Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford recently spoke with Eddie Trunk about the band's nomination for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and the state of metal. Check out the interview clip below.

"This is our Oscars," said Rob Halford, speaking to Billboard correspondant Gary Graff after Judas Priest's first-ever Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame nomination was announced on October 5th. "When the nominations come up and the inductions come up, you often wonder what it would feel like if you were able to be on stage at that moment making an acceptance speech, and particularly having the pleasure to be in the company of all the other musicians and industry people. So, yeah, if we do get in it will be an absolute dream-come-true moment. Fingers crossed, as they say."

"I've often talked about metal being the underdog in rock 'n' roll music," Halford said. "We remember the times through the punk and new wave moments when it was proclaimed that heavy metal music was dead, it didn't stand a chance of surviving, that it was Neanderthal music that had limited scope and wasn't very intelligent and all those bad things. I still don't understand the kind of pushback that we still kind of have to bump up against now and again, but this recognition by the Hall Of Fame helps to slowly chip away at that kind of stereotype. The metal dog is wagging it's metal tail, which is a great feeling. We do deserve this."

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Judas Priest, Bon Jovi and Rage Against The Machine are among this year's heavier nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The Class of 2018 will be announced in December, with The 33rd Annual Induction Ceremony taking place on April 14 at Cleveland's Public Hall.

Alphabetically the 19 nominees include:

Bon Jovi
Depeche Mode
Dire Straits
Eurythmics
J. Geils Band
Judas Priest
Kate Bush
Link Wray
LL Cool J
MC5
Nina Simone
Radiohead
Rage Against The Machine
Rufus with Chaka Khan
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
The Cars
The Meters
The Moody Blues
The Zombies

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