As part of its 2020 Pride Issue, Billboard is spotlighting the experiences of artists and executives working in genres that are not always included in conversations about Pride in the music industry.
Here, iconic metal screamer of Rob Halford Judas Priest gives some insight into being closeted in the '70s and '80s and coming out on MTV in the '90s.Obviously, there have been gay metalheads since metal was invented, but [back in the 1970s and ’80s] we were invisible.
After a Priest show, a lot of us went back to working at the Ford plant or a Walgreens or working as a schoolteacher, but we were gay.
We had to hide, basically.There was a time when disco music was huge, and for a lot of gay people and minorities, that was our music.
Read more on billboard.com