Biblical:Rob Halford’s Heavy Metal Scriptures – Book Review by Dawn Osborne

Rob Halford loves being in a band so much he wants to proselytise. This zealousness has led him to use metaphors about the life of being in a band “the best life” with a religious theme in order to use an amusing framework to give us the benefit of his long experience. He manages to maintain the comparison throughout the book from its title ‘Biblical’ to each chapter Genesis for starting out, psalms/songs, pilgrimages/tours, vestments/denim and leather, disciples/fans you get the picture and it hangs together cleverly and pretty well. If you read his last book you will be familiar with his honest and frank style, filled with an earthy humour and a lack of shyness when it comes to putting forward his point of view.

So the book aims to be a bit of a Bible about getting a band together and aiming to obtain and maintain success. As such it is of general interest to musicians of all genres not just Judas Priest fans, although the latter will, of course, appreciate all the details given particular to that band such as his sacred meal of a cheese and tomato toastie to prepare for songwriting sessions and his pre-stage rituals. One such detail that comes to mind is the nugget that when you are starting out you may not have a lot of money. One of Halford’s solutions was to work in a clothes show and borrow underpants, wear them once and then return them to stock afterwards. You have to make up your mind whether you wish to follow Rob’s  approach in all things. It seemed to work for him. Of more general application might be his thoughts on the pitfalls of the business including record companies, managers and music lawyers and tips for the most productive ways to write songs, come up with song titles (some of his methods are really surprising!) and to get the best out of Producers. Tour bus toilet etiquette and his thoughts on roadies and stage sets are other topics of interest.

I read the book in one sitting which took about four hours, so it’s a good length, not too long and certainly not boring. You have to read it just to find out what is the Romanian Fish incident and what Halford said to the Queen. I am not going to be a spoiler, but such stories will give you a good laugh.

Coming from TotalRock the radio station that Tommy Vance founded it was lovely to read Halford’s affectionate anecdotes about him and the book certainly is full of historical details that will keep Rock historians happy.

The chapters Temptations and Lamentations do not shy away from covering the rough sides of his world as well as the upsides. However the book is ultimately positive with the final chapter ‘Revelations’ demonstrating what Halford has learned from his journey. It’s full of touching details such as his thoughts on discovering his mum kept a scrapbook about his bands which he never knew till he found it. Halford will always be a Black Country boy and proud of it. He doesn’t pretend to be anyone else and his down to earth approach is refreshing in this world of people pretending to be something else.

Dawn Osborne