JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford has revealed that he wrote the band’s song “Before The Dawn” about his very first heartbreak nearly forty years ago. Asked if he remembers his first heartbreak, Halford responded: “Yeah, I do, actually. And it was probably later on in my life. It wasn’t in my teen years; I think it was in my 20s. And even talking as a gay guy. We get broken hearts too, folks. So that’s what happened to me. And it’s a hellish thing to go through, but it’s part of life.”
He continued: “Life is about loving and living and experiencing every kind of thing that can be thrown at you. There’s music for that. I think we all listen to music, to metal, depending on the mood that we’re in. If I’m in the mood for some classic metal, I’ll listen to that kind of band. If I wanna rage, I might listen to some SLAYER or CANNIBAL CORPSE or EMPEROR or BEHEMOTH, you know?! It depends on where I’m at [at that particular] time of day. The emotional connection through the music has always been very strong to me.”
Pressed about whether he ever wrote a song about the experience of getting his heart broken for the first time, Halford said: “I did, actually. And I’m just trying to think what it was called. I think it was called ‘Before The Dawn’. There you go. I’m pretty sure that was. And now the hardcore fans out there are gonna be listening to this — as you do, as I would — and are gonna be getting on their laptops and are gonna be doing all that and checking out the lyrics and this and that and the other. Yeah, I think that was… It may not be in true essence, but there’s definitely some truth to the fact that that was relative to that incident.”