Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens claims Judas Priest “erased” his era

Tim “Ripper” Owens, a former member of Judas Priest, expressed sadness over the way his former band “erased” him, but he also claimed he still likes to think back on his nine years with the British legends, as per UCR. Rob Halford, the original vocalist, was replaced by him in 1996. He made appearances on two albums, “Jugulator” (1997) and “Demolition” (2001), before being fired in favour of Halford’s comeback in 2003. Even though both records were included in the band’s most recent $500 box set, Priest has since shown no interest in the material they wrote with Owens, which is the only portion of their catalogue that isn’t accessible on streaming services. The musician expressed regret for the move in a recent interview with Whiplash.

Well, it’s hard to draw new fans to it, when I do [my] solo tours, I play Jugulator and Demolition songs, and they go over better than anything. Judas Priest decided – their decision, no one else’s – to erase the records, that proves that they do have access to put it out… But that’s their decision, and that’s fine.

According to Owens, he didn’t want to “hurt anybody’s feelings.“

I guess they’re upset by it, and they don’t like the idea of it being out there. I guess there’s wokeness in metal as well, isn’t there?

Positively speaking, he claimed he had “had the time of his life” with his former bandmates and called them “fantastic guys, just amazing guys.“

I always say Judas Priest was my college.… they opened the doors for me and I took advantage of it. … I was treated fantastic. Except now they ignore me… they erased my… It was great when I was in the band; now I’m just erased. But they can’t erase the fun I had – that’s the whole thing.

Owens continued by implying that Judas Priest was the victim of bad management practices, which led to choices like neglecting his two albums and their 2022 decision to fire and then rehire guitarist Andy Sneap.

Iron Maiden has great management. They do great business moves. … Judas Priest, yeah… This is a band that announced they were going to one guitar player… I mean, how the fuck does Judas Priest go to one guitar player? So there’s a reason why [Maiden] play in front of 20,000 people and the other one plays in front of 5,000. … Iron Maiden, which is a little more class act, plays Blaze Bayley’s songs, ‘cause they wrote them; they did it. Why would they not?