At the recent Metal Hall Of Fame gala on January 24 at the Delta Marriott Garden Grove in Garden Grove, former Judas Priest singer Tim Ripper Owens reflected on the era when metal appeared to be on life support, which was also apparently Judas Priest’s lowest point.
Having to play only to a thousand people, the rocker revealed how it could have been different than before while mentioning the albums he has contributed to:
“I think it was the time we were at. I think if we released ‘Jugulator’ and ‘Demolition’ right now, it would be totally different in my opinion. Because metal was so bad [popularity-wise]. Bands were playing smaller places. At the end of Judas Priest and the ‘Painkiller’ tour, they were playing in front of 1,000 people in Europe. And it was a totally different kind of an animal. 2,000 or so when it started coming back. You start seeing it. Now, you get Maiden and Priest out there still selling out these big concerts… well, Maiden are selling out the really big concerts.”
‘It’s Hard To Replace Halford’
Despite appearing in the two albums he has recorded with KK’s Priest he believes would have been a ‘total game changer’ if released under the Judas Priest name, the rocker is also aware that it is not easy to replace someone like the current frontman, Rob Halford. Showing his appreciation to the singer, he said the following in the same interview:
“It’s hard to replace somebody like [Rob Halford]. I don’t care how great the records would have been. They still want Rob, just like people still yell that they want Ken in Priest. I mean, that’s a normal thing. But I think no matter what we would have released, it would have been about the same.”
You can see the interview below.
