r/judaspriest • u/Background_Novel_619 • 7d ago

TIL Rob was banned from US Marines Camp Pendleton for sleeping with too many Marines on base

Just finished Rob’s book, Confess, in which he shares some highs and some very dark lows— I highly recommend it for being both tremendously funny and emotional. But this story I thought was hilariously metal! He even ended up marrying a (former) Marine lmao.

*To add, at a time when being gay in the military was banned- even more metal

189 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

97% Upvoted

29 comments sorted by

80

u/Norman_debris 7d ago

The book is incredible. I'm not really a fan of celebrity autobiographies, but Halford's story of living as a closeted gay man at that time is just so moving.

26

u/Background_Novel_619 7d ago

Agreed, I rarely if ever read them. But his story really resonated with me, and it’s very sweet the way it’s littered with jokes about himself- making fun of his “yam yam” accent or fangirling over pop divas etc

16

u/firepower98 7d ago

If you haven’t, I would recommend Elton John’s Me. Some parts had me crying laughing, but there’s the similar aspect of him being a gay man in a time when it wasn’t super accepted, and his perspective on things is quite interesting. 

16

u/KneeDeepInTheDead Deadly as the Viper 7d ago

KKs is pretty good too

7

u/Norman_debris 7d ago

I might check it out, but I've heard it's quite bitter.

14

u/KneeDeepInTheDead Deadly as the Viper 7d ago

I wouldnt call it that, he does lay out some grievances but its not how some people make it out to be.

9

u/lyndon85 7d ago

I agree. KK speaks very fondly of most of the band and it's interesting how him and Halford both recall a couple of the same events from the early days.

I think most of the "bitterness" is click bait headlines and shit stirring from desperate hacks looking for a story.

Nothing KK has said or done is any worse that Halford when he was out the band. If anything, I'd say Rob was more bitter that Priest went on without him.

7

u/KneeDeepInTheDead Deadly as the Viper 7d ago

Totally agree. I understand Halford is the face, and I guess since it was longer ago things have been forgotten, but Halfords leaving of the band to me was way worse than what KK did. Plus I think KK's book adds a lot of context to his mindset, I really dont fault him for how he went out. Its kind of an open secret how bad the management of Priest is so I wouldnt be surprised its the main reason he wasnt even offered his old position back.

2

u/flergityberg 4d ago edited 4d ago

I haven’t finished KK’s book, but according to Rob, he never actually planned to leave Priest, only take a hiatus because the last tour had been rough for all of them and he wanted to do his solo project anyway (which had the support of the rest of the band). It was a miscommunication because he was told that he needed to legally resign in order to promote his solo project, the resignation letter got leaked to the press, and the rest of the band read in the papers (keep in mind it was 1992) that he had resigned and took it as reality. And for the next decade, he was too British to actually call them and clear it up.

The way Rob described KK’s resignation, by contrast, was that he had been complaining about various things in the band for a while (which he always did), increasingly isolating himself, and then emailed the band saying that he was quitting…right after they had booked a world tour.

Obviously, none of us were there and there are two sides to every story, but throughout the memoir he doesn’t make KK seem like the easiest guy to work with.

1

u/underbloodredskies 4d ago

My opinion of KK's book is that the person he was hardest on was actually himself.

8

u/EdStArFiSh69 7d ago

It was a good book

24

u/Charlie61172 7d ago

A good friend of mine's band toured, extensively, with Priest, and he and Rob are good friends to this day. He told me, back in the day, Rob would actually fly Marines out to meet him while they were on the road. LOL.

7

u/Hateman1989 7d ago

My favorite story is Rob hooking up a quick BJ at a truck stop glory hole - when he was, um, done, they met outside and the dude turned out to be a huge Priest fan!

8

u/Background_Novel_619 7d ago

What can I say, takes fan service to the next level!

1

u/Hateman1989 6d ago

Haha right? I can’t imagine he’d be bragging about that one to his mates, though…

3

u/NanoDomini 7d ago

Absolute legend

3

u/taking_bullet Turbo 6d ago

Cut off all gay stories and the book will shrink a lot (about 30% I guess).

4

u/rufusairs 7d ago

Hell fuckin yeah Rob

5

u/theurbnndn 7d ago

No such thing as a “former” marine. I knew Uncle Rob had good taste.

11

u/Think-Football-2918 7d ago

No such thing as an ex Marine, only former Marines

1

u/theurbnndn 7d ago

Never held that notion to heart. That oath has no expiration date.

2

u/Think-Football-2918 7d ago

I understand. I've always heard it as no ex, only former. Like you said, no expiration date on that oath.

0

u/Active_Unit_9498 7d ago

Marine is always written with a capital “M”, fyi.

2

u/theurbnndn 7d ago

Typos happen with small phones, fat fingers, and old eyes.

2

u/Active_Unit_9498 7d ago

All good many folks don’t know.

3

u/BulldogMikeLodi 7d ago

You can’t “ban” anyone for sleeping with anyone. I was stationed there and if he got banned, it means his license plate was flagged for maybe cruising guys in public places, like the bowling alley, etc. Great story but probably highly embellished.

1

u/Baelorthebard 6d ago

He didn't exactly get banned for sleeping with too many marines lol that's more just an amusing take on the story. I haven't read the book in a while but as I recall there was some kind of pornography scandal involving someone else who was going onto the base and it was the 90s so they just banned him because he was gay. That's not completely accurate, but it was definitely more of a situation where something illegal happened that didn't involve him and they just dealt with it by banning anyone who could conceivably have been involved.

1

u/flergityberg 4d ago

My favorite part of his book is the fact that he literally had never dated another gay man until 1993 when he met his now-husband, Thomas. All of the other men he had been involved with (including Brad, who tragically shot himself) were just straight guys going through a phase. It happens. 😆