Former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing spoke with Dean Pedley of The Midlands Rocks about why he left Judas Priest and how the music industry has changed over the years. Highlights from the article appear below.
Discussing British Steel:
“It’s always the hardest thing in the world to follow success, if I had a pound for every time someone has said to me why don’t you write another album like British Steel but the thing is you can’t – those songs have already been written. If the people that wrote it tried to sit down and write another one you would end up with a watered down version; you wouldn’t better it because it’s already out there, it would just sound like a poor copy.”
On why he left Judas Priest:
“I’ll never get away from this retirement thing, but what happened was that I quit, retired implies that I am not physically able to do it. I am able to do it but I didn’t want to do it; I just wasn’t enjoying it any more, a lot of things had changed. I think I counted about thirty reasons why I didn’t want to do it at the time and that is an awful lot of reasons. In all honesty, I think that in so many respects it had run its course. If you’re part of a songwriting team you get the recognition and reward for creating something, but for me Priest became about going out and playing live and replicating exactly what people had enjoyed ten, twenty or thirty years ago. The fans would be just as happy if they could see us bin all of the modern guitars we now play and take them on a walk down memory lane because I think that’s what people enjoy most. And I understand that because if I could go out now and see Eric Clapton with Cream then I would be the happiest person in the world.
One of the beautiful things about being in the industry was the ability to continue to invent and create, constructing songs and making good records. You do feel the need to be creative and that was taken away with the downloading thing and as you get older the balance of the scales starts to tip. So if you can’t be creative why would you want to continue to dedicate the time into something. I suppose if the industry was still healthy and people still had to spend their hard earned money buying a record it would be different, but if you give something away then it has no value. We used to buy an album and think well it’s not that good but I’ll play it a million times I’m sure I’ll get into it and now it doesn’t really get a second chance. In the past there was always the opportunity to create a record like Dark Side of the Moon or British Steel or Back In Black that would be one of those albums that would be indelible and people will always come back to. And I think that opportunity has gone now and I think it would take a miracle for one of those to happen again. If you consider an album like Nostradamus then if that had been released in 1978 then it would have been another Dark Side of the Moon but it is all about the timing. When you think about it in the early days we had the opportunity to write great songs, play great solos and have great vocal performances but people get used to it and it is hard now to get the reaction of “Wow, have you heard the new Priest album.” The industry has changed so much… I see companies that are repackaging and rehashing and that started happening to us and that was not a pretty thing to be a part of. It’s kind of duping the fans a bit because there are fans around the world that have got to have everything to complete their collection so even if there are only a few thousand of them if you put out a box collection it might be $100, which is a lot of dollars, and so for me that is something that I didn’t get into music for.”
Read the entire article at The Midlands Rocks.
source: themidlandsrocks.com
24 Responses
Man. Really is sad to hear he wasn’t enjoying things anymore… I guess i get it though. 30+ years with the same group of people. Playing some of the same songs a billion times over each year.. I’d probably lose some of my passion too! And with this whole, download for free websites… Nobody’s striking pay dirt as a rock/metal act anymore! Rap either if you’re into that genre.. but so many things have gone online lately. I’m still pretty young myself, n fairly up on at least USING the Internet and the computer! Haha! But i’d still prefer to support my favorite acts by BUYING a CD or record with what bit of money im able to save up. I would love to have seen priest live.. I never was able to.. and now kk has left? Has anyone listened to the new album yet? I don’t know about you.. but i feel its missing that certain feel.. a particular sound or special riff, like Zakk Wylde of BLS/Ozzy.. hes got a signiture sound.. he makes his guitar do kind of a squeel. I think its kinda cool. But yea. Its missing kk. It’s a great album from what I’ve heard of it so far.. but it just doesn’t seem to have the same energy or passion as it would with kk… I grew up listening to them.. 30 years now. My dad introduced me to their music when i was 3 n ive been a huge fan since! Best regards and best of luck in your future endeavors! Blessed be KK! Priest will never be the same without you! God speed and good luck! May the metal gods fly you on their backs for the rest of eternity!
I agree with a prior post. The problem isn’t the mp3/downloading technology, it is the record companies. It’s unconscianable that the artists (generally) make less than the executives . Remember when CD’s first appeared? They are almost the same price now that they were back then- 30 years ago! In what world does that make sense? I will also agree that mp3 versions are not the best quality, but I do like the fact that I can buy just the songs I like. Now, a band I LOVE will get my money for the whole album, but that’s not true for everyone. It also keeps artists honest- you can’t put out one good song and have everything else be just crap/filler.
K.K. has a smile on his face and I want him to know I still get that 18 y’old S eating grin every time I hear the him play! Thanks Metal God. : )