Many happy returns to the self-titled "stately homo of heavy metal" Rob Halford of Judas Priest, 70 years old today.
Now, as any fule kno, I am not the world's greatest heavy rock fan [despite having spent an inordinate amount of time in my teenage years accompanying two childhood friends Carol and Lois, who were, to venues such as "The Cross Keys Miners' Institute Heavy Metal Rock Night"] - but I do love a bit of salacious gossip; and if that happens to involve rock's greatest gayers, well so be it...
On whips:
"Once we were on [Top of the Pops] with the Osmonds. I had my whip with me and I'd heard Marie wasn't happy about that. So, I went to see her in her dressing room with her curlers in." Did he use the whip on the show? "Of course I did. I'm not going to have any Mormon telling me what I can and can't do with my whip."
Apparently, when Freddie Mercury started wearing leathers, Rob Halford said he'd like to see him get on a bike and do a lap at Donnington; Freddie retorted that he'd like to see Rob Halford don a tutu and dance at Covent Garden.
They weren't enemies, though:
"Freddie [Mercury] is my ultimate hero. The closest I ever got to Freddie was in a gay bar in Athens on the way to Mykonos. We kind of glared at each other across the bar, in a kind of smiling, winking way. When we got to Mykonos I was determined to track him down, but I couldn't because he'd rented this huge yacht. It was festooned in pink balloons and it just kept sailing around the island. He's someone I wish I'd really met."
On coming out:
"The biggest myth about this new stage gear is that I had somehow masterminded the image as a cover and a vent for my homosexuality – that I was getting a thrill from dressing on stage as I’d like to dress in the street, or the bedroom. This is utter bollocks. I had no interest in S&M, domination or the whole queer subcult of leather and chains. It just didn’t do it for me. My sexual preference was for men, sure, but I was – and still am – pretty vanilla. I’ve never used a whip in the boudoir in my life."
"I must admit, I still occasionally look back at Priest photos of that late seventies era, and suspect that they were our Shirley Bassey leather years. But that is probably just me being me."
Here's Rob and the boys in those "Shirley Bassey leather years", with a song I remember my aforementioned friends head-banging to:
...but all this serves as a good enough excuse as any for another of those faboo pop-vs-metal mashups of which I am extremely fond [see here, here and here], featuring Mr Halford and Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and - erm - Wham!
Love it. And, I must admit, I like Rob Halford too.
Rob Halford inteview in The Guardian
