Three Tune Tuesday ~ Judas Priest ~ Rob Halford ~ Birthday Boy #105
Welcome to my #TTT #ThreeTuneTuesday entry!
Good morning, everyone!
How’s your week going? Who would’ve thought we’re already in the home stretch of August… Time really does fly by, and we hardly even notice it until we look at the calendar or our watch, don’t we?
Now I’m going to talk a little about our birthday boy!
He turns 75 today and is known and recognized worldwide for his unique voice. With a powerful and very distinctive voice, Rob Halford has always stood out for this quality.
Robert John Arthur Halford, born on August 25, 1951, is the English heavy metal singer who has always been associated with Judas Priest, which he joined in 1973 (five years before I was even born!), and who left his mark on the history of a musical style and a very distinctive era in the world of music.
Known for his distinctive attire—which always included a leather jacket studded with metal rivets—Halford is often considered one of the greatest heavy metal vocalists of all time! His vocal range, capable of shifting from a deep, hoarse growl to a deafening falsetto, is his trademark.
Nicknamed the “Metal God” by his fans, Halford decided to go public with his sexual orientation in 1998 during an interview with MTV. Since then, he has made a point of publicly defending the rights of gay people, not only in the arts but in all aspects of life. I confess that, since I’m not a Judas Priest fan, I wasn’t aware of this detail. But I was pleasantly surprised by how the lead singer—whom I’d always associated with a strikingly dominant masculine image—has more to him than meets the eye!
For this week, here are three songs suggested to me by Spotify that I identify with and that immediately bring to mind the British band formed in 1969 in Birmingham.
Gotta love Judas Priest and the other bands of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The first 2 videos are more commercial and got lots of play on MTV while the third is closer to thrash which I like. Nice selection of 3 Priest tunes!
Just for reference for anyone reading, this is Judas Priest in its very early days. More of a typical English Boogie band in the early 70s. You can tell it's them by the guitars and vocals, but their look and style had not changed to their more popular form yet.
4 Million views on that video!
Have a nice day!
!ALIVE !BBH !UNI !PIZZA !LADY
View or trade
LOHtokens.@kenny-crane, you successfully shared 0.1000 LOH with @xrayman and you earned 0.1000 LOH as tips. (2/12 calls)
Use !LADY command to share LOH! More details available in this post.
Thank you for your comment. As always, and in every comment you make, you share a wealth of knowledge, and I end up not responding right away because I like to look up all the information you provide in it. And, as usual, this comment you made about Judas Priest is no exception.
“New Wave of British Heavy Metal” was a term I wasn’t familiar with. So I followed the link you posted and enjoyed learning about the origins and reasons behind this movement, which emerged in England in the 1970s. And its influence, as described, wasn’t limited to British shores; it spread throughout Europe and influenced music lovers for several decades—I’d even go so far as to say that we still see the influences of this movement today.
Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath are indeed some of the biggest names among the best-known bands of that era, but they ultimately failed to introduce any significant innovation—an innovation that emerged with the rise of various punk bands such as the Ramones, The Clash, and the Sex Pistols, among many others.
I’m personally a fan of a band that came to be heavily influenced by this movement: Metallica.
Judas Priest, along with Iron Maiden and Motörhead—to name just a few—took unpleasant themes from everyday life and built entire narratives around them, drawing on mysticism, fantasy, and horror... A true source of inspiration that even influenced the way music videos were created and produced during those decades.
It’s a time I love to revisit, and just as happened now, I found myself looking at it from a different perspective. I never tire of listening to the sounds and the bands that have largely shaped the core of my musical culture!
I loved your reference to the Judas Priest members’ hairstyles! Hahaha, Mustaine style, right? 😂
Thanks again for your comment, which really enriched this post, because as I mentioned, I’m not (wasn’t… hahaha) a fan of theirs—until now.
Rock-on!
Thanks for the interaction!
Metallica is great, no doubt about that. I'm a huge fan too. Also always loved ex-Metallica member Dave Mustaine with Megadeath, and Slayer and Anthrax.
Right before them, we had some cool proto-SpeedMetal happening with Highway Star - Deep Purple, Stone Cold Crazy - Queen, Razamanaz - Nazareth, and Set Me Free - Sweet.
I guess we could go back further. Psycho (or Strichnone, or Boss Hoss) - The Sonics, That's When Happiness Began - The Montanas, Do Me Right Now - Clock Work Orange. Just some random tunes that come to mind. I guess it all goes back to You Really Got Me - The Kinks.
But really, you could go back to any Little Richard song from the late 50s. Or the fast Elvis tunes like A Big Hunk O’ Love. Or fast doowop like Never Let You Go by The Five Discs or Teenage Tears by Ly-dells. All headbanger stompers!
Anyway,
Keep On Rockin'!!!
$PIZZA slices delivered:
@kenny-crane(2/10) tipped @xrayman
Join us in Discord!
I know, right? I can't even believe it was the last Tuesday of the month.
I just love Rob. Great songs and a great metal group.
It is a icon group from the treasure that last century offered us, and it still has the energy to be listened and appreciated!
Thank you for stopping by, and for your comment.
Have a wonderful week!