Rob Halford Opens Up About Rock Hall Nomination, & Believes It’s Now Or Never For Judas Priest….

It’s now, or never for us….

Last Thursday, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame dropped its list of nominees for the upcoming class of 2018. The nominees include Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Depeche Mode, The Cars, Bon Jovi, Dire Straits, LL Cool J, J. Geils Band and Judas Priest.

Judas Priest have been trying to crack it into the Hall for years. They’ve been eligible for nomination since 1999, but this is the first year they’ve actually been listed on the finalists list. Rob Halford is incredibly excited about the opportunity, considering it’s been 18 years in the making, but is worried that it may be now or never for Priest.

“This is our Oscars. When the nominations come up and the inductions come up, you often wonder that it would feel like if you were able to be on stage at that moment making an acceptance speech and particularly having the pleasure to be in the company of all the other musicians and industry people….So, yeah, if we do get in it will be an absolute dream-come-true moment. Fingers crossed, as they say.” – Halford said.

He believes that metal is a huge underdog when it comes to the Rock Hall, and doesn’t always get the respect it deserves compared to other genres.

“I’ve often talked about metal being the underdog in rock ‘n’ roll music,” Halford said. “We remember the times through the punk and New Wave moments when it was proclaimed that heavy metal music was dead, it didn’t stand a chance of surviving, that it was Neanderthal music that had limited scope and wasn’t very intelligent and all those bad things. I still don’t understand the kind of pushback that we still kind of have to bump up against now and again, but this recognition by the Hall of Fame helps to slowly chip away at that kind of stereotype. The metal dog is wagging it’s metal tail, which is a great feeling. We do deserve this.” – Halford continued.

We’re pulling for Priest! They deserve to be in, and it would be a shame if they were left out this year, and pushed out of the spotlight in the coming years. Here’s hoping for the best!