In a new interview with the White Line Fever podcast, former JUDAS PRIEST vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens explained his recent comment that he never received a call from his former bandmates about their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Asked if he ever thinks about making headlines in the music media when he’s promoting a particular project, Tim replied:
“I always start thinking, “What’s going to be in the headlines tomorrow on rock websites?” Because you can do an eight million-word interview and then they’ll take one word and write an article based on it.
I knew that my comments about the Hall of Fame would be turned into a headline, and I didn’t mind talking about it, because they should have been in the Hall of Fame a long time ago. And then they asked me if I was going to go there, but I’m not, and that’s great… Like I said, I feel like I’m going to end up there anyway, because I was in the band for about 10 years and I recorded two studio albums with them, two live records, a DVD, and got a Grammy nomination with them. It’s good to see Rob [Halford] and Glenn [Tipton] and Ken [Downing] and Scott [Travis] getting in for sure.
Regarding not being in the Hall of Fame with JUDAS PRIEST, while some former members of other bands who have only recorded one album have gotten in in the past, Owens said:
“It’s weird. It’s not that no one is surprised, as I’ve said before. I’m friends with the guys, and I never speak ill of the time I was in the band. It’s a business, so your feelings may be hurt at some point, but I still love those guys. But it’s shocking that my era in JUDAS PRIEST was just swept under the rug.
As I said in the Rolling Stone article, it would have been nice to just call and say, “Look, you’re not going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.” Like I said in the article, instead of getting threatening emails about what some promoter did in Australia [he’s referring to his upcoming “Metal Gods” tour of Australia, the title of which apparently JUDAS PRIEST management didn’t like], a simple polite message would suffice: “They’re being inducted into the Hall. We want to thank you…”
The funny thing is that the fans say, “Man, get over it. I don’t bring it up. We don’t start interviews by me saying, “Guess what? They didn’t take me there.”
As it is, I understand that. Again, it’s a business. I’ve got a lot going on myself. I do music for a living. What I have is what I have.”
