“Desert Plains” by Judas Priest

"Desert Plains" rolls in on Point of Entry, Judas Priest's seventh album, which Columbia put out in February 1981 hot on the heels of the commercial success of British Steel. Flush after that record and its tour, the band flew all its equipment to the top-flight Ibiza Studios in Spain, and with Tom Allom producing and the band co-producing, they chased a more radio-friendly sound that also came out louder, beefier and more live than anything they'd cut before.

Rob Halford sings it and wrote it with guitarists Kenneth Downing and Glenn Tipton, with Ian Hill on bass and Dave Holland on drums. It wasn't one of the album's three singles, but it earned its keep on stage: Priest played it regularly all through the '80s and brought it back in 2002.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.