Ten years into the business of handing out trophies to metal’s architects, the Metal Hall Of Fame has decided the stories behind those trophies deserve their own airtime. The organization launched its official podcast on Tuesday, July 21, with the debut episode going live on its YouTube channel.
The show is co-hosted by entertainment personality Cathy Rankin and Metal Hall Of Fame founder and CEO Pat Gesualdo, and the pitch is a simple one: get artists and industry figures talking properly, without the usual press-cycle guardrails.
First through the door are bassist David Ellefson, former Megadeth bassist, and Jimmy Kay, co-founder of the interview channel “The Metal Voice“. The episode covers their own projects, the state of the industry, and one story in particular that the Hall has been telling for years.
The Lee Kerslake story
That story is about a drummer, two albums, and a feud that took nearly four decades to settle.
Lee Kerslake played on Ozzy Osbourne‘s Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman, two of the most important records in the genre, and co-wrote a chunk of the material on them. He then spent years locked in legal and financial disputes with the Osbourne camp — and never got the platinum awards for either record. The situation was murky enough that Tommy Aldridge, who was credited on Diary Of A Madman, publicly stated the drumming on it was not his and that the credit belonged to Kerslake.
By late 2018 Kerslake had terminal cancer and had been given months to live. Gesualdo contacted Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne directly, told them where things stood, and asked them to help. They agreed. The plaques were shipped over and presented to Kerslake as a surprise when he was inductehd at the gala in Anaheim on January 23, 2019 — 39 years after the fact.
Kerslake died on September 19, 2020 at the age of 73. Gesualdo called him “a drumming icon and our hero” in a tribute at the time. Ozzy himself died last July.
It remains the single moment the Hall points to most often, and it is a fair bet the podcast will not be the last place it gets told.
How the show works
The format splits across two locations. Rankin broadcasts from Pratt Podcasting Studios, while Gesualdo records from wherever he happens to be — on the road drumming with the Metal Hall Of Fame all-star band, out at events with the Hall‘s mobile museum and tour bus, or in the studio.
The promise is stories from veteran artists and executives, backstage chaos from the induction galas, and discussion of where hard rock and metal actually stand right now.
Ellefson and Kay are not neutral first guests. Both sit on the Metal Hall Of Fame‘s board of directors alongside Wendy Dio, Cleopatra Records founder Brian Perera, and others. Ellefson‘s own company, Ellefson Coffee Co., is one of the podcast’s sponsors, along with Pratt Podcasting, Monster Energy and Danny Wimmer Presents.
Where the Hall came from
Gesualdo started the Metal Hall Of Fame in 2016 out of irritation. Watching Deep Purple‘s Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction that year, he noticed the crowd barely stirring — and then coming alive moments later for a hip-hop honoree. His response was that metal needed a ceremony of its own. The first gala took place the following January, roughly 3,000 miles from where the idea struck him.
The galas have since produced a run of genuinely strange and memorable pairings: Metallica inducting Megaforce Records founders Jon and Marsha Zazula; Judas Priest inducted at Wacken Open Air in Germany; Anthrax inducted at Heavy Montreal; Paul Stanley honoring longtime Kiss manager Doc McGhee; and Brian May of Queen inducting Joe Satriani. Steve Vai, Triumph, Geoff Tate and members of Kiss and Iron Maiden have all been enshrined. The 10th annual gala was held in January 2026 at the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, hosted by Eddie Trunk and Rankin.
Behind the ceremonies sits the reason the organization exists as a non-profit at all. The Metal Hall Of Fame operates under D.A.D. (Drums and Disabilities), a 501(c)(3) that runs free drum therapy for disabled children and their families through hospitals and community centers in more than 15 countries. Gesualdo, who overcame a severe disability himself as a child, founded it.
Fans can vote year-round for who they want inducted at metalhalloffame.org.
