Iron Maiden has had quite a career for themselves with sold over one hundred albums worldwide and released sixteen studio albums including five UK Official Album Chart Number ones. However, as many Maiden fans are sure to be aware there was a time in the history of the band that the group was without their beloved lead singer, Bruce Dickinson. Dickinson, who joined Iron Maiden in 1981 would leave the group in 1993 before joining the band once again in 1999. He would discuss this topic as part of his spoken-word show at MTelus in Montreal, Quebec Canada. Credit to Blabbermouth for the following quote.
“Honestly, I was as surprised as anybody else. I don’t think people believed that at the time. I just thought that if I stayed with Maiden forever, all I would learn about was what it was like to be in Maiden. And to learn what it was like outside Maiden, you have to leave, because, unless you left, nobody would take anything that you did seriously. It would always be, like, ‘Oh, bless him. He’s doing a solo record. Let him have his fun and then he can go back to being in Iron Maiden.’ I hated that. So I thought, ‘F*** it. I’ll just leave.’ And [people said], ‘What happens if your [solo] career doesn’t work out?’ I said, ‘Well, that’s God or fate saying maybe that’s [for] the best.’ And I said [it’s] better [to take a chance] now and do something else with your life than sit there somewhere in a fantasy world and end up just grumpy.” This Iron Maiden icon ‘can’t walk’ after surgery.
In other news regarding Iron Maiden, legendary guitarist for Judas Priest, Glenn Tipton would discuss the influence his group had on Maiden in an interview with Ultimate Classic Rock. Credit to the outlet for the below.
I think it was a natural progression, that’s the phrase I would use. They took what we had done and made it their own. It’s important to be very easily recognizable when you’re writing songs. You know that you’re successful, I think, when you hear yourself on the radio and it’s easily recognizable. I think that Maiden did that. They’re very influenced by Priest, but they did it in their way, and all credit to them for that.
