In this time when interest in rock music is at an all time low and so many in the younger generations say their favorite music is rap or Hip-hop, I recently found something that seems like a sign of hope for classic hard rock and heavy metal. Kids that are into rap and hip-hop might not listen to you or me when we tell them about how good the music we grew up on is, but there are people they will listen to - people who are part of the rap/hip-hop scene.
This new thing I just happened to find recently is made up of a couple guys who are part of the rap/hip-hop scene or at the very least huge fans of it, and they have a series of videos on YouTube that they call “REACTION” videos! The videos show the hosts of the video and their reactions as they listen to a classic hard rock or metal song for the first time. The one I just finished watching was a video of them hearing Judas Priest’s “Victim Of Changes” for the first time. It totally blew them away.
They genuinely liked it and showed a surprising amount of respect for the song and that type of music. They both loved the 70s guitar tone and the “groove” of it which they remarked was much more groove oriented than the previous Judas Priest song they had done a REACTION video for which was “Painkiller.” They are two songs of very different styles and the two guys were impressed at what they called “the versatility” of Judas Priest. The amount of respect for the music and the genuine feeling they had towards the song regarding all aspects of it - the tone, the groove, the lyrics, Rob Halford’s voice, and the guitars of Glen Tipton and K.K.Downing - was very encouraging. If these videos happen to impress the youth of today and motivate them to check out some classic hard rock and metal, that will be a great thing!