Gay metalheads

Spawning from English rock and blues, spearheaded by bands like Black Sabbath, and, later, Judas Priest, metal was portrayed in the media as exclusively, and aggressively, male and straight.

Instead, he preferred to sing and write poetry.

Halford realized he was gay when he was a preteen during a time when same-sex relations were illegal in Great Britain. To pretend that it’s exclusively the domain of leather jacket-wearing Slayer-fans is to lie to yourself. All sites belong to their prospective owners, publishers, and editors etc.

The album, deeply influenced by blues and lacking any distinctive style to differentiate it from the many other hard rock bands competing in the market, was a commercial failure and received no attention from the press.

Judas Priest’s second album, Sad Wings of Destiny (1976), despite also being a commercial failure, marked a turning point both for the band and the heavy metal genre itself.

Despite their commercial success and cultural impact, Judas Priest had similarly been excluded from the Hall of Fame despite having been eligible since 1999. They never spoke about his sexuality again.

As a teenager, Halford took to heavy drinking and abusing prescription pills to cope with the shame over his sexuality, a habit that would plague him for years.

That all changed on July 13, 1985, when Judas Priest and Black Sabbath’s original lineup temporarily reunited to perform at Live Aid. Judas Priest began the decade playing small clubs hoping to do just well enough to make another record, and Black Sabbath managed to be commercially successful during the 1970s despite their songs hardly receiving any radio play.

It was a sign of the way the scene was already changing, and had been throughout the ’80s and the hair metal revival.

Hair Metal And Nu-Metal

Throughout the ’80s, the genre’s theatrics were slowly brought front and centre, and the Grand Guignol theatre of the ’70s was traded for tall hairstyles and tight pants.

Halford himself is married to a former United States Marine named Thomas Pence. Punk bands and their fans eschewed the flamboyant fashion choices that rock groups from the 1970s were famous for, preferring a simpler style that reflected their working-class backgrounds. Downing and Hill invited Halford to be the band’s new lead vocalist, and in 1974, Judas Priest released their first studio album, Rocka Rolla.

Meanwhile, metal acts like Judas Priest were still dressing in the hippie-inspired clothing bands had been wearing since the late 1960s. While in the police station, Halford was convinced his arrest would make headlines across the world and destroy his career. The only thing that made him happy was music. Both men’s binges frequently led to bouts of violence.

As it happened, every cop at the station was a Judas Priest fan and they ensured Halford’s arrest was kept quiet. What if I got it wrong, made a misjudged pass, and got a smack in the mouth? It was clear early on that Halford was cut from a more artistic cloth. Halford loved the idea, and he and Downing went to an S&M shop in London to buy outfits and then model them to the other band members who agreed that the new look would solidify their image.

In 1979, when Judas Priest first donned their leather-and-metal-stud look, Rob Halford knew the moment they stepped on stage that the band had finally found their identity.

Even so, punk rock was overshadowing heavy metal. Halford’s powerful vocal abilities, which range from high-pitched screams to guttural growls, set the bar for what a heavy metal singer should be. In fact, it might just be the only thing capable of bringing humanity together.