern home appliances, but they work by employing animals. They have automobiles, but they hardly resemble the cars of the 20th century. These cars are large wooden structures and burn no fuel. They are powered by people who run while inside them. Finally, the stone houses of this society are cookie-cutter homes positioned into typical neighborhoods.[9]

text: Technology[edit]

text: As a running gag, often the "prehistoric" analog to a modern machine uses an animal.[10] For example, when a character takes photographs with an instant camera, inside the camera box, a bird carves the picture on a stone tablet with its beak. The animal powering such technology would frequently break the fourth wall, look directly into the camera at the audience and offer a mild complaint about his or her job. Other commonly seen gadgets in the series include a baby woolly mammoth used as a vacuum cleaner; an adult woolly mammoth acting as a shower by spraying water with its trunk; elevators raised and lowered by ropes around brontosauruses' necks; "automatic" windows powered by monkeys on the outside; birds acting as "car horns", sounded by the driver pulling on their tails or squeezing their bodies; an "electric" razor made from a clam shell, vibrating from a honey bee inside; a pelican as a washing machine, shown with a beakful of soapy water; and a woodpecker whose beak is used to play a gramophone record. In most cases, "The Man of a Thousand Voices", Mel Blanc, contributed the animals' gag lines, often lowering his voice one to two full octaves, far below the range he used to voice the character of Barney Rubble. In the case of the Flintstones' cuckoo clocks, which varied from mechanical toys to live birds announcing the time, when the hour approached 12:00, the bird inside the clock "cuckooing" usually just ran out of steam and gave up vocally, physically, or both.

text: "Stone-age" names[edit]

text: The Stone Age setting allowed for gags and word plays involving rocks and minerals. For example, San Antonio becomes "Sand-and-Stony-o"; the country to the south of Bedrock's land is called "Mexirock" (Mexico). Travel to "Hollyrock", a parody of Hollywood, usually involves an "airplane" flight — the "plane", in this case, is often shown as a giant pterosaur, with the fuselage strapped to its back. Sun Valley becomes "Stone Valley" and is run by "Conrad Hailstone" (Conrad Hilton). The last names "Flintstone" and "Rubble", as well as other common Bedrock surnames such as "Shale" and "Quartz", are in line with these puns, as are the names of Bedrock's celebrities: "Gina Loadabricks" (Gina Lollobrigida), "Gary Granite" (Cary Grant), "Stony Curtis" (Tony Curtis), "Ed Sullivanstone/Sulleystone" (Ed Sullivan), "Rock Pile/Quarry/Hudstone" (Rock Hudson), "Wednesday Tuesday" (Tuesday Weld), "Ann-Margrock" (Ann-Margret), "Jimmy Darrock" (James Darren), "Alvin Brickrock" (Alfred Hitchcock), "Daisy Kilgranite" (Dorothy Kilgallen), "Perry Masonry/Masonite" (Perry Mason as played by Raymond Burr), "Eppy Brianstone" (Brian Epstein) and "The Beau Brummelstones" (The Beau Brummels). Once, while visiting one of Bedrock's houses of "Haute Couture" with Wilma, Betty even commented on the new "Jackie Kennerock (Jackie Kennedy) look". In some cases, the celebrity featured also provided the voice: "Samantha" and "Darrin" from Bewitched were voiced by Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York. Examples from the above list include Ann-Margret, Curtis, Darren, and the Beau Brummels. Other celebrities, such as "Ed Sulleystone" and "Alvin Brickrock", were rendered by impersonators. Some of Bedrock's sports heroes include: football player "Red Granite" (Red Grange), wrestler "Bronto Crushrock" (Bronko Nagurski), golfer "Arnold Palmrock" (Arnold Palmer), boxers "Floyd Patterstone" (Floyd Patterson) and "Sonny Listone" (Sonny Liston), and baseball players "Sandy Stoneaxe" (Sandy Koufax), "Lindy McShale" (Lindy McDaniel), "Roger Marble" (Roger Maris), and "Mickey Marble" or "Mickey Mantlepiece" (Mickey Mantle). Ace reporter "Daisy Kilgranite" (Dorothy Kilgallen) was a friend of Wilma. Monster names include "Count Rockula" (Count Dracula), Rockzilla (Godzilla) and "The Frankenstone Monster" (Frankenstein's monster).

text: Characters[edit]

text: The Flintstones[edit]

text:
Fred Flintstone is the main character of the series. Fred is an accident-prone bronto-crane operator at the Slate Rock and Gravel Company and the head of the Flintstone household. He is quick to anger (usually over trivial matters), but is a very loving husband and father. He is also good at bowling and is a member of the fictional "Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes" (Lodge No. 26), a men-only club paralleling real-life fraternities such as the Loyal Order of Moose. His famous catchphrase is "Yabba Dabba Doo!"
Wilma Flintstone is Fred's wife. She is more intelligent and level-headed than her husband, though she often has a habit of spending money (with Betty and her catchphrase being "Da-da-da duh da-da CHARGE IT!!"). She often is a foil to Fred's poor behavior.
Pebbles Flintstone is the Flintstones' infant daughter, who is born near the end of the third season.
Dino, a prosauropod dinosaur, is the Flintstones' pet that barks and generally acts like a dog. A running gag in the series involves Dino knocking down Fred out of excitement and licking him repeatedly. Though this irritates Fred a lot, he generally likes Dino very much.
Baby Puss is the Flintstones' pet saber-toothed cat, which is rarely seen in the actual series, but is always seen throwing Fred out of the house during the end credits, causing Fred to pound repeatedly on the front door and yell "Wilma!", waking the whole neighborhood in the process.

text: The Rubbles[edit]

text:
Barney Rubble is the secondary main character and Fred's best friend and next-door neighbor. His occupation is, for the most part of the series, unknown, though later series depict him working in the same quarry as Fred. He shares many of Fred's interests such as bowling and golf, and is also a member of the "Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes". Though Fred and Barney frequently get into feuds with one another (usually due to Fred's short temper), their deep fraternal bond remains evident.
Betty Rubble is Barney's wife and Wilma's best friend. Like Wilma, she, too, has a habit of spending money.
Bamm-Bamm Rubble is the Rubbles' abnormally strong adopted son, whom they adopt during the fourth season; his name comes from the only phrase he ever speaks as a baby: "Bamm, Bamm!"
Hoppy is the Rubbles' pet hopparoo (a kangaroo/dinosaur combination creature), which they adopt in the beginning of the fifth season. When he first arrives, Dino (and eventually Fred) mistakes him for a giant mouse and becomes frightened of him, but they eventually become best friends in a manner similar to that of their owners. He babysits the kids as he takes them around in his pouch, which also serves as a shopping cart for Betty. Fred Flintstone regards Hoppy as an overgrown and obnoxious nuisance until the fateful day that the Flintstones and the Rubbles go out together on a picnic. The families' lives are endangered during the picnic and Hoppy goes for help.

text: Other characters[edit]

text: Over 100 other characters appeared throughout the program.[11]

text:
Mr. Slate is Fred's hot-tempered boss at the gravel pit. Mr. Slate fires Fred on several occasions throughout the series, only to give him his job back by the end of the episode. A running gag is Slate's ever-changing first name, which was revealed to be Sylvester, Nate, Oscar, and George as the series progressed. In the episode "The Long, Long, Long Weekend" which originally aired on January 21, 1966, he is shown as being the founder of "Slate Rock and Gravel Company"; still in business two million years later, the company is operated by his descendant, "George Slate the Eighty-Thousandth".
Arnold is the Flintstones' paper boy, whom Fred absolutely despises, mainly because Arnold is frequently able to best and outsmart Fred at a number of tasks and also because he often ("unintentionally") throws the newspaper in Fred's face. Arnold's parents are mentioned in the series, but his mother Doris, a friend of Wilma and Betty's (as evidenced in the episode "The Little Stranger", which originally aired on November 2, 1962), is referenced in name only, never actually appearing on screen. Arnold's father, however, did appear in the episode "Take Me Out to the Ball Game", which originally aired on April 27, 1962, though his name is never mentioned. .
Joe Rockhead is a mutual friend of Fred and Barney. Usually, when Fred and Barney have some kind of falling out, Fred mentions doing something (such as going to a baseball game) with Joe. Joe was, at some point, chief of the Bedrock Volunteer Fire Department (as shown on the episode "Arthur Quarry's Dance Class", which originally aired on January 13, 1961). His appearance varied throughout the run of the series, but his appearance in the episode "The Picnic", which originally aired on December 15, 1961, was the one most commonly used.
Pearl Slaghoople is Wilma's hard-to-please mother, who is constantly disapproving of Fred and his behavior. Their disastrous first meeting was recounted in the episode "Bachelor Daze", which originally aired on March 5, 1964. They briefly reconciled in the episode "Mother-in-Law's Visit", which originally aired on February 1, 1963. That is, until, she found out that she became Fred's "nice fat pigeon" when he suckered her out of money he need to buy a baby crib for Pebbles. They reconciled again at the end of the TV movie I Yabba Dabba Do.
The Great Gazoo is an alien exiled to Earth that helps Fred and Barney, often against their will. He is actually from the future, and is quite dismayed when he realizes he has been sent back to "the Stone Age". He can only be seen by Fred, Barney, Pebbles, Bamm-Bamm, other small children, Dino, and Hoppy. Gazoo appeared in the final season only.
Uncle Tex Hardrock" is Fred's maternal uncle and a member of the Texarock Rangers. He constantly holds Fred's future inheritance over his head.
Sam Slagheap is the Grand Poobah of the Water Buffalo Lodge.

text: Voice actors[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

tag: table

text: Fred Flintstone physically resembles both the voice actor who played him, Alan Reed, and Jackie Gleason, whose series The Honeymooners was said to be an inspiration for The Flintstones.[12] The voice of Barney Rubble was provided by voice actor Mel Blanc, though five episodes during the second season (the first, second, fifth, sixth, and ninth) employed Hanna-Barbera regular Daws Butler while Blanc was incapacitated by a near-fatal car accident. Blanc was able to return to the series much sooner than expected, by virtue of a temporary recording studio for the entire cast set up at Blanc's bedside. Blanc's portrayal of Barney had changed considerably after the accident. In the earliest episodes, Blanc had used a much higher pitch to the point of portraying Barney as a smart-aleck. After his recovery from the accident, Blanc used a deeper voice, quite similar to the voice of the Abominable Snowman he performed in other cartoons, and was shown as somewhat dopier than before.

text: Additional similarities with The Honeymooners included the fact that Reed based Fred's voice upon Gleason's interpretation of Ralph Kramden, while Blanc, after a season of using a nasal, high-pitched voice for Barney, eventually adopted a style of voice similar to that used by Art Carney in his portrayal of Ed Norton. The first time the Art Carney-like voice was used was for a few seconds in "The Prowler" (the third episode produced).

text: In a 1986 Playboy interview, Jackie Gleason said Alan Reed had done voice-overs for Gleason in his early movies, and Gleason considered suing Hanna-Barbera for copying The Honeymooners, but decided to let it pass.[13] According to Henry Corden, a voice actor and a friend of Gleason's, "Jackie's lawyers told him he could probably have The Flintstones pulled right off the air. But they also told him, 'Do you want to be known as the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air? The guy who took away a show so many kids love, and so many parents love, too?'"[14]

text: Henry Corden took over the voice responsibilities of Fred after Reed's death in 1977 with A Flintstone Christmas.[15] Corden had previously provided Fred's singing voice in The Man Called Flintstone[16] and later on The Flintstones children's records. Since 2000, Jeff Bergman, James Arnold Taylor, and Scott Innes (performing Fred and Barney for Toshiba commercials) have performed the voice of Fred. Since Mel Blanc's death in 1989, Barney has been voiced by Jeff Bergman, Frank Welker, and Kevin Michael Richardson. Various additional character voices were created by Hal Smith, Allan Melvin, Janet Waldo, Daws Butler, and Howard Morris, among others.

text: Voice cast[edit]

text:
Fred Flintstone – Alan Reed (speaking voice only)
Wilma Flintstone/Pebbles Flintstone – Jean Vander Pyl
Barney Rubble – Mel Blanc; Daws Butler (season 2; episodes 1, 2, 5, 6, and 9 only)
Betty Rubble – Bea Benaderet (seasons 1–4); Gerry Johnson (seasons 5–6)
Bamm-Bamm Rubble/Hoppy/Arnold – Don Messick
Dino – Mel Blanc
Mr. Slate – John Stephenson
Mrs. Slaghoople – Verna Felton and Janet Waldo
The Great Gazoo – Harvey Korman

text: Additional voice cast[edit]

text:
Howard Morris
Doug Young
Henry Corden
June Foray

text: Episodes[edit]

text:
Season
Episodes
Originally aired

First aired
Last aired

Pilot
May 1994 (1994-05)

1
28
September 30, 1960 (1960-09-30)
April 7, 1961 (1961-04-07)

2
32
September 15, 1961 (1961-09-15)
April 27, 1962 (1962-04-27)

3
28
September 14, 1962 (1962-09-14)
April 5, 1963 (1963-04-05)

4
26
September 19, 1963 (1963-09-19)
March 12, 1964 (1964-03-12)

5
26
September 17, 1964 (1964-09-17)
March 12, 1965 (1965-03-12)

6
26
September 17, 1965 (1965-09-17)
April 1, 1966 (1966-04-01)

text: Music[edit]

text: The opening and closing credits theme during the first two seasons was called "Rise and Shine", a lively instrumental underscore accompanying Fred on his drive home from work. The tune resembled "The Bugs Bunny Overture (This Is It!)", the theme song of The Bugs Bunny Show, also airing on ABC at the time, and may have been the reason the theme was changed in the third season.[17] Starting in season 3, episode 3 ("Barney the Invisible"), the opening and closing credits theme was the familiar vocal "Meet the Flintstones". This version was recorded with a 22-piece jazz band, and a five-voice singing group called the Skip Jacks. The melody is derived from part of the 'B' section of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 17 Movement 2, composed in 1801/02.[18] The "Meet the Flintstones" opening was later added to the first two seasons for syndication. The musical underscores were credited to Hoyt Curtin for the show's first five seasons; Ted Nichols took over in 1965 for the final season.[17]

text: History and production[edit]

text: The idea of The Flintstones started after Hanna-Barbera produced The Huckleberry Hound Show and The Quick Draw McGraw Show. Although these programs were successful, they did not have the same wide audience appeal as their previous theatrical cartoon series Tom and Jerry, which entertained both children and the adults who accompanied them. However, since children did not need their parents' supervision to watch television, Hanna-Barbera's output became labeled "kids only". Barbera and Hanna wanted to recapture the adult audience with an animated situation comedy.[19]

text: Barbera and Hanna experimented with hillbillies (a hillbilly theme was later incorporated into two Flintstones episodes, "The Bedrock Hillbillies" and "The Hatrocks and the Gruesomes"), Romans (Hanna-Barbera eventually created The Roman Holidays), pilgrims, and Indians as the settings for the two families before deciding on the Stone Age. According to Barbera, they settled on that because "you could take anything that was current, and convert it to stone-age".[20] Under the working title The Flagstones, the family originally consisted of Fred, Wilma, and their son, Fred, Jr. A brief demonstration film was also created to sell the idea of a "modern stone age family" to sponsors and the network.[21]:3 Animator Kenneth Muse, who worked on the Tom and Jerry cartoons, also worked on the early seasons of The Flintstones.

text: The show imitated and spoofed The Honeymooners, although the early voice characterization for Barney was that of Lou Costello.[22] William Hanna admitted that "At that time, The Honeymooners was the most popular show on the air, and for my bill, it was the funniest show on the air. The characters, I thought, were terrific. Now, that influenced greatly what we did with The Flintstones ... The Honeymooners was there, and we used that as a kind of basis for the concept."[citation needed] However, Joseph Barbera disavowed these claims in a separate interview, stating that, "I don't remember mentioning The Honeymooners when I sold the show. But if people want to compare The Flintstones to The Honeymooners, then great. It's a total compliment. The Honeymooners was one of the greatest shows ever written."[23] Jackie Gleason, creator of The Honeymooners, considered suing Hanna-Barbera Productions, but decided that he did not want to be known as "the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air".[24][25] Another influence was noted during Hanna-Barbera's tenure at MGM, where they were in a friendly competition with fellow cartoon director Tex Avery. In 1955, Avery directed a cartoon entitled "The First Bad Man" (narrated by cowboy legend Tex Ritter). The cartoon concerned the rowdy antics of a bank robber in stone-age Dallas. Many of the visual jokes antedated by many years similar ones used by Hanna-Barbera in the Flintstones series. Many students of American animation point to this cartoon as a progenitive seed of the Flintstones.

text: The concept was also predated by the Stone Age Cartoons series of 12 animated cartoons released from January 1940 to September 1940 by Fleischer Studios. These cartoons show stone age people doing modern things with primitive means. One example is Granite Hotel including characters such as a newsboy, telephone operator, hotel clerk, and a spoof of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy.

text: Barbera explained that selling the show to a network and sponsors was not an easy task.

text: Here we were with a brand new thing that had never been done before, an animated prime-time television show. So we developed two storyboards; one was they had a helicopter of some kind and they went to the opera or whatever, and the other was Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble fighting over a swimming pool. So I go back to New York with a portfolio and two half-hour boards. And no-one would even believe that you'd dare to suggest a thing like that, I mean they looked at you and they'd think you're crazy. But slowly the word got out, and I used the presentation which took almost an hour and a half. I would go to the other two boards and tell them what they did, and do all the voices and the sounds and so-on, and I'd stagger back to the hotel and I'd collapse. The phone would ring like crazy, like one time I did Bristol-Myers, the whole company was there. When I got through I'd go back to the hotel the phone would ring and say "the president wasn't at that meeting, could you come back and do it for him." So I had many of those, one time I had two agencies, they'd fill the room I mean God about 40 people, and I did this whole show. I got to know where the laughs were, and where to hit it, nothing; dead, dead, dead. So one of the people at Screen Gems said "This is the worst, those guys...." he was so angry at them. What it was, was that there were two agencies there, and neither one was going to let the other one know they were enjoying it. But I pitched it for eight straight weeks and nobody bought it. So after sitting in New York just wearing out, you know really wearing out. Pitch, pitch, pitch, sometimes five a day. So finally on the very last day I pitched it to ABC, which was a young daring network willing to try new things, and bought the show in 15 minutes. Thank goodness, because this was the very last day and if they hadn't bought it, I would have taken everything down, put it in the archives and never pitched it again. Sometimes I wake up in a cold-sweat thinking this is how close you get to disaster.[20]

text: When the series went into production, the working title The Flagstones was changed, possibly to avoid confusion with the Flagstons, characters in the comic strip Hi and Lois. After spending a brief period in development as The Gladstones (GLadstone being a Los Angeles telephone exchange at the time),[26] Hanna-Barbera settled upon The Flintstones, and the idea of the Flintstones having a child from the start was discarded, with Fred and Wilma starting out as a childless couple. However, some early Flintstones merchandise, such as a 1961 Little Golden Book, included Fred Jr., before it was decided on his removal.[27]

text: Despite the animation and fantasy setting, the series was initially aimed at adult audiences, which was reflected in the comedy writing, which, as noted, resembled the average primetime sitcoms of the era, with the usual family issues resolved with a laugh at the end of each episode, as well as the inclusion of a laugh track. Hanna and Barbera hired many writers from the world of live action, including two of Jackie Gleason's writers, Herbert Finn and Sydney Zelinka, as well as relative newcomer Joanna Lee while still using traditional animation story men such as Warren Foster and Michael Maltese.

text: The Flintstones premiered on September 30, 1960, at 8:30 pm, and quickly became a hit. It was the first American animated show to depict two people of the opposite sex (Fred and Wilma; Barney and Betty) sleeping together in one bed, although Fred and Wilma are sometimes depicted as sleeping in separate beds. For comparison, the first live-action depiction of this in American TV history was in television's first-ever sitcom: 1947's Mary Kay and Johnny.[28]

text: The first two seasons were co-sponsored by Winston cigarettes and the characters appeared in several black-and-white television commercials for Winston[29] (dictated by the custom, at that time, that the star(s) of a TV series often "pitched" their sponsor's product in an "integrated commercial" at the end of the episode).[30]

text: During the third season, Hanna and Barbera decided that Fred and Wilma should have a baby. Originally, Hanna and Barbera intended for the Flintstone family to have a boy, the head of the marketing department convinced them to change it to a girl since "girl dolls sell a lot better than boy dolls".[19] Although most Flintstones episodes were stand-alone storylines, Hanna-Barbera created a story arc surrounding the birth of Pebbles. Beginning with the episode "The Surprise", aired midway through the third season (January 25, 1963), in which Wilma reveals her pregnancy to Fred, the arc continued through the time leading up to Pebbles' birth in the episode "Dress Rehearsal" (February 22, 1963), and then continued with several episodes showing Fred and Wilma adjusting to the world of parenthood. Around this time, Winston pulled out their sponsorship and Welch's (grape juice and grape jellies) became the primary sponsor. The integrated commercials for Welch's products feature Pebbles asking for grape juice in her toddler dialect, and Fred explaining to Pebbles Welch's unique process for making the jelly, compared to the competition. Welch's also produced a line of grape jelly packaged in jars which were reusable as drinking glasses, with painted scenes featuring the Flintstones and characters from the show. In Australia, the Nine Network ran a "Name the Flintstones' baby" competition during the 'pregnancy' episodes – few Australian viewers were expected to have a U.S. connection giving them information about past Flintstone episodes.

text: Another arc occurred in the fourth season, in which the Rubbles, depressed over being unable to have children of their own (making The Flintstones the first animated series in history to address the issue of infertility, though subtly), adopt Bamm-Bamm. The 100th episode made (but the 90th to air), "Little Bamm-Bamm Rubble" (October 3, 1963), established how Bamm-Bamm was adopted. Nine episodes were produced before it but aired afterwards, which explains why Bamm-Bamm was not seen again until episode 101, "Daddies Anonymous" (Bamm-Bamm was in a teaser on episode 98, "Kleptomaniac Pebbles"). Another story arc, occurring in the final season, centered on Fred and Barney's dealings with the Great Gazoo (voiced by Harvey Korman ).

text: After Pebbles' birth, the tone and writing became more juvenile and ratings from the adult demographic began to decline. The last original episode was broadcast on April 1, 1966.[31]

text: The first three seasons of The Flintstones aired Friday nights at 8:30 on ABC. Season four and part of season five aired Thursdays at 7:30. The rest of the series aired Fridays at 7:30.

text: In the U.S., syndicated reruns of the series were offered to local stations until 1997, when E/I regulations and changing tastes in the industry led to the show's move to cable television. From the time of Ted Turner's purchase of Hanna-Barbera in 1992 until around 1999, TBS, TNT, and Cartoon Network aired the program. In 2000, the program moved to Boomerang, where it aired until no later than 2016 (in its last years on the channel, it had been relegated to a graveyard slot). Online, the series was made available on the In2TV service beginning in 2006, then the online version of Kids' WB until that service was discontinued in 2015. As of 2017, full episodes are only available in the U.S. on Boomerang's subscription video on demand service, with select clips made available on an official YouTube account tied to the revamped Kids' WB Web site.

text: Reception[edit]

text: The night after The Flintstones premiered, Variety called it "A pen and ink disaster",[32] and as late as the 1980s, highbrow critics derided the show's limited animation and derivative plots.[33] Despite the mixed critical reviews at first, The Flintstones has generally been considered a television classic and was rerun continuously for five decades after its end. In 1961, The Flintstones became the first animated series to be nominated for an Outstanding Comedy Series Primetime Emmy Award, but lost out to The Jack Benny Show. In January 2009, IGN named The Flintstones as the ninth-best in its "Top 100 Animated TV Shows".[34]

text: Nielsen ratings[edit]

text:
Season
Time slot (ET)
Rank
Rating[35]

1960–61
Friday at 8:30-9:00 pm
18
24.3

1961–62
21
22.9 (Tied with The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis)

1962–63
30
20.5

1963–64
Thursday at 7:30-8:00 pm
Not in the Top 30

1964–65
Thursday at 7:30-8:00 pm (Episodes 1-14)
Friday at 7:30-8:00 pm (Episodes 15-26)

1965–66
Friday at 7:30-8:00 pm

text: Films and subsequent television series[edit]

text: Following the show's cancellation in 1966, a film based upon the series was created. The Man Called Flintstone was a musical spy caper that parodied James Bond and other secret agents. The movie was released to theaters on August 3, 1966, by Columbia Pictures.[36] It was released on DVD in Canada in March 2005 and in United States in December 2008.

text: The show was revived in the early 1970s with Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm having grown into teenagers, and several different series and made-for-TV movies (broadcast mainly on Saturday mornings, with a few shown in prime time); including a series depicting Fred and Barney as police officers, another depicting the characters as children, and yet others featuring Fred and Barney encountering Marvel Comics superhero The Thing and Al Capp's comic strip character The Shmoo – have appeared over the years. The original show also was adapted into a live-action film in 1994, and a prequel, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, which followed in 2000. Unlike its sister show The Jetsons (the two shows appeared in a made-for-TV crossover movie in 1987), the revival programs were not widely syndicated or rerun alongside the original series.[citation needed]

text: Television series[edit]

text:
The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (1971–72) (one season)
The Flintstone Comedy Hour (1972–73) (one season)
The Flintstone Comedy Show (1973–74) (compilation series)
Fred Flintstone and Friends (1977–78) (compilation series)
The New Fred and Barney Show (1979) (one season)
Fred and Barney Meet The Thing (1979) (one season)
Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo (1979–80) (one season)
The Flintstone Comedy Show (1980–82) (two seasons)
The Flintstone Funnies (1982–84) (compilation series)
The Flintstone Kids (1986–88) (two seasons)
What a Cartoon! – featuring Dino: Stay Out! (1995) and Dino: The Great Egg-Scape (1997)
Cave Kids (1996) (one season)

text: Theatrical animated feature[edit]

text: The Man Called Flintstone (1966, released by Columbia Pictures)

text: Television specials[edit]

text:
The Flintstones on Ice (1973)
Energy: A National Issue (1977)
A Flintstone Christmas (1977)
The Flintstones: Little Big League (1978)
The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone (1979)
The Flintstones' New Neighbors (1980)
The Flintstones: Fred's Final Fling (1980)
The Flintstones: Wind-Up Wilma (1981)
The Flintstones: Jogging Fever (1981)
The Flintstones' 25th Anniversary Celebration (1986)
The Flintstone Kids' "Just Say No" Special (1988)
Hanna-Barbera's 50th: A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration (1989)
A Flintstone Family Christmas (1993)

text: Television films[edit]

text:
The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones (1987)
I Yabba-Dabba Do! (1993)
Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby (1993)
A Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994)
The Flintstones: On the Rocks (2001)

text: Educational films[edit]

text:
Hanna-Barbera Educational Filmstrips

Bamm-Bamm: Bamm-Bamm Tackles a Term Paper (1978)
Bamm-Bamm: Information Please (1979)
Flintstones: A Weighty Problem (1980)
Flintstones: Fire Alarm (1980)
Flintstones: Fire Escape (1980)
Flintstones: Driving Guide (1980)

text: Live-action films[edit]

text:
The Flintstones (1994)
The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000)

text: Direct-to-video films[edit]

text: The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown! (2015)

text: Other media[edit]

text: Cancelled Seth MacFarlane reboot[edit]

text: In 2011, it was announced the Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane would be reviving The Flintstones for the Fox network, with the first episode airing in 2013.[37] After Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly read the pilot script and "liked it but didn't love it", MacFarlane chose to abandon work on the project rather than restarting it.[38][39]

text: WWE film[edit]

text: In May 2013, Warner Bros. Animation and WWE Studios announced a Flintstones animated film. The film was to involve a "prehistoric WWE main event"[40] and feature the voices of The Undertaker, Vince McMahon, John Cena, Rey Mysterio, and CM Punk. The film was released direct-to-video in early 2015.[40]

text: Gary Sanchez animated film[edit]

text: In May 2014, it was reported that Will Ferrell and Adam McKay will produce an animated Flintstones movie for Warner Bros. Animation.[41]

text: Theme parks[edit]

text: Two Flintstones-themed amusement parks exist in the United States: Bedrock City in Custer, South Dakota, and another in Valle, Arizona. Both have been in operation for decades. Bedrock City, also known as Flintstone Park, closed in August 2015.[citation needed]

text: Another existed until the 1990s at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina. In Canada, Flintstone Park in Kelowna, British Columbia, opened in 1968 and closed in 1998; it was notable for the "Forty Foot Fred" statue of Fred Flintstone which was a well known Kelowna landmark.[42][43] Another Flintstones park was located in Bridal Falls, British Columbia, which closed in 1990.[44] Calaway Park outside Calgary, Canada, also opened with a Flintstones theme and many of the buildings today have a caveman-like design, though the park does not license the characters. The Australia's Wonderland and Canada's Wonderland theme parks, both featured Flintstones characters in their Hanna-Barbera-themed children's sections from 1985 up until the mid-1990s. Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio, had a Hanna-Barbera land, in which many Hanna-Barbera characters were featured, including the Flintstones, in the 1980s and early 1990s.

text: Live theater[edit]

text: A stage production opened at Universal Studios Hollywood in 1994 (the year the live-action film was released), developed by Universal and Hanna-Barbera Productions.[citation needed] It opened at the Panasonic Theater replacing the Star Trek show. The story consists of Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Betty heading for "Hollyrock".[citation needed] The show ran until January 2, 1997.[citation needed]

text: In popular culture[edit]

text: Miles Laboratories (now part of Bayer Corporation) and their One-A-Day vitamin brand was the alternate sponsor of the original Flintstones series during its first two seasons, and in the late 1960s, Miles introduced Flintstones Chewable Vitamins, fruit-flavored multivitamin tablets for children in the shape of the Flintstones characters, which are currently being sold.[45]

text: The Simpsons referenced The Flintstones in several episodes. In the episode "Homer's Night Out", Homer's local convenience store clerk, Apu, remarks "You look familiar, sir. Are you on the television or something?", to which Homer replies "Sorry, buddy, you've got me confused with Fred Flintstone."[46] During the couch gag of the opening credits of the episode "Kamp Krusty", the Simpson family arrive home to find the Flintstone family already sitting on their couch.[47] The same couch gag was reused in syndicated episodes of "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show", when The Simpsons overtook The Flintstones as the longest-running animated series.[48] In "Lady Bouvier's Lover", Homer's boss, Mr. Burns, appears at the family's house and says "Why, it's Fred Flintstone (referring to Homer) and his lovely wife, Wilma! (Marge) Oh, and this must be little Pebbles! (Maggie) Mind if I come in? I brought chocolates." Homer responds by saying "Yabba-dabba-doo!"[49] The opening of "Marge vs. the Monorail" depicts Homer leaving work in a similar way to Fred Flintstone in the opening of The Flintstones, during which he sings his own version of the latter's opening theme.

text: On September 30, 2010, Google temporarily replaced the logo on their search page with a custom graphic celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first TV broadcast.[50]