Judas Priest: How Hollywood Tried To Rip The Band Off SIGN UP for 10 of the Craziest Stories in Rock N' Roll [Secret Playlist]: https://bit.ly/3vVPAEF Have a video request or a topic you'd like to see us cover? Fill out our google form! https://bit.ly/3stnXlN -----CONNECT ON SOCIAL----- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rocknrolltruestories Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RNRTrueStories Twitter: https://twitter.com/rocktruestories Blog: www.rockandrolltruestories.com #judaspriest #rockstar #timripperowens I cite my sources and they may differ than other people's accounts, so I don't guarantee the actual accuracy of my videos. Hollywood seems to love a feel-good rags-to-riches story, but in the early 2000’s historically accurate music biopics hadn’t yet become popular. It was more like scripts “loosely” inspired by true events. In 2001, a movie called Rockstar (originally titled Metal God), a drama comedy starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston the movie tells the story of Chris Izzy Cole who's a tribute band singer who becomes the lead singer of his favorite band. The film would be inspired by the real-life story of Tim Ripper Owens who himself was in a Judas Priest tribute band and was ultimately chosen to become the real singer of Judas Priest when singer Rob Halford left. When Owens joined Judas Priest the story made headlines around the world and Hollywood quickly took notice. The original article was published in the New York Times in 1997 and was titled “metalhead becomes metal God.” Keep in mind this movie came out long before biopics were big business and when Hollywood was not really that interested in telling an accurate story let alone using a band's image or music. In reality, Owens joined the band in 1996 after two fans named Dan Johnson and Steve Trent submitted a grainy VHS tape of him to the band and they found out the similarity between their voices was uncanny. Previously, he’d been in a signed act called Winter’s Bane that raised it’s profile by touring as a Judas Priest cover band called “British Steel.” He’d go on to record two albums with the band - 1997’s Jugulator and 2001’s Demolition. Halford returned to the band in 2003, with Owen’s departing the band amicably and joining heavy metal band Iced Earth. Getting back to the story of Rockstar. The first red flag for the movie that Owens was barely involved in the making of the movie at all. In 1997, the New York Times Sunday edition ran a story called "Metal-Head becomes Metal-God" by Andrew C. Revkin about Owens’ crazy story of being chosen to play in the band after being part of a tribute band first. The next day, his parents got calls from Warner Brothers and George Clooney saying they were interested in the story. Owens passed the information onto Judas Priest manager Jane Andrews. He was pretty naive about the whole situation saying “you think you’re going to get paid from it anyway,” “and at that point in my career, I’d have taken $5,000. But they’re not Judas Priest for nothing – they know what they’re doing.” Although the band and the movie studio started out collaborating well, things quickly deteriorated. The band was quickly told that they had “no creative control” after they voiced their opinion about the angle of the movie. Plans to feature the band’s music in the movie were also scrapped. Some of the things the band didn’t like was making band members appear older than they were and writing more drama into the script then there actually was between the band members. They felt the movie was going to be another Spinal Tap, and didn’t want their story to be told that way. In a 2014 interview with Blabbermouth online, Tim Owens explains why the plot changed so drastically once the band was no longer involved in consulting on the production: "When they first [got the idea to do] the 'Rock Star' movie [under its original name 'Metal God'], it was really gonna be about me. And then JUDAS PRIEST pulled away from it, because they didn't like some things. So [the producers] really made their own movie, I think.” Originally, Warner Brother’s didn’t admit that the movie was inspired by Judas Priest or Tim Owens. Later on, their spokesperson relented and conceded that it was inspired by the infamous New York Times article, never actually admitting the movie was inspired by Judas Priest directly. Fans of the movie know about Owen’s connection to it. He still gets asked to sign covers of the DVD and shares in a 2019 Ultimate Classic Rock article that “There are people who just know me from Rock Star, and not even from Judas Priest. … How weird is that?” Given that the band and Warner Brothers had cut ties very early in production, what did they end up doing about the soundtrack? There were no Judas Priest tracks to be found on the soundtrack, but it did contain music from other rock n’ roll acts like Stand Up by Sammy Hagar (perf

• published: 06 Oct 2021
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