"Living After Midnight" is a song by British heavy metal bandJudas Priest. It was originally featured on their 1980 album British Steel, which was their first gold album in the United States selling more than 500,000 copies. The song speaks to the hedonistic, rebellious spirit of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and is among the band's most popular songs. The song title came about when Glenn Tipton awakened Rob Halford with his loud guitar playing at 4 AM, during the band's stay at Tittenhurst Park to record British Steel. Halford commented to Tipton that he was "really living after midnight", and Tipton replied that Halford's comment was a great title for the song he was working on. On live performances, the line, "I took the city 'bout one a.m.", is sometimes changed to the particular city or venue the band is performing. For example, on the DVD Rising in the East, lead vocalist Rob Halford sings, "I took the Budokan 'bout one a.m.", in reference to the stadium in Tokyo, Japan, that hosted the concert. On the Westwood One recordings from the 1983 US Festival Halford recites, "I took some acid about 1 a.m ..." The music video, directed by Julien Temple and shot live at the Sheffield City Hall, begins with drummer Dave Holland playing an invisible drum kit. During the guitar solo, fans on the front row play along with their cardboard guitars. This song has been covered by The Donnas on their album The Donnas Turn 21, by Saul Blanch on the tribute albumAcero Argentino: Tributo a Judas Priest, by L.A. Guns on and by Iron Savior as a bonus track on the Japanese release of their Condition Red album. It was covered by Disturbed on the Tribute to British Steel CD by Metal Hammer UKmusic magazine, incorporating the opening drum salvo from "Painkiller". It also appears as one of the bonus songs available with some distributions of Asylum, and also features on their B-sides compilation albumThe Lost Children. The guitar solo in the song is played by Glenn Tipton.
