Rob Halford Chooses the Best Songs by Metallica, Slayer, Sabbath, and More

Rolling Stone made a list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and now they’re getting some of the 250+ voters to discuss their choices individually. One of those voters is Judas Priest singer/insurance salesman Rob Halford.

So which for which tracks did the Metal God vote? Here are his top five picks, along some of what he had to say about ’em…

1. Black Sabbath, “Paranoid”

“For me, it was one of these game changing moments that we have in music because it brought out and brought forth a genre and a style of music that lit up the world… particularly for me, as a young musician at the time, ‘Paranoid’ just took off like a rocket.”

2. Slayer, “Angel of Death”

“I love this kind of extreme metal music with a band like Slayer and ‘Angel of Death.’ They were a bunch of guys out of the Bay Area that spread this new kind of gospel of metal in this extreme form. The sheer terror of Slayer which hit us all like a ton of heavy metal bricks really did the same to me.”

3. Dio, “Holy Diver”

“To not have [Dio] on the list would be sacrilege… Ronnie still is something of a mentor to me. His extraordinary voice, with its unique presence, is still such a motivator.”

4. Metallica, “Ride the Lightning”

“Old ‘Tallica. New ‘Tallica. I’m old school, man. I bet you guys are the same about Priest. It’s crazy, isn’t it? It’s usually the first two or three albums that you make in any given band that are the reference points to who you are and what you’re about. And so, for me, those first batches of Metallica, the extraordinary way that they interpreted THEIR style of metal and branded it with such a unique force just generates as much now as it did then. So, ‘Tallica, ride the lightning on the heavy metal Harley.”

5. Motörhead, “Ace of Spades”

“There are so many legends in rock and metal, and one of the guys that is at the top of the mountain is Lemmy. Much like Ronnie, so many of our beautiful friends have departed. But as I’ve said so many times, music lives forever, and in this case, the personality with the music goes hand-inland. Lemmy was an extraordinary man with so much to say in his music. And when he would talk in his interviews he was just  mesmerizing a person to listen to speak, the way his brain worked so uniquely.”

…and his other five picks are below. You can listen to him talk about ’em here.

6. Ozzy, “Bark at the Moon”

7. Pantera, “Walk”

8. Scorpions, “Blackout”

9. Rage Against the Machine, “Bulls on Parade”

10. David Bowie, “Space Oddity”

Judas Priest are on tour in the U.S. now. Here are the dates:

9/22/2021 Milwaukee WI                        Miller High Life Theatre [Tickets]
9/23/2021 Minneapolis MN                     The Armory* [Tickets]
9/25/2021 Maryland Heights MO            Saint Louis Music Park [Tickets]
9/26/2021 Louisville KY                         Louder Than Life Festival# [Tickets]
9/29/2021 Denver CO                            The Mission Ballroom [Tickets]
9/30/2021 West Valley City UT               Maverik Center* [Tickets]
10/2/2021 Everett WA                            Angel Of The Winds Arena* [Tickets]
10/3/2021 Portland OR                          Moda Center* [Tickets]
10/5/2021 Oakland CA                          Fox Theater [Tickets]
10/6/2021 Los Angeles CA                     Microsoft Theater [Tickets]
10/8/2021 Las Vegas NV                       Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood [Tickets]
10/9/2021 Phoenix AZ                           Arizona Federal Theatre [Tickets]
10/12/2021 San Antonio TX                   Freeman Coliseum [Tickets]
10/13/2021 Cedar Park TX                     HEB Center Cedar Park [Tickets]
10/15/2021 Irving TX                             The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory [Tickets]
10/16/2021 Oklahoma City OK               The Zoo Amphitheatre [Tickets]
10/19/2021 Independence MO               Cable Dahmer Arena* [Tickets]
10/21/2021 Nashville TN                        Nashville Municipal Auditorium* [Tickets]
10/22/2021 Alpharetta GA                      Ameris Bank Amphitheatre* [Tickets]
10/24/2021 Charleston WV                    Charleston Civic Center Coliseum* [Tickets]
10/25/2021 Philadelphia PA                   The Met* [Tickets]
10/27/2021 Newark NJ                          Prudential Center* [Tickets]
10/28/2021 Oxon Hill MD                       The Theater at MGM National Harbor [Tickets]
10/30/2021 Mashantucket CT                Foxwoods Resort Casino – Grand Theater [Tickets]
10/31/2021 Lowell MA                           Tsongas Center At UMass Lowell* [Tickets]
11/2/2021 Halifax NS                             Scotiabank Centre* [Tickets]
11/4/2021 Laval QC                               Place Bell* [Tickets]
11/5/2021 Hamilton ON                         FirstOntario Centre* [Tickets]

And here are Ozzy Osbourne’s farewell tour dates for Europe, on which Priest will be the openers:

Jan. 26 – Germany – Berlin Mercedes-Benz Arena [Tickets]
Jan. 28 – Czech Republic – Prague O2 Arena [Tickets]
Jan. 31 – Switzerland – Zurich Hallenstadion [Tickets]
Feb. 02 – Hungary – Budapest Budapest Arena (no Judas Priest) [Tickets]
Feb. 05 – Spain – Madrid WiZink Center [Tickets]
Feb. 08 – Italy – Bologna Unipol Arena [Tickets]
Feb. 11 – Germany – Mannheim SAP Arena [Tickets]
Feb. 14 – Germany – Hamburg Barclaycard Arena [Tickets]
Feb. 17 – Finland – Helsinki Hartwall Arena [Tickets]
Feb. 19 – Sweden – Stockholm Friends Arena [Tickets]
Feb. 21 – Germany – Dortmund Westfalenhalle [Tickets]
Feb. 24 – Germany – Munich Olympiahalle [Tickets]
Feb. 27 – UK – Nottingham Motorpoint Arena [Tickets]
Mar. 01 – Ireland – Dublin 3Arena [Tickets]
Mar. 04 – UK – Birmingham Resorts World Arena [Tickets]
Mar. 07 – UK – London The O2 [Tickets]
Mar. 09 – UK – Manchester AO Arena [Tickets]
Mar. 12 – UK – Newcastle Utilita Arena [Tickets]
Mar. 14 – UK – Glasgow The SSE Hydro [Tickets]