Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford revealed his ten favorite albums of all time in an interview with Rolling Stone , and to make it onto the precious list of a true Metal God, it has to be a collection of acclaimed classics.
“ Pantera came about around the early 90s. They were together before that, but suddenly they started to rock with the impact of Cowboys From Hell . If you know your music and your rock and roll, great things happen at the beginning of every decade. So when I heard 'Cowboys From Hell,' I knew this was going to be a moment,” Halford says about the album, the tenth on his list. “That real display of the style of music these guys played was literally going to shake the world, and it did. We all know so many beautiful things about the band, especially Dimebag [ Darrell ], who I think was the driving force behind this band. What everyone was doing was just a total assault and attack, which got even stronger and more potent as they moved on to Far Beyond Driven , Great Southern Trendkill , and all those other great albums later on. But this one, this first one, really does the trick for me.”
“It’s just a great example of incredible musicianship from three people. It’s very difficult to connect as a trio, and just the way the interaction, particularly on the percussive side with Ginger [Baker] and Jack [Bruce] , was very, very special. It was full of a real and pure self-identity. And then you conclude with what Eric Clapton was doing, and his special voice makes Cream , in the overall picture of rock & roll, a very, very unique band,” he says about Cream’s 1967 album Disraeli Gears , which takes ninth place.
In eighth place is the 1972 classic: David Bowie 's Ziggy Stardust . “Here’s a guy who really took his fans on a journey. Was he Ziggy Stardust? Was he the Thin White Duke? Hunky Dory ? 'Heroes'? The Tin Machine side project? His last glorious song [Blackstar]? But the images Bowie created with each record, nobody else can touch that. He was the master of disguise. We were all very excited when we heard a new Bowie album was about to be released and, of all of them, the Ziggy Stardust album really stuck with me because I actually saw the Ziggy Stardust tour at Wolverhampton Civic Hall back home in the UK. I think they practically played the whole album from start to finish, and it was just unbelievable to see him there doing what he did so magnificently with such conviction. He was Ziggy Stardust and he mesmerized the world with that character.”
“I’ve always been a frustrated guitarist trying to pick up a guitar and learn how to play it, but this baffles me,” Rob reveals. “I just can’t understand how guitarists do what they do. It’s simply unbelievable. And Jimi Hendrix is the maestro of it. What he was doing from the late 60s onward was just a game-changer for guitarists, especially. And the way he put the music together for Axis: Bold as Love was very, very special. All the records he made are great, but that one just connects for me,” he states about his seventh-place ranking.
“I chose Machine Head simply because it’s fierce and intense,” he says of sixth place. “There’s always been a debate about whether Purple is a hard rock or heavy metal band. Priest toured with them, and I watched them many, many times from the side of the stage. They seem heavy to me… very heavy… But of all the Deep Purple they’ve done, that one really works for me.”
In fifth place is Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!, from 1970, by the Rolling Stones . “I chose a live album by the Stones because if you’ve ever seen the Stones live, there’s nobody like them. The way they transition from their studio work to a live performance is electrifying. Whenever a band gets on stage, a new dimension is experienced. And with the Stones, words simply don’t work for them. You have to see them live. And I think this is a great example of capturing all the charisma and characteristics of a great rock & roll band, probably the greatest rock & roll band of all time, on a single album.”
As one might expect, the Beatles make it onto the precious list of the best works of all time, but with a perhaps less anticipated album: A Hard Day's Night , from 1964. “That was difficult, because I was inclined to choose Sgt. Pepper [ Lonely Hearts Club , from 1967], because everyone does that, but there’s something about the tone. They went from 'She Loves You,' just a few years before, to what was becoming quite serious in how they structured the songs and thought more about developing that side of a musician that grows as you go along. So, the songs on A Hard Day's Night are very expressive of a band that is really changing and adapting, probably with maturity, as many musicians do.”
Entering Halford's podium, an undeniable classic immediately takes its place: Queen 's Queen II . “I’ve always been a huge Queen fan. Every Queen album I listen to has its own character and identity, very similar to Priest in that respect. I kind of suggested that, in some elements, Priest is like Queen because no two Priest albums are alike. That’s the case with Queen. The second album, Queen II , defines that,” says Rob.
“By the time they made Queen II , they had become very adventurous. They were just taking a panoramic view. The landscape of their music was simply gigantic, particularly in terms of the vocals, all those incredible harmonies they did together. And that’s another thing I love about Queen, that everyone used to sing on the records, especially Roger [Taylor] and Brian [May] and sometimes John Deacon . But the vocal impact on me as a singer was immense. It really taught me a lot,” he adds.
In second place is Led Zeppelin album. "The thing about this particular album is that it has a lot of experiments with transitions in heavy hard rock, which includes a lot of blues vibes. And they openly admitted that the blues is where the basic journey for this band began."
The gold medal, in turn, goes to the bible of heavy metal: Black Sabbath . “They were guys from the same neighborhood, the same region as Priest. We literally grew up together, inventing this great music that we love and cherish, so-called heavy metal. I chose the Black Sabbath simply because, like many bands, your first one or two albums really establish who you are as a band. It's a bit like Priest with Rocka Rolla and Sad Wings of Destiny , it becomes the one we love so much because it becomes defining. With Black Sabbath Ozzy [Osbourne] 's unique voice . It just became a very important record in Black Sabbath's discography.”
