The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame have officially announced their 2022 inductees and among them is none other than new wave of British heavy metal legends, Judas Priest. Having been snubbed several times prior, the band themselves are elated to have made the cut this year, with frontman Rob Halford telling Billboard.com:
“The other day I was just noodling on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame site … and when you look at the list of talent in there, it’s absolutely extraordinary. It’s a very, very important institution for recognizing various people that have been in music since music began, right from the beginning of rock ‘n’ roll. To be part of that is, like, wow… And glory hallelujah, there’s another metal band in now. That’s the blessing we’ve all been waiting for.”
The band will be entering the hall as part of the ‘Musical Excellence Award’ alongside Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Halford told Billboard of that:
“That’s totally unexpected. That’s just a very extra thrill to have that. They really look at you beyond the simple band that you are. They really dig deep as to this album and that album this song and that song. I think that really supports what we’ve always tried to do. I think it validates the real musical adventure that Judas Priest has been on since Rocka Rolla (in 1974).
We’re a band that has taken you through many, many different, many dimensions, of metal. We’ve always called ourselves a classic metal band, but we’re a hard band to pin down. One minute we can be your Turbo Lover and then we can be your Painkiller, and how amazing it is for a band to really search for those opportunities within the genre of heavy metal. So I think the acknowledgement of Musical Excellence is a really sweet addition.”
As confirmed by Halford, the induction will also extend to several of the band’s past key members, including estranged guitarist K.K. Downing , as well as former drummers Les Binks and Dave Holland. He told the aforementioned publication of that:
“They have every right to be a part of the event. I’m very pleased for everybody. There’s no bitterness. There’s no angst. There’s not that kind of stuff that’s lingering. If there is you have to push all that away. You have to push it to the side and just understand and accept and respect this wonderful opportunity and what it represents in terms of recognition and a celebration.”
The complete list of this year’s inductees can be found below:
Pat Benatar
Duran Duran
Eminem
Eurythmics
Dolly Parton
Lionel Richie
Carly Simon
Harry Belafonte
Elizabeth Cotten
Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis
Judas Priest
Allen Grubman
Jimmy Iovine
Sylvia Robinson
The official induction ceremony will be held November 05th at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, CA. In case you’re curious, the nominees who didn’t make it into the hall this year included:
- Fela Kuti
- Beck
- Rage Against The Machine
- Dionne Warwick
- Devo
- New York Dolls
- A Tribe Called Quest
- MC5
- Kate Bush
