from the LP Killing Machine, CBS Records, 1978I really commend Rob Halford, long-time lead singer of Judas Priest, for coming out of the closet back in ’98, as heavy metal musicians (and certainly their fanbase) weren’t exactly known for being beacons of open-mindedness; the overwhelmingly positive response he received from fans of all ages has, in this instance, happily proved my jaded cynicism with the world wrong. By this release, any vestiges of Priest’s past as a prog rock band were virtually extinct, and in a brilliant move of boldness which was to inform heavy metal fashion for the next decade, Halford adopted a look previously confined to the BDSM scene---lots and lots of leather. Call me wrong for it, but it still tickles me to think about the hordes of mullet-ed, Midwestern youths that were rocking bondage gear like metal-studded cuffs and collars back in the day, emulating without digging deeper.
