One more chapter on Judas Priest and KK Downing soap opera. The guitarist said to Rock’n’Roll Archeology what really pissed him off. Read it here:
“Originally, my thoughts were, ‘Something strange is happening to me. And I don’t like how it feels.’ But I could feel that I was either gonna pick up the phone or I was gonna do something rash.
“So I sat down, put pen to paper and I actually wrote a gracious [resignation letter]… And I did use the word ‘retirement,’ and I said that I was retiring from the business. And I wanted to keep the peace and not burn any bridges. I wanted to do all of that, and I did that. I was consistent with my personality – I did that.
“I thought that, obviously, I’m a part, I’m still a director of the company, I’m still involved. I thought, ‘I’m gonna have to speak to these people and deal with ’em,’ so I thought, ‘This is the way to do it. I will be out. If somebody wants it, they can have it. Fine. It’s yours. I’m going.’
“So I did that. But as soon as it was announced to the press that I was out, a spark was lit and I just went over the edge and I sent in a second letter saying, ‘Please ignore my original leaving letter.’
“And I sent in a second letter, and it was a bit more to the point, shall we say? [Laughs] It was the ‘F.O.’ [F*ck Off] letter. [Laughs] And that was it. That was me quitting. I went against every grain of my normal personality, and I thought, ‘That’s it.’
“To hear people like Ian [Hill, bass], who never did interviews before, saying things like, ‘None of the fans are missing K.K.’ and stuff like that – it was just cruel and unfair.
“But I did mention that I’d been broken. And it was the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life – hang up the guitar from Judas Priest – and I’m sure everybody can appreciate that. But I got pushed over the edge. Whether I regretted it or not, there was no way back, and I had to just suffer that.”
I’m just a lucky guy who has chosen metal to live with for a long time. Metal changed my life for good. It made me more confident and stronger. Metalheads are naturally far away from the mass mediocrity and don’t accept impostures from anybody else. Metal is more than music, it’s a life changing oportunity!