This year, metal pioneers Judas Priest are headed into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. But they’re headed in on a kind of technicality. Priest are not among this year’s class of Hall Of Fame performer inductees; they will not be joining the main Hall alongside Eminem, Dolly Parton, Pat Benatar, and all the rest. Instead, Priest are getting the Musical Excellence Award.

The Hall Of Fame defines the Musical Excellence Award as an honor that “shall be given to artists, musicians, songwriters, and producers whose originality and influence creating music have had a dramatic influence on music.” For much of the Hall’s history, that award has gone to session musicians and producers. (Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis will also be getting it this year.)

In recent years, though, the Hall has given the Musical Excellence Award to acts who have been nominated a bunch of times and who haven’t gotten in. After many, many nominations for Chic, the Hall have the Musical Excellence Award to frontman Nile Rodgers. Later on, they also gave it to LL Cool J. Maybe it’s a charity award, a way of inducting acts who didn’t get the votes and saving them the embarrassment of not getting in. But maybe that’s why Priest frontman Rob Halford isn’t happy to be getting it.

In a recent interview with AZ Central, Halford talked about being “pissed” that Priest hadn’t been given a proper induction as performers:

I was a bit pissed. At the end of the day, does it matter? Some days, I go, “No, it doesn’t matter. We’re in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Be grateful. Shut the hell up.”

And then there are other days where I’m like, “God damn, why did they give us the Musical Excellence Award?” Because it sounds very, you know, grandiose. “The Musical Excellence Award, reserved for blah, blah, blah.”…

I just felt a little bit like, “Well, Sabbath got this. So why can’t we have that?” Not that I’m jealous of Sabbath. I’m just talking about this tag that they give it.

Why do they put these tags on the damn thing? Why don’t they go, “Welcome. You’re in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” and leave it at that…

It’s as though we got this far. We’re, like, one step away, you know? I know it’s silly, but it’s just frustrating…

Judas Priest are still the Rodney Dangerfield of heavy metal. They can’t get no respect.

Breakin’ the happy-to-be-here social code, breakin’ the happy-to-be-here social code. You can read the full interview with Halford here.