Maiden Musings...

...or, More thoughts on another favorite band with whom I've become more familiar via the miracle of Sirius...

I've heard a couple of different stories about why original Iron Maiden frontman Paul Di'Anno was booted from the band and replaced with Bruce Dickinson. The linked entry says it was because of his self-destructive behaviors leading to the band having to cancel shows, but I was talking to a colleague the other day at work and he said something to the effect that Di'Anno was booted because the band wanted to take its sound in a different direction. Perhaps it was both and Di'Anno's behavior just more or less coincided with the band members' vision that didn't include him.

At any rate, I for one am glad they took that new direction. This might be heresy to a lot of rock/metal fans, but I thought Di'Anno-era Maiden kinda sucked compared to the Bruce Dickinson-era Maiden. I've gotten to thinking, going back to the plane analogy, that it's like comparing the Wright Brothers' first plane to, say, an SR-71. Granted, it wasn't quite as bad as, say, mid-'90s Metallica compared to Ride, Master or Justice; but it was still rather bland. Maybe I'd feel differently if I'd heard the Di'Anno-era records first, but the fact is I heard the later records first and compared to those the earlier ones were a tremendous letdown. I honestly wonder how many folks would say that "Running Free" was really better than "Aces High"...

(By the way, the video for "Aces..." is pretty damn cool too. The bit before the music was a nice touch.)