Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford recently chatted with Classic Rock and he brushed off his concerns about the death of heavy metal.
“The European leg we did, they were going nuts in Europe for Priest, for ‘Invincible Shield,’” Halford told the magazine. “It’s worldwide, isn’t it, this renaissance of heavy metal, culturally – to the point where Gojira are at the Olympic Games. Everybody’s exploring everything metal. There’s this great vibe out there that everybody wants to check out all these different bands.”
Judas Priest’s fame around the time they released ‘Sin After Sin’ in 1977 was difficult for them. The band faced constant reminders that metal was ‘dead’ and punk was the new thing. Still, Judas Priest stuck to their style and metal eventually made a big comeback.
“When disco came along, the entire industry seemed to turn its back on metal,” he recalled during an interview with Metal Hammer. “It was tough for a lot of us, particularly when we were making ‘Sin After Sin,’ because everyone was telling us metal was dead, it’s all about punk, but we just took a wait-and-see approach. Now, globally, metal is mainstream in ways they’d never have predicted, and it’s inspiring people around the world.”
“By the time we reached [1980’s] ‘British Steel,’ we’d started to feel more confident about who we were and what we were doing. Finally, we could pay the rent and afford a bottle of milk for our cereal! For that first decade, everything we earned went back into the pot. Through sheer determination and self-belief, we got to the tipping point, but we never ever reached a point where it was like, ‘We’ve made it, lads, so let’s relax,’” the frontman added.
Even after the metal is dead comments, the band kept on touring and making new music, like they did with ‘Invincible Shield’ this year. In support of their latest album, Judas Priest is on tour. Their next date is on September 17 at Sterling Heights, U.S. The band will play across the U.S. until the end of October before they move on to Japan.