Judas Priest frontman, and Metal God Rob Halford, spoke with Rolling Stone about his top ten favorite songs of all time, what follows is a portion of his list.
- Black Sabbath, Paranoid, which he calls a “game changing moment.”
- Slayer, Angel of Death
- Dio, Holy Diver, and adds that Ronnie was his “hero.”
- Metallica, Ride The Lighting, of which he says “those first batches of Metallica…generates as much now as it did then.”
- Motörhead, Ace of Spades
Watch the video below to hear the rest of his picks. In additional Priest news, the band is currently on tour their half-a-century anniversary. Additionally, the band will be releasing a mammoth limited-edition box set called 50 Heavy Metal Years Of Music. For more details about this special release, due October 15th, please click here.
18 Responses
Sorry Rob, Slayer is not from the Bay Area .
I like most of Rob’s picks (although none would make my top 10 songs) EXCEPT 2 I do NOT like, in fact, Pantera at all, and RATM (as I’ve said before) SUCKS!!!!! The worst “band” ever! And f–k that a–hole Tom Morono! Biggest hypocritical piece of sh-t in the business! A liar, a moron, a Marxist, an a–hole, period! Anyway, again, I like most of the songs Rob picked, but none of them would make my top 10 list, a list like “Top 10 songs of all time” would be and is just impossible to make, now I know how Dana feels! 😉
I’d like to add that Tom Morono (nice name by the way) looks so stupid the way he plays the guitar so high nearly up to his neck and dances around.
I was never a fan of RATM, and I never liked Morello’s guitar sound, either, quite annoying in my opinion.
On a positive note, I love the Kachina doll on Mr. Halford’s shelf.
Interesting list and commentary from Halford. As with Doug, I like all the songs except for RATM and am no fan of them. None of these would be on my own list if I could come up with one but considering Rob Halford’s vocal style and the music he championed , they are honest choices.
Rob,
I agree, and as much as I like Jake E. Lee, how anyone could pick one of his tunes over a Rhoads era song , is confounding.
Interesting list for sure , it’s fun to hear his influences ,he kind of does a slayer thing vocally on certain songs , I would love to see everyone’s top 10 , here are mine
Tarot woman – rainbow
Pictured life – scorpions
Child in time – purple
Burn- purple
Supernaught- sabbath
Dissident aggressor- priest
Mother mary – ufo
The tower – angel
Immigrint song – zeppelin
If you want blood – acdc
As a teenager these songs pulled me into a life long love of heavy music
Robert,
It is impossible for me to make lists, because how I feel at this very moment, could change in a month or even a week.
I have certain songs, albums, singers and guitarists, that are, no pun intended, rock solid. However, the rest is nebulous, and trying to do my top ten songs of all time, would be nearly impossible, as there are an abundance of songs that I love.
So, I applaud you for being able to come up with your list, but for me, it would be a very difficult, frustrating and hair pulling situation.
Dana,
These were my top 10 heavy songs as a teenager , my tastes have evolved over the years , I still love these songs , but if I made my list today it would only include dissident aggressor ,to me the greatest , coolest most brutal metal tune of its time –
Gotcha.
I think, even back then, it would have been a daunting task to pick my favorite songs.
Robert, Dissident Aggressor is a great Priest song, just f’n brutal! Perfect example of why I consider Priest the first heavy metal band, not Black Sabbath.
I LOVE it every single time Rattle says that about Priest. 🙂
Here’s my Top 10 (9/23/21) dated because tomorrow, who knows… no rhyme or reason –
10. Would? – Alice In Chains
9. More Than A Feeling – Boston
8. Wouldn’t It Be Nice – The Beach Boys
7. Roundabout – Yes
6. I Drink Alone – George Thorogood
5. Dazed And Confused – Led Zeppelin
4. King Of Pain – The Police
3. Highway Star – Deep Purple
2. Sweet Emotion – Aerosmith
1. Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy – Bad Company