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Thread: 10 albums that changed Rob Halford's life!!!

  1. #1

    10 albums that changed Rob Halford's life!!!

    Rob Halford has included Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie in his list of the 10 albums that changed his life.

    The Judas Priest frontman gave his choices to MusicRadar and also named albums by The Beatles and Alice Cooper.

    His top pick was Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Halford says: “Listening to this music at the time it was being made is something I’ll never forget.

    “Simply because of the sheer audacity of this extraordinary guitar player and artist. He made the room light up so vividly. To listen to the sounds that he made with the electric guitar was unbelievably special.

    “Things were changing at this time. The music in general was getting louder. Marshall amps were being made, speaker cabinets were being used – everything was getting bigger, louder, more impactful. I think Jimi had something to do with that."

    He also praises Led Zeppelin II, describing it as the "roots of heavy metal." Halford adds: “When I heard the riffs that Jimmy was doing, I got a real sense of where things were going. Even though Led Zeppelin never expressed, 'We’ve got some heavy metal in us,' it’s quite apparent that it was there all along.

    “The riffage and the way they played live – they were a bit like Cream on steroids. John Bonham smashed those drums, and along with the powerful musicianship of Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, they made a sound that was simply incredible. And then you’ve got Robert Plant, screaming and wailing in a way we’d never heard before. Led Zeppelin were such an important band."

    He continues: “The music that touches you in your youth is magnified as you get older. Each record can be a virtual time machine – all you need is to hear a second or two and you go back to that place and time when you first heard it. It’s a brilliant feeling when music touches you so profoundly and stays with you through time."

    The 10 records that changed Rob Halford's life

    1.The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland
    2.Cream – Disraeli Gears
    3.The Beatles – Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
    4.Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin II
    5.David Bowie – The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
    6.King Crimson – In The Court Of The Crimson King
    7.The Rolling Stones – Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out
    8.John Mayall – Blues From Laurel Canyon
    9.Alice Cooper – Billion Dollar Babies
    10.Queen – Queen

  2. #2
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    Well, one of his top 10 is also in my top 10 of life changing albums.

    Disraeli Gears

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by PeterG View Post
    Well, one of his top 10 is also in my top 10 of life changing albums.

    Disraeli Gears
    Two are in mine...B$B's & Ziggy Stardust

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    1. PF – Dark Side of the Moon
    2. Kate Bush – The Kick Inside
    3. Neil Young – Harvest
    4. Queen – News of the World
    5. Gerry Rafferty – City to City
    6. Genesis – A Trick of the Tail
    7. Thin Lizzy – Jailbreak
    8. Cream – Disraeli Gears
    9. LZ – IV
    10. The Doors – Strange Days

  5. #5
    PE Member Since 4/9/2002 NeonKnight's Avatar
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    Rob Halford's list includes King Crimson, but doesn't include any Black Sabbath?

    He's really funny like that, almost delusional. I remember seeing him on Headbanger's Ball years ago where he said, "Judas Priest wrote the gospel of metal".

    Really Rob?

    That said, I don't think he or they ever riffed on Ozzy or Sabbath. Until now that is...



    First time I heard it, I thought it was something new from Ozzy. Pretty killer tune if you ask me...
    “Where words fail, music speaks.” - Hans Christian Anderson

  6. #6
    Well, I think you could make some argument that Preist were the godfathers of what we think of as modern metal because they took Sabbath and made it fast.

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    Progga mogrooves's Avatar
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    I can't recall ever hearing Judas Priest, but props to Halford. 8 outta 10 ain't bad! (The Mayall is a hip choice!).

    Quote Originally Posted by Halford
    The 10 records that changed Rob Halford's life:

    1.The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland
    2.Cream – Disraeli Gears
    3.The Beatles – Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
    4.Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin II
    5.David Bowie – The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
    6.King Crimson – In The Court Of The Crimson King
    7.The Rolling Stones – Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out
    8.John Mayall – Blues From Laurel Canyon
    Quote Originally Posted by NeonKnight View Post
    ... doesn't include any Black Sabbath?
    Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes

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    Quote Originally Posted by mogrooves View Post
    I can't recall ever hearing Judas Priest, but props to Halford. 8 outta 10 ain't bad! (The Mayall is a hip choice!).
    You're not missing anything...

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by trurl View Post
    Well, I think you could make some argument that Preist were the godfathers of what we think of as modern metal because they took Sabbath and made it fast.
    Sabbath already made Sabbath fast.

    "Supernaut" and "Symptom Of The Universe" come to mind as being quite fast. Certainly the latter could be argued to be a big chunk of the blueprint for the entire idea.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by NeonKnight View Post
    Rob Halford's list includes King Crimson, but doesn't include any Black Sabbath?

    He's really funny like that, almost delusional. I remember seeing him on Headbanger's Ball years ago where he said, "Judas Priest wrote the gospel of metal".

    Really Rob?
    I think he thinks of Sabbath as peers and is mostly naming albums from just outside their common ground.

    TBH, as the years pass, I think it only becomes more and more evident that Sabbath were visionaries in a way that even the somewhat "top shelf metal" bands like Priest just weren't. Sabbath's very best work is cerebral in a way that the operatic, more clichéd "metal" just can't quite attain, IMO. Albums like Sabotage and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath have compositional and lyrical depth that transcends almost anything from the period. No other heavy rock band could have pulled that stuff off. And that includes Purple and Zeppelin (the latter who come close in their own territory).

  11. #11
    Member since March 2004 mozo-pg's Avatar
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    Sad Wings Of Destiny is a masterpiece.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by NeonKnight View Post

    That said, I don't think he or they ever riffed on Ozzy or Sabbath. Until now that is...
    He riffed on Sabbath pretty good when he fronted them on ... what ... three occasions? Twice in '92 and at least once in like ... 2004?

    Two things I realized from those two shows in '92:

    1. Halford can't sing Dio-era Sabbath very well.
    2. Halford can't sing Ozzy-era Sabbath very well.

    But I give the guy all the credit in the world for getting those shows done. Some songs he pulled off better than others but he really gave it every drop of effort he had. Hearing him try "Neon Knights" was absolutely classic, if a bit painful. "Symptom Of The Universe" was kind of in his range but somehow he just sounds a little "off" throughout the whole thing. Truth be told, these are fucking DIFFICULT songs to sing. Ozzy himself would have had no chance at "Symptom" by that time. The fact that Halford even attempted stuff like that showed extraordinary confidence.

    The other thing which I think was so great about those '92 shows was that they pulled out some tracks they hadn't done in years! I've always figured Halford was instrumental in that as I'm sure they let him guide the setlists.

    Anyway ... I dig Halford's list. Good variety there.

  13. #13
    Carney, you just blew my mind. I was thinking you had to be tripping or something. Halford singing with Sabbath is something I had never known about so it turns out I'm the fool. Cool though, I learned something new today. Useless information, but still new.

    Could you imagine going to one of those gigs not knowing that Halford was going to be doing it that night? That would be one hell of a shock.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by TheLoony View Post
    Carney, you just blew my mind. I was thinking you had to be tripping or something. Halford singing with Sabbath is something I had never known about so it turns out I'm the fool. Cool though, I learned something new today. Useless information, but still new.

    Could you imagine going to one of those gigs not knowing that Halford was going to be doing it that night? That would be one hell of a shock.
    Funny you should mention this, because I don't think anybody knew at the first '92 show. The whole thing was rock and roll history which can't even be made up.

    I saw Sabbath the night before the LA shows. This was in Oakland on November 13. As it turns out, I saw the very last Sabbath show with Ronnie James Dio, because the projects with him fifteen years later weren't billed as Black Sabbath, of course. The show was TREMENDOUS, btw. Ronnie absolutely sang every last breath out of his soul. When I watch those clips and now and think that he had to have known the whole time that this was it, that he wasn't going forward with them, I just bow in respect. The guy was the consummate professional not just in theory but in practice.

    Remember this was pre-internet. Rumors were everywhere that Dio did not want to take part at the shows on the 14th and 15th. Apparently part of the problem was that he felt like they would be "opening" for Ozzy and in his view this was utterly absurd. Iommi and Butler apparently viewed it differently. These were going to be Ozzy's final performances and they felt like being a guest at these shows was a special circumstance rushed together at the last minute. That this ego stuff could be put aside. And besides, the biggest thing of all was going to be a reunion of the original four which would close out everything on November 15.

    Now, how in the hell Sabbath and Halford got that one hour set together in what might well have been one fucking night, I have no idea. But the show I saw ended at probably midnight. Maybe they had found an off day here or there prior and worked with him, I don't know ...

    But I do not think most people had any clue what they were about to witness on November 14. Sabbath was on tour with Dio, and while rumors were everywhere that Dio didn't want any part of this "Farewell Ozzy" thing, I don't think many people had a clue that Halford was going to quickly be brought in as an emergency replacement. The shows went down a storm. Camcorder videos are on YouTube which probably don't come close to doing it justice.

    Let's put this in some type of chronicled perspective.

    11/13/92




    11/14/92


  15. #15


    I can imagine some of the other songs didn't fare well but Mob Rules with Halford kicks ass.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by trurl View Post

    I can imagine some of the other songs didn't fare well but Mob Rules with Halford kicks ass.
    I think I prefer Halford prowling the stage instead of running around all happy like. He looks a little funny doing that. Sounded ok, nothing really special.

    JC, thanks for that info. I wonder how many people that weren't there thought the people that were there were full of it. "Dude, saw Halford sing with Sabbath last night" - Other dude says "You're on crack. Halford's in Priest, you fool". I know I would have had a hard time believing it.

  17. #17
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rufus View Post

    1.The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland
    2.Cream – Disraeli Gears
    3.The Beatles – Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
    4.Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin II
    5.David Bowie – The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
    6.King Crimson – In The Court Of The Crimson King
    7.The Rolling Stones – Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out
    8.John Mayall – Blues From Laurel Canyon
    9.Alice Cooper – Billion Dollar Babies
    10.Queen – Queen
    Halford is obviously 10 years alder (or more) than me, so his list doesn't look like mine.... But if I'd have been born, 10 years sooner, most likely his list and mine (anti-dated for the cause) would be fairly close

    Not sure about Bowie and Cooper, , but I guess the others would be on the spot.
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  18. #18
    Member Vic2012's Avatar
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    I'm surprised he doesn't have one Black Sabbath album in his list. I'm not at all suprised there's a Bowie and Queen album in the list. When I listen to those old Priest albums like Sin After Sin and Sad Wings I think of a more metallic, heavier Queen.

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