There’s little dispute that Judas Priest singer Rob Halford is the Metal God. Since 1974, Judas Priest has sold more than 9 million albums in the U.S. alone, not to mention the success of Halford’s other bands, Halford and Fight. The British-born Phoenix resident is named as a vocal influence by everybody from original Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno to Arch Enemy singer Angela Gossow, and is also credited with introducing the leather-and-spikes look to the genre. And at 56 years-old, Halford continues to churn out his beloved heavy metal music. We recently caught up with Halford to discuss the new Fight DVD (War of Words), the upcoming new Judas Priest album, and how he feels about being one of the few openly gay men in metal.

Woe betide the “next big thing” who gets squeezed through the music industry hit machine, only to find their visions are all misshapen and the expectations are impossible to meet.

Once upon a time, an artist whose debut album charted at #10 on the Billboard charts and sold 119,000 copies the week of its release would be considered a success. Not so for American idol winner and Phoenix resident Jordin Sparks, whose self-titled debut is being flagged as a failure by music pundits because she didn’t debut at #1 like previous Idol winners Kelly Clarkson and Ruben Studdard.

Why is Disneyland in California? Call me an idiot (as some surely already do), but I’d venture to guess it’s because Disney studios were founded in Cali and the entire movie industry (Disney included) thrives in the Golden State. So it makes sense that a huge theme park based on Walt Disney’s cartoon characters would be planted in Anaheim.

Vibe magazine recently named the “51 Best MySpace Rappers,” by state. I’m not sure how Vibe determined who made the list, but I beg to differ with their Arizona pick. The only artist from ‘Zona that passed muster with Vibe was a Phoenix rapper who goes by the handle MC Magic. Now, I’ll admit, I’d never heard of MC Magic until I saw this list. So I checked out the songs on his MySpace page, and they’re pretty solid — mostly a mix of reggaeton and other Latin flavors, R&B, and low-key, seduce-you type rhymes (think Pitbull-meets-D’Angelo). But while MC Magic’s tracks are slick, I feel that Vibe totally overlooked at least a dozen of our best local hip-hop acts. Believe it or not, P-city is a hip-hop haven, and we’ve got an amazingly diverse array of artists here, any one of which could (and should) have made the Vibe list.

The November 15 music section of Phoenix New Times features a first-person narrative about horror-punk legends The Misfits, penned by Brian Barr, music editor at Seattle Weekly, one of our sister publications. Not only does the story provide a plug for The Misfits’ upcoming show at Venue of Scottsdale on November 17 (a killer double-bill that also features surf punks Agent Orange), but it gives us another excuse to re-post the footage of North Side Kings singer Danny Marianino knocking out Glenn Danzig a couple years ago. Danzig hasn’t been the singer for The Misfits since 1983 (bassist Jerry Only now handles vocal duties), and maybe Danzig’s attitude is one of the reasons for that.

Britney Spears: This one’s obvious and way too easy, but Brit’s had a spectacularly bad year, so I’ll get it out of the way first. The head-shaving, the booze-and-drugs-gobbling, battling Federline in court and an automobile with an umbrella, the allegedly bad parenting, the rehab stints, the stunningly lackadaisical VMA performance, the laughably awful, “naughty” video for “Gimme More,” and, finally, the indignity of having a number-one album snatched away at the last minute when Billboard decided to change the rules and allow that horrendous new disc by the Eagles, which is only being sold at Wal-Mart, to claim the top spot. Perhaps only Senator Larry Craig and that astronaut lady had worse years.

In an effort to bring a more multi-media music experience to our readers, we’re gonna start posting Wednesday previews of what’s coming up in the week’s print music section of Phoenix new Times. But rather than just pimp our ink, we’re also going to post MP3s, YouTube clips, and photos, to give you a better idea of what these bands actually sound/look like. We want to give a more full-on sensory experience. We want to reach out and touch you. We’re working on scratch ‘n’ sniff links.

Sorry to be the bearers of bad tidings to all you Ingrid Michaelson fans out there in the PHX, but the indie pop singer’s concert — scheduled to go down tonight at Martini Ranch in Scottsdale — was canceled within the last 24 hours.

Just like the prodigal son, Future Shock has returned to give y’all the hook up on the latest “just announced” concerts coming to Valley venues over the next few months. And speaking of comebacks, the biggest news this week was that one of the biggest names in music, Stevie Wonder, will be holding his first concert in Arizona in more than a decade.