Unless you’ve been living under a rock (and if you have, I do not judge!), you knew about Babymetal’s appearance at the APMAs and knew it was going to feature Rob Halford from Judas Priest and guessed that it would probably involve “Karate” and at least one Priest classic like “Breaking the Law” or “Painkiller.” And then we got ’em all!
Thanks to @AshLikeSnow17 for the tip on the YouTube version
A few things:
- I honestly have no idea why this performance happened other than Amuse paid Alt Press a large sum of money. Across-the-board collaborations aside, it had nothing to do with anything; unless something happened after I switched off, Judas Priest wasn’t involved other than this. Hell, Babymetal was barely involved other than this.
- And it was still the most interesting part of the show. So much forced edginess!* You guys! They swear a lot!
- But how good did Su-metal sound with Halford? Ol’ Rob doesn’t move so well anymore, so the physical chemistry was hard to come by, but their voices worked really well together. Su getting a little old-school edge right down to the screams was mega cool.
- “Well, it isn’t really a Babymetal show unless Yuimetal and Moametal are directly involved” pointed out their parents, and so was born the briefly shocking image of the two of them actually playing actual guitars on stage.
- “Playing” used rather generously in Yuimetal’s case (I think she was mostly accu-miming) and — correct me if I’m wrong — accurately enough in Moametal’s. Whether she’s able to put in as much time with the instrument as fans might hope is open to speculation, but “Kikuchi Moa plays guitar” is not an inaccurate statement.
- I’m sorry, who are these Yeemetal and Mometal people? Embarrassing. It really isn’t that hard to at least include all of the letters that the teleprompter shows you. Or, you know, you’re just an asshole.
- I’ve watched this replay five times and I don’t care. “Karate” is far from my favorite Babymetal song, and I still get seriously jazzed seeing them perform it. YOU GUYS IT’S BABYMETAL! AND ROB HALFORD! AND … LITTLE GUITARS!
*But for real, when the hell did “pop punk” become this thing that you admitted to doing? I’m not knocking the music**, but the sentiment; may as well start bragging about your “easy metal” or “mom ‘n’ roll” band while you’re at it.
**Yes I am. Most of this stuff is butt. I remember when rock music felt dangerous and important. Guns N’ Fuckin’ Roses playing a cash-grab arena tour after 20 years of hating each other is more inspiring than half of this stuff.
