Pink was a teenage metalhead! The pop star has often shown her affinity for heavier music with a more rock-based persona in the pop world, and during her recent appearance at the 2023 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame festivities, Pink took the opportunity to approach Rob Halford to share her love for his work.
Halford told Metal Hammer, "Pink came up to me and said, 'I need to tell you something,' and I was thinking, 'Oh god, what have we done?" But, as Halford explains, "She said when she was in school, she and her friends used to stencil the Judas Priest logo on their notebooks."
The love fest did not stop there, as Sheryl Crow then approached Halford, with the alt-rocker telling Halford, "I love your voice, it's amazing!" "All of these things solidify the fact that your music can reach and connect with people you'd never expect."
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With Judas Priest's induction into the Rock Hall, Halford got to hang with several musicians he'd not really hung out with prior. “When I got the email saying Dolly [Parton] would like me to take part in Jolene, I thought it was a wind-up," he continued. "But it did happen, and I’ll say this: everything you know about that woman... it comes from such a remarkable, pure place. That night was amazing."
"There was Pat Benatar, who I’ve known forever," he added. "Simon LeBon, who I’d never met but soon became joined at the hip with because he’s another yam-yam; me, Sheryl Crow, Annie Lennox and Pink all bowing to this incredible figurehead who we all adore."
Reflecting on the experience, Rob adds, "It was a surreal and moving experience. For all the people who hate the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I’ll say this: it facilitates these moments of love in the music world.”
You can read more of Rob's chat in the current Metal Hammer issue guest edited by Tenacious D. Copies are available here. You can also catch Judas Priest on tour. Get your tickets here.
