Tipton's first band was Shave 'Em Dry, with future Starfighters and Ozzy Osbourne drummer Barry Scrannage, which became Merlin, later becoming The Flying Hat Band. This band soon broke up due to management issues. In May 1974, Tipton joined Judas Priest, and coincidentally Scrannage had joined the band Bullion with earlier Judas Priest members Ernest Chataway and Bruno Staphenhill. This was during the recording for "Rocka Rolla", so Tipton quickly added his guitar parts to the album. On "Sad Wings of Destiny", Tipton showed off more of his guitar work on songs like "Tyrant", "Dreamer Deceiver" and "Victim of Changes". Tipton also presented his own songwriting on the songs "Prelude", "Epitaph" and "The Ripper". He frequently played keyboards on the early albums, although those were no longer featured on any songs after "Killing Machine". He is credited with introducing a more metal sound to the band with those songs, as Rocka Rolla was composed of largely blues rock and psychedelic songs left over from the band's former frontman Al Atkins. Although Tipton wrote the lyrics for the songs shortly after joining Judas Priest, producer Rodger Bain rejected putting them on the first album as being not commercial enough. From then onward, Halford and Tipton would be the band's principal songwriters with occasional contributions from Downing.