K.K. Downing Says Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Purple Haze’ And ‘Foxy Lady’ Were ‘Cutting-Edge Metal’ At The Time Of Their Release

Former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing recently reflected on the band’s pivotal musical evolution, from the more blues-based sound of their 1974 debut album, Rocka Rolla, to the aggressive, twin-guitar driven heavy metal that became their hallmark. Speaking with Sakis Fragos of Rock Hard Greece, Downing described this transformation as a “natural process,” deeply influenced by the electrifying music scene of his youth and transformative artists like Jimi Hendrix.

“Yeah, I think that it was just a natural process, really, the way it all came about,” Downing said of Judas Priest‘s developing sound (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “Everything evolves, literally. It was such exciting times.”

Downing considers himself fortunate to have come of age during a period of explosive musical creativity. “I’m so lucky, by the way,” he continued. “I’m absolutely blessed to have been born in 1951… just as I was coming of age… when I was kind of 13, 14 and 15, everything was happening musically — everything. So much was happening.” He recalled the initial wave of pop bands like The Beatles, quickly followed by the British blues movement with acts such as John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, Cream, The Rolling Stones, The Small Faces, The Troggs, and The Pretty Things. “I was just, like, 14 years old or something. It was so exciting because it was moving so fast.”

A particularly “life changing” moment for the young guitarist was seeing Jimi Hendrix perform live for the first time when he was 16. Downing has long cited Hendrix as a primary inspiration, even naming him his “Rock God” in a 2021 BBC appearance. He believes Hendrix‘s music contained clear elements of what would become heavy metal. “The great Jimi Hendrix had some heavy metal in there — ‘Purple Haze’ and ‘Foxy Lady’. I mean, those songs, they were cutting-edge metal, as far as I was concerned,” Downing asserted.

As the late ’60s transitioned into the mid-’70s, Downing found himself increasingly drawn to a new, heavier, and more riff-centric style emerging from bands like Scorpions, UFO, and, crucially, fellow Birmingham pioneers Black Sabbath. “There were so many other ingredients coming into play that wasn’t blues, wasn’t particularly progressive blues, but there was another different style, which I was attracted to, which was more kind of riff-orientated songs as opposed to kind of 12 bars or something a bit more blues based,” he explained. His personal preference leaned towards “the kind of more kind of moody, darker” sounds, which he initially found in the “eclectic and kind of dark looking” early Rolling Stones.

This attraction to a more powerful, structured sound, distinct from the prevalent progressive blues of bands like Fleetwood Mac, Jethro Tull, Blodwyn Pig, Ten Years After, Taste, and Free, laid the groundwork for Judas Priest‘s signature style. “But what was to become eventually heavy metal was actually there,” Downing concluded. “It was prevalent in bands like Judas Priest, definitely Black Sabbath and some other bands. These ingredients were there.”