Rob Halford names his favourite Metallica song

Rob Halford of Judas Priest and Metallica's James Hetfield — (Image credit: Chelsea Lauren/WireImage, Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Judas Priest's Rob Halford has revealed what Metallica song he thinks is best.

Recently, Halford was one of the many industry figures and artists who submitted their choice of 10 songs for Rolling Stones' list of 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time.

Speaking to the publication to disclose his picks, the Metal God named songs by Metallica, Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Slayer, and more.

As for his most-beloved Metallica song, Ride The Lightning took the gold. Elaborating on his choice, he explains: "Old 'Tallica. New 'Tallica. I'm old school, man. I bet you guys are the same about Priest. It's crazy, isn't it? It's usually the first two or three albums that you make in any given band that are the reference points to who you are and what you're about.

"And so, for me, those first batches of Metallica, the extraordinary way that they interpreted their style of metal and branded it with such a unique force just generates as much now as it did then. So, 'Tallica, ride the lightning on the heavy metal Harley."

His top Slayer song, Halford explains, is Angel Of Death. "I've always been a Slayer fan. I love this kind of extreme metal music with a band like Slayer and Angel Of Death. They were a bunch of guys out of the Bay Area that spread this new kind of gospel of metal in this extreme form.

"The sheer terror of Slayer which hit us all like a ton of heavy metal bricks really did the same to me. And out of all of the great Slayer songs that I personally love to smash my head in to and with, Angel Of Death — oh, yeah, baby!"

The track that took the number one spot on Halford's list was Black Sabbath's 1970 classic Paranoid, which he describes as a "game changing moment in music". Halford continues, "It brought out and brought forth a genre and a style of music that lit up the world and is what we call a 'game-changer'. And the great effect that it had for so many of us and particularly for me as a young musician at the time, Paranoid just took off like a heavy metal rocket".

Other songs that made Halford's selection include Dio's Holy Diver, Motorhead's Ace Of Spades, and David Bowie's Space Oddity.

Check out the full interview below:

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Liz manages Louder's social media channels and works on keeping the sites up to date with the latest news from the world of rock and metal. Prior to joining Louder as a full time staff writer, she completed a Diploma with the National Council for the Training of Journalists and received a First Class Honours Degree in Popular Music Journalism. She enjoys writing about anything from neo-glam rock to stoner, doom and progressive metal, and loves celebrating women in music.