10 Hard Rock & Metal Bands With No Original Members Left

The origination of metal doesn't really have that clear of a timeline when you break it down. Even though many would like to cite acts like Black Sabbath or Deep Purple with starting the beginnings of heavy music, the metal side of things didn't really come into play until much later. While there might be a debate on where metal started, Judas Priest was the first band to really run with it.

Originally taking the name from a Bob Dylan song title, the original incarnation of Judas Priest was nowhere near the kind of band that we know and love today. Being comprised under the watchful eye of Al Atkins, most of the members that we know like Ian Hill and KK Downing weren't brought in until much later, as the Priest remained a blues outfit for a while. After Atkins left to care for his family though, things started to turn a corner when lead screamer Rob Halford entered the fold, bringing the metal aesthetic to the forefront.

With Glenn Tipton being brought in to form a guitar duo with Downing, this solidified what many would consider to be the actual classic lineup of Priest, which would go on to massive success with albums like British Steel and Screaming for Vengeance. For a band that was all about the bluesier side of rock and roll in the early days, no one could have predicted Judas Priest's rise to the top of the unholiest of rock genres.