Considered the “Metal God,” Rob Halford was a fundamental part of Judas Priest’s sound, which helped the band reach the level of success and influence it achieved. Although they started a few years before most of the bands from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, they are considered part of the movement, which also includes Iron Maiden. Over the decades, Halford has talked about the band formed in London and gave his opinion on their vocalist Bruce Dickinson.
What is Rob Halford’s opinion on Bruce Dickinson
Rob Halford is a big fan and friend of Bruce Dickinson, although the Iron Maiden vocalist has criticized him a couple of times for using teleprompters during shows. When asked about the opportunity to see Bruce on the road while he was promoting his new solo album, Halford praised him, saying: “I’m just really excited to see the guys and get the group hug. Because between the three of us, we’ve done so many things in Metal, you know. We have a great friendship, a great relationship.”
“(…) Just to see the guys again, after so long, just sit down, have a drink and just talk. I’m just so happy for Bruce with his ‘Mandrake Project’ and I had a kind of feeling that Roy Z would be there in the project. I’m so glad he is, because we did some great work together on ‘Resurrection’ (Halford solo album – 2000), that became a beloved Metal album and beyond. That opportunity when Bruce and I did ‘The One You Love to Hate’, it’s special. It’s very, very unique and a very strong friendship,” Halford told Metal Pilgrim in 2024 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
The 1990s were somewhat similar for Rob and Bruce, as both decided to leave the bands that made them famous and pursue solo careers. Curiously, both of them ended up working with American guitarist and producer Roy Z. It was through him that the Maiden vocalist eventually dueted with Rob on “The One You Love to Hate”, from Halford’s album “Resurrection” (2000). Rob Halford recalled that partnership in his autobiography “Confess”.
He said:
“The fourth member was the album’s producer. Roy Z had produced—and played guitar on—Bruce Dickinson’s solo albums in the nineties. Bruce had quit Iron Maiden in 1993 but was now on the verge of rejoining the mega-band that had made him famous. Which, I must admit, I found encouraging: If he could do it, why couldn’t I. Through Roy, we got Bruce Dickinson to cowrite and sing on a track, “The One You Love to Hate.” Bruce came up with the title and he, Roy, and I wrote the song on the fly in the studio. He was in and out in one day. Cool song, too,” he said.
That year Halford’s band toured with Maiden as their opening act in 2000 and 2001, “We went down great with the Maiden fans. Maiden and Priest had always had similar audiences. Bruce and I had been through a lot of the same things. The good reception we got was like being welcomed back into the metal family. I felt like I was… home,” Rob said in his book.
What Rob Halford said after Bruce criticized him for using a teleprompter
Bruce is a big fan of Judas Priest and Halford but criticized him a couple of times for using a teleprompter on stage that shows the lyrics of the song he is singing. The first time was in 2014, when he said: “We still don’t have an Autocue. Yay! I never realised that people were using Autocues. What the fuck is that all about? People pay good money and you can’t even remember the sodding words. The daftest one I ever saw was Breaking the Law. It’s on the fucking Autocue. ‘Breaking the law, breaking the law/Breaking the law, breaking the law/Breaking the law, breaking the law/Breaking the law’ – guess what? – ‘breaking the law.’ It’s ludicrous,” he told The Guardian.
At the time, when asked about Bruce’s statement in an interview, Rob said that the singer was very outspoken and that he was sure he meant no offense. “I love Bruce. I love Bruce. He’s a great friend of mine. And he’s very outspoken,” continued Halford, who called Dickinson a “great frontman, a great singer from a great band.” As he went on to point out, “You know, these things are said in many ways. I’m sure he didn’t mean it in any other way than Bruce sometimes goes off in one of his rants. You know, it’s just the way it goes,” he said in an interview with 107.7 The Bone in 2014.
Six years later, in 2020, during a spoken-word appearance, Bruce repeated what he said. “I don’t use an autocue on stage. A lot of singers now, they just have the words there: ‘Breaking the law, breaking the law.’ Breaking the what? ‘Breaking the law, breaking the law.'”
Bruce Dickinson said “British Steel” is one of his favorite albums
But more recently he praised the band, picking “British Steel” as one of his favorite albums. “What can you say? Judas Priest. That’s one of their best covers, they had very mixed (covers). I found their album covers confusing. (For example, ‘Point of Entry’, ‘I’m like, what is this?’ you know. That one (British Steel), you know what that is. That’s obviously a Metal record, it’s got an edge to it. It’s got something to it.”
“For me, I actually really started getting into Priest when I toured with them, so I was quite late. I mean, I knew who they were, you know, ‘Sad Wings of Destiny’ and all that stuff. But I really understand what they were about, when I toured with them with Maiden. It was on the ‘Screaming for Vengeance’ tour. God, what a record that was and then all that stuff before. I mean, Adrian (Smith) was very into Priest, more so than me. But then when I saw them live, I was like ‘Yeah, these guys are really cool’,” Bruce Dickinson told Qobuz in 2024 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
The 3 tremors project with Bruce and Dio
Curiously, back when Ronnie James Dio was still alive, Rob and Bruce talked with hin about creating a project called “The Three Tremors”. It would be like a Metal version of The Three Tenors, which was an operatic singing trio formed by Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingos and José Carreras.
“There was talk of Bruce, Geoff (Tate), and I making a record and touring as ‘The Three Tremors.’ Then there was talk of Bruce and I doing it with Ronnie James Dio instead of Geoff. Rod Smallwood tried to organize it, but it came to nothing. It was a shame. It would’ve been fun,” Rob Halford said in his autobiography.
Early Maiden was Judas Priest’s opening act and Rob is a fan of their first album with Paul Di’Anno
Although Rob Halford is a fan of the Bruce Dickinson era of Iron Maiden, when Rolling Stone asked him to list his favorite Heavy Metal albums of all time, he placed their debut album in fourth place, which featured the late Paul Di’Anno on vocals. “This felt like fresh U.K. blood from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. It was top of the heap,” he said about that record. Funny enough, he said he wasn’t bothered when they toured together and Di’Anno said in an interview that they would blow Judas Priest off the stage.
“Our support on the UK leg of the British Steel tour was to be Iron Maiden, one of the new bands being championed by the press. On the eve of the tour, they did a music-press interview in which their then-singer, Paul Di’Anno, said they would blow Judas Priest off stage every night. I wasn’t remotely bothered by this. Because a) they were wrong, and b) that was the kind of thing cocky young bands were supposed to say! We had tried to do it to every major band we had supported, so why shouldn’t they? I found it funny,” Rob Halford said in his book “Confess”.
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