r/ironmaiden

Interesting that Bring Your Daughter and Fear of the Dark were so commercially popular as I thought they were weak albums compared to those that proceeded them.

Bring Your Daughter in particular in laughable IMO

The fact that Adrian decided to leave the band whilst Steve was pushing towards Bring Your Daughter says to me that Adrian is a very good barometer of taste

He played on all the classic 80’s albums and then quit when he thought the band was regressing

On the flipside, fans keep telling me to listen to Brave New World

Yea it’s Bruce’s comeback album but it’s also Adrian’s comeback album too. Maiden seem to have done adequately well without Bruce but when Adrian came back they suddenly made by all accounts their best album since the classic 80’s

And that’s not coincidence

So perhaps it’s Adrian, arguably the least heralded guy in the band who is actually the best at deciding what will be quality

And perhaps Adrian is also the ingredient they need to make that quality. They simply can’t do it without him

Thought I’d share my weird Iron Maiden aituation

Life After Death was the first album I ever bought. I was about 10 or 11.

I saw it in the record store and the cover mesmerized me.

Over 35 years later I still listen to that album every week.
It’s in rotation in my car alongside Seventh Son

I’m a live after death mega fan!

In the next few years I bought everything Iron Maiden released. Their latest album was Bring Your Daughter. So I got that and every prior album.

Then Fear of the Dark came out in 1992 and I bought that. I also went to my first ever gig in 1992 or 1993, Iron Maiden at Wembley.

And after that Bruce left sometime in Late 1993. And I never listened to another Iron Malden album made since then.

I’ve never heard Blaze Bailey sing and I could not name a single song that Iron Maiden have written in the past 33 years. Of course I know Bruce rejoined but I have. I ideas what songs he’s sing in the last 33 years.

It’s absolutely bizarre!

We are going to Minnesota for the show in September. Any recommendations for where to stay? Looks like the casino hotel rooms are on pricey side, plus not a gambler. Any recommendations for places to see or places to eat also appreciated.

"I'd never met Blaze [Bayley, former IRON MAIDEN singer] before until we got on the red carpet [at the London premiere], and Blaze was in front of me. And he turned around and we had a hug, and we had some photos done together. And we said, 'We finally meet after all these years.' And we had a long chat. It was great. But at the same time, watching the film, I felt really sorry for Blaze, because the way it was narrated, it was as if the minute Blaze joins the band, they go downhill. People start burning records. People start talking about this devil cult, and then they're playing clubs. And I thought, 'Hold on a minute. This is, this is angling towards... ' It sounds like that Blaze is getting the blame for the band going downhill, which it was nothing like that. Blaze did — I think it was three albums, really good albums. As Steve [Harris, IRON MAIDEN bassist and founder] said to me on the phone, he contributed towards them albums. So you gotta take your hat off to Blaze for walking into the boots of Bruce [Dickinson, longtime MAIDEN vocalist] and then trying to pick up where Bruce left off. It's a killer job. And the way that was portrayed was, like, 'Oh, now they're playing in clubs.' And then the punchline was when Bruce came back and Steve said, 'Why do you wanna come back?' He went, 'Because I'm fed up playing small shows. I wanna play big shows.' So it was as if the minute Bruce came back, the band was massive again. It didn't sort of like jell in a friendly kind of way, if you know what I mean.'

Dennis continued: "I don't want the MAIDEN family or the MAIDEN fans saying 'it's sour grapes' or 'he's got the hump because he's [not in the band].' I haven't. It's a film for the fans. I'm proud of what I did in MAIDEN first couple of years, and also what I took into it and working on them early songs. Because, yes, in 1979, it's said many times that the band was very punky and very aggressive, and that's how we liked it. But you still had to have a bit of class, and that's when separating them guitars and adding a couple of little vocal harmonies, that's when you start making the songs a bit more interesting, not so punky, not so raw. And that's what I'm pleased about. The fact is we'd worked on them first two albums, and I think they'd come out pretty well. So, as I say, the film's fantastic for the fans, but for me, [it's] just a little bit sad that they rushed through the early days, that's all."