Rob Halford’s Memoir ‘Confess’: 20 Wild Things We Learned - Rolling Stone

In his book, Judas Priest frontman reveals distaste for S&M and recalls the time he handcuffed himself to Andy Warhol.

Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford's memoir, 'Confess,' is filled with fascinating stories.

The impact that Rob Halford and his band Judas Priest have had on heavy metal is immeasurable.

As he tells the story of Judas Priest — who made a noticeable impact on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Metal Albums, landing the number three spot with British Steel — he weaves in any number of funny, heartbreaking, and interesting tidbits about the obstacles he encountered and the many famous people he has met along the way.

Although Judas Priest had put out two albums already by the time of 1977’s Sin After Sin — including ’76’s Sad Wings of Destiny, which contains Halford’s vocal showpiece “Victim of Changes” — the singer thought he could have done better.

“I was pleased with my lyrics on Sin After Sin,” he wrote, “as I honed my natural style of tackling psychological and philosophical traumas, apocalyptic tales of gods, devils, and warriors fighting epic battles, in which good — and heavy-metal.

When Kiss specially requested Judas Priest to open for them in the late Seventies, Halford couldn’t keep his eyes off Gene Simmons’ girlfriend.

At a record-industry party at New York’s Mudd Club in the late Seventies, Halford noticed a “small, older guy with peroxide-white hair” taking photos of him.

Small talk went nowhere — Warhol just said, “Oh, really,” to everything Halford said — so the singer removed the handcuffs he had hanging from his studded belt.

When Judas Priest opened for AC/DC on a 1979 tour, Priest’s penchant for leaving venues as soon as they were done playing led Angus Young to think Halford and Co.

By then, Ringo Starr owned the place, but it was still filled with relics of the Lennon era, including two toilets that were side by side with nameplates that read “John” and “Yoko.” “I tried to imagine them sitting side by side, holding hands, having a poo,” Halford wrote.

One night, Halford was trying to get some shuteye when the piercing sound of Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton’s guitar wrenched him from his sleep at 4 a.m.

“Writing ‘Breaking the Law,’ I tried to put myself in the mind of a jobless young bloke at his wits’ end,” Halford wrote.

When Maiden opened for Priest in 1980, Halford got drunk with singer Paul Di’Anno one night and the liquid confidence almost led him astray.

“I tried to seduce him!” Halford wrote.

When Halford spotted the Queen singer, who he considers a hero, at a gay bar in Mykonos in the summer of 1980, he wasn’t as excited as he thought he’d be.

Moreover, the Priest frontman was miffed to read an interview with Mercury where he said he didn’t like heavy metal.

When Ronnie James Dio decided that a supergroup of metal musicians should record their own charity single — “Stars,” credited to Hear ‘n Aid — similar to Bob Geldof’s Band Aid, he invited Priest, Mötley Crüe, Twisted Sister, and many others.

“‘Hey man, you’re in Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, right?’ they said to me and [Maiden guitarist] Adrian Smith.

Halford describes himself as “a pop tart” and around the time Priest recorded 1988’s Ram It Down, he convinced the guys to work with the songwriting team of Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW).

hits by that point, including Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record),” Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up,” and Kylie Minogue’s “I Should Be So Lucky.” SAW talked Priest into covering the Stylistics’ “You Are Everything” and two originals, “I Will Return” and “Runaround.” Although Halford was happy with the results, the band decided to shelve the songs indefinitely.

That was not the case in 1990 when Halford tried to jump on a trend ahead of the Painkiller tour.

After Halford quit Judas Priest and eventually started an industrial project called 2wo, he signed to Trent Reznor’s Nothing imprint, which was associated with Jimmy Iovine’s Interscope label.

When Halford reunited with Priest in 2003, he found himself forgetting some of the lyrics, an occurrence he chalks up to years of alcohol abuse

“Then I went to see Korn — a great band — and noticed [frontman] Jonathan Davis squinting at a screen once or twice during the show,” Halford wrote

“Heavy metal, Your Majesty,” Halford said

Before Johnny Depp was famous, he was a Rob Halford stan

Halford met Depp backstage at an event Alice Cooper threw in 2018

When they got to talking, Depp asked the singer, “Do you remember the Treehouse days?” The Treehouse was a club that Halford would show up at in Fort Lauderdale when Judas Priest were mixing 1982’s Screaming for Vengeance

Halford would go there, drink, and sing Priest songs with a cover band

Halford asked Depp how he’d known about that, and the actor said, “I had heard you used to go down and jam on Priest songs, so I’d go down in case you turned up

“You wouldn’t,” Depp said

“I was just a long-haired skinny punk back then, in a band that was going nowhere, but I remember you.” Halford wrote that he was “absolutely gob smacked.”

Judas Priest, Rob Halford