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| Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford came out in a 1998 MTV interview. Today he says, "I've become the stately homo of heavy metal." |
Bugs' interview with Rob Halford originally ran in Daily Xtra on
Nov. 20, 2011
Judas
Priest has been hailed as the godfathers of heavy metal. MTV names the band on
its list of greatest metal acts of all time, second only to Black Sabbath and
just ahead of Metallica. Both Black Sabbath and Metallica are inductees to the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but Judas Priest, for reasons known only to the
gods of rock, has so far been left out in the cold.
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| Metal God Rob Halford of Judas Priest |
I
told lead vocalist Rob Halford I think the snub has everything to do with his
being openly gay.
“I
don’t know, let’s have a think; who in there is gay?” Halford says
rhetorically. “It’s a good question. I consider myself a lower-case gay, not
screaming like my good friend [porn director and drag queen] Chi Chi LaRue. I
love all my friends in the community, and if the moment came [for induction
into the Hall of Fame], it would be a tremendous moment, not just for the band
and our fans, but for the whole LGBT community.”
Halford
rose to showbiz fame in the 1970s at the height of the homophobic disco sucks
movement. Coming out publicly then would likely have meant career suicide. But
Priest’s landmark 1980 album British Steel had more to do with
popularizing metal than any other band, including, arguably, Black Sabbath.
Priest’s twin lead guitars, pile-driver drums, outlaw lyrics and Halford’s
vocals were templates for every band from Iron Maiden to Guns N’ Roses. Judas
Priest also codified the metal dress code: long hair, tight pants and leather
galore.
As
for inventing metal’s leatherman look, Halford says, “It all came from my own
imagination because I was never into the gay leather scene.”
He
did, however, cross paths briefly "in the early 1980s" with Queen
lead singer Freddie Mercury, who died from AIDS in 1991.
“I
was going to Mykonos with friends from London via Athens,” Halford recalls. “We
did what we all did then: the clubs, the parties. At one club Freddie was
holding court at the other end of the bar. We were two ships passing in the
night. He waved, I waved. The place was packed, and we never got a chance to
connect.”
Halford
says the hard rock/metal scene of 1980s Hollywood was an absolutely insane
party, fueled by drugs and booze.
“In
my heyday I always started with a bottle of Dom Pérignon, then a case of
Budweiser, then two Jacks,” he says. “I was a serious drinker. Then the lines
of coke got you up again. Then the next day there was all the denial. I don’t
miss that old routine.”
Halford
quit drinking and drugging in 1986. He not only wanted to live, he wanted to
protect his four-octave vocal range.
When
I ask him if handsome studs still throw themselves at his feet after all these
years, he replies with typical self-deprecation: “It was a drought then and
it’s a drought now. ”
After
all these years, Halford – who now lives in a modest home in Phoenix, Arizona –
hasn’t forgotten his blue-collar roots.
“Coming
from Birmingham, like Sabbath, we came from nothing and made something of
ourselves,” says Halford, who has subbed for Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy
Osbourne at several concerts over the years.
With
Judas Priest on its farewell tour, does that mean the end of metal?
“Heavy
metal is always going to be there,” Halford says. “At its core, it’s all about
a primitive connection we all need to keep in our lives.”
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