What Albums Would JUDAS PRIEST's ROB HALFORD Take To A Desert Island?

In a new interview with AXS TV, JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford reveals which albums he'd be willing to listen to in perpetuity if he found himself stranded and alone on an island. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "My number one choices of albums… I would have to go with BLACK SABBATH, the original 'Black Sabbath' album that I think is the motivator for all great things in heavy metal. Some Jimi Hendrix — definitely a Jimi Hendrix album, because I'm a frustrated guitar player and I love what electric guitars can do. So 'Electric Ladyland' from Jimi Hendrix, most definitely. THE ROLLING STONES' 'Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!', I think from Madison Square Garden, a live record, which really shows the energy and power of that band. One of the greatest rock and roll bands that that ever lived. Let's bump up into more recent times. Let's go really fierce and aggressive with something from SLAYER and really burn things off on the island; that palm tree's gonna fall over. And so I would go with 'Reign In Blood' by SLAYER because of its fierceness, its relentless intensity. For number five, I'm gonna jump out a little bit into something a little bit more cerebral, if that's the right word to call Maynard's [James Keenan] band TOOL. But TOOL, for me, has always been a great adventure, because they go to some remarkable places and it really, really is great music to put your headphones on, which I have here on this island to get lost in some TOOL."

Back in 2020, Halford broke down his top 10 favorite albums in an interview with Rolling Stone and explained how they helped make him who he is. Among the records included on the list are LED ZEPPELIN's debut LP (1969),QUEEN's "Queen II" (1974),THE BEATLES' "A Hard Day's Night" (1964),THE ROLLING STONES' "Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!" (1970),DEEP PURPLE's "Machine Head" (1971),THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE's "Axis: Bold As Love" (1967),David Bowie's "The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars" (1972) and CREAM's "Disraeli Gears" (1967).

Speaking about BLACK SABBATH's classic 1970 self-titled debut album, Halford said: "They were local guys from the same neighborhood, the same neck of the woods as PRIEST. We literally grew up together, inventing this great music that we love and cherish so much called heavy-metal music.

"I chose the 'Black Sabbath' album just because, like so many bands, your first one or two records really establish who you are as a band. It's a bit like PRIEST with 'Rocka Rolla' and 'Sad Wings Of Destiny'; 'Sad Wings Of Destiny' becomes the one we love so much because it becomes defining. With 'Black Sabbath', here was the first example of what heavy-metal music should sound like, just the texture, the tone, the structure of all of the material, Ozzy's [Osbourne] very unique voice. It's just become a very important record in the discography of BLACK SABBATH."

Regarding PANTERA's 1990 effort "Cowboys From Hell", Rob said: "PANTERA came about around the early nineties. They were together before then, but they suddenly started to crush with the impact of 'Cowboys From Hell'. If you know your music and your rock and roll, great things happen at the start of every decade. So when I got an earful of 'Cowboys From Hell', I knew that this was going to be a shifter. This actual display of the style of music that these guys were playing was literally going to shake up the world, which it did. We all know so many beautiful things about the band, especially Dimebag [Darrell, guitar], who I think was the driving force behind that band. What everybody was doing was just a full-on assault and attack, which got even stronger and more potent as they moved on to 'Far Beyond Driven', 'Great Southern Trendkill', and all of those other great records later on. But this one, this first one, really does the business for me."

Halford's autobiography, "Confess", arrived in September 2020 via Hachette Books. The book was described by the U.K.'s The Telegraph as "one of the most candid and surprising memoirs" of that year.

Last year, Halford released his second book, "Biblical: Rob Halford's Heavy Metal Scriptures". In the follow-up to "Confess", Halford ran his lively eye over all facets of the hard rock history and the heavy metal world via bite-sized reflections, opinions, and memories in scores and scores of areas, all linked by a biblical theme.