During a new interview on Charlie Kendall’s Metalshop, Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson shared his thoughts on the use of social media and the rise of influencers, saying that he believes it has led people to develop narcissistic tendencies.
“Now we have the crazy thing where people are observing themselves and TikTok and all the rest of it, and the influencers who need no qualifications whatsoever to be an influencer and influence people with oftentimes dumb opinions. This crazy world in which we’re so obsessed with influencing other people. And this kind of narcissistic [attitude of], ‘Hey, look at me now,’” he said before clarifying the difference between social media influencers and those who perform on stage.
“I stand in front of like 50,000 people and go, ‘Hey, look at me.’ But when I step off stage, that’s it. It’s over. It’s done. I don’t think that that has any value other than what I’m actually doing. The reason you look at me, hopefully, is ’cause I’m singing some stuff or I’m telling you a story or whatever, but when it’s done, it’s done. I don’t need to walk around with the equivalent of a mirror attached to my face to know that I’m a good person.”
He continued: “I just get worried about people’s mental health with the stuff that goes on in the web. I just think it puts too much pressure on people and people forget how to be a community anymore. That’s why in Maiden, we’re trying to say to people, ‘When you come to a show, why don’t you just keep your phone in your pocket and try and look at everybody else around you and join the show and be there for the people that you are with?'”
When asked if putting away your phone is now a requirement to attend an Iron Maiden concert, Dickinson replied: “It’s not a requirement. It’s a request. It’s a polite request. What is the point in paying all this money and turning up and staring at a tiny little box for, like — I don’t know — however long. I mean, first of all, Maiden’s show is two and a bit hours long, so your arm’s gonna get real tired.”
Earlier this year, the band’s manager Rod Smallwood took to Iron Maiden’s official website to urge fans to “put away your phones” and experience the shows “in the moment.”
“We really want fans to enjoy the shows first hand, rather than on their small screens,” Smallwood wrote. “The amount of phone use nowadays diminishes enjoyment, particularly for the band who are on stage looking out at rows of phones, but also for other concertgoers.
“We feel that the passion and involvement of our fans at shows really makes them special, but the phone obsession has now got so out of hand that it has become unnecessarily distracting especially to the band. I hope fans understand this and will be sensible in severely limiting the use of their phone cameras out of respect for the band and their fellow fans.”
