With Judas Priest on the Rock Hall ballot for a third time, Slayer’s Kerry King reflects on why the metal gods matter.
When Slayer formed in 1981, King and his bandmates bonded by playing Priest covers — “Breaking the Law” and their favorite deep cuts. By that point, Judas Priest were becoming superstars; they had streamlined and revved up the weighty riffs of Black Sabbath to create their own brand of metal and codified the look of the genre by wearing black leather and riding motorcycles onstage.
Rob Halford’s stage presence, his stage persona, and his stage look were always upper echelon. His entrances at concerts were always pretty grand. On one of the tours, he would be in this basket singing “Electric Eye” that was slowly lowered to the stage from the lighting trusses. The band was always on the stage and then when Rob came out, it was just that much bigger. And his voice — he hits notes and holds notes for a duration that’s almost inhuman.
Glenn Tipton was probably my biggest inspiration as far as metal goes. I think he’s super underrated, super overlooked. Just go to the leads that he performs. Even going back into the early, early stuff on, you can almost always tell that if it’s Tipton, it’s super fucking tasty. If it’s K.K., it’s a more edgy, almost punky kind of vibe, which is a great mix. But Tipton was the one for me.
I was such a fan on that tour. I couldn’t talk to any of them. I was just a fanboy. And I value that because it’s OK to be a fan. It’s OK to be a fan today. I see people crazy intimidated by me and I’m like, “Take it easy. It’s fine. I’m normal. I’m a person. I’ll sign whatever you got. Let’s have a picture and move on.” Had Rob been my friend back then, I would have said, “Dude come sing ‘Dissident Aggressor’ with us.
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