Where would you place Maiden?

Definitely my favourite band of all time, whilst they would be purely based on the quality of their music it's also worth mentioning that they have been solidified at the top of my list due to the great memories I have; going to my first Maiden show with my Dad etc.
Most of my other favourite bands are the standard NWOBHM fare although I've really gotten into Blind Guardian recently, I have a taste for the somewhat grandiose in whatever I'm listening to.
 
They were my favorite band for a good 10+ years, even through the Blaze years nothing came close. Got into female fronted metal, loved it, but wished it could be more bombastic and symphonic. Found Nightwish, it was exactly what I was looking for, and sadly dethroned Maiden. But I'll always love Maiden, and the Dickinson and Bayley solo albums that Maiden in a roundabout way spawned.
 
Zare said:
Funny, I though about making a direct comparison right in the post.

I can't put it into words now, but I think the same in Priest vs Maiden. Priest might have prototyped it earlier, but Maiden just took it on next 3 levels alone.

And IMHO, Beatles had more influence on pop than Floyd had on rock genres.
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Except that Floyd wouldn't have happened without the Beatles.
 
Perun said:
Except that Floyd wouldn't have happened without the Beatles.
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And Beatles would not have happened without Winston Churchill. There's no point in this "wouldn't happened without".
That's what I'm talking about. Maiden would have happened without Floyd. But it would sound very different.
 
Maiden are my favourite band, but of course, I can objectively say they are not the greatest band I like.

I do, however, see some parts of Maiden career which are lacking in satisfaction for me.

For example, I am not a huge fan of everything Metallica has done but I really admire some aspects of their career and think they do a couple of things a lot better than Maiden. For example, though I think Maiden are far better as live performers, Metallica put on a better and more interesting show with their stage sets and more varying song set-lists. And though I don't like all the experiments, I think Metallic's S&M is brilliant.

Looking back on Maiden's career, I think it's a bit disappointing that the band have not really experimented too much.
 
I like Metallica too - the thrash period so specially in fact, but I think - in terms of stage set and variety of presentation aspects, putting all the stage sets incarnations and theatrical aspects of them from the whole career of IM is way better and more elaborate than Metallica's sets. So same with KISS they are more visual - envolved band even than both of Meta & Maiden...
 
You really think they haven't experimented much? Some cool stuff in SiT, more cool stuff on SSoaSS, then all the recent more progressive style. Yea Metallica played with an orchestra, and entirely changed their sound for several albums, to a hard rock vibe. I like Metallica for sure, but I don't consider them too experimental.
 
In the 90s Metalli-cats changed their sound for more hard rock, southern rock or mainstream pop-rock vide, changed the image too, 'cos they wanted to be more recognizable for mainstream auditoriums and gain more and more commercial success with another record. So, that 's worked so good in terms of popularity of the band...
 
I'm not saying I like all of the Metallica adventures, cause I think that their collaboration with Lou Reed was simply horrible! But I appreciate the S&M album, the covers album and, though some resented the 90s output, I actually liked the Black Album and Load. Also, I really like 'Through The Never' and that their tours are quite different from each other (e.g playing in the round)

Now to repeat, Maiden are my favourite band. But I think the band have just not been too expansive in what they do. Yes, I love their stage sets, but isn't it almost exactly the same format now as it has been for the past 15 years? It seems as if they just mix-up some back drops and roll-out a new Eddie for the closing.

And, to be honest, studio production wise, I think that the band could have done with mixing up producers more too.
 
Completely disagree. Maiden change their stage show A LOT. Compare the brave new world show with dance of death. Powerslave with seventh son.... same goes for every single eddie
 
Perun said:
There is when you compare the influence of two bands.
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Agree. To me, this sums it up pretty good: The Beatles= Infinite possibilities. Other bands= Grabbing those possibilities and with them creating their own sound
 
The Beatles aren't the be-all and end-all of music, though. I mean, if you want to talk about where it really begins, it's Mozart. But fi I talk about that too much, @SinisterMinisterX will come flying in here like...something large.
 
LooseCannon said:
Go back to 1785 and tell me Mozart wasn't pop music.
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Maiden have, as we all know, some classical music influences in their sound. Ok. But, and considering the Beatles were more of a pop/rock band, it is much more likely that they had a bigger influence in that musical area than, say, Mozart.

If you consider the fact that Steve Harris was a HUGE prog rock fan when he started Maiden, and the fact that the Beatles had a pretty big influence in rock music in general as a whole, there you go... Also, the way the Beatles were so well known worldwide gave them a much bigger visibility and, therefore, a chance to be heard by bigger audiences and, as a consequence, to actually influence.

Apart from musical ability, many times what determines a band's influence over other musicians is their visibility. As we all know, Beatle Mania happened, so it is logical that they ended up influencing a whole lot of people. Pretty much any rock musician, to say the least.
 
nuno_c said:
Completely disagree. Maiden change their stage show A LOT. Compare the brave new world show with dance of death. Powerslave with seventh son.... same goes for every single eddie
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And I disagree with that, Maiden has only changed theme of their set shows in almost 20 years.

Before mid-90's you had differently shaped stage, and in mid 80's you had stuff flying over stage, stuff on stage (laser guns n' shit), etc. Nowadays "stage set" is just a big rectangle with cutoff for Nicko at the center, themed (painted) for a particular tour. They changed lighting for AMOLAD tour.

I said it even then, stage set for SBiT tour sucked. If you scaled it down to club size, and take off pyro and lighting, it would come down to high-profile Maiden cover band in concert.
Just take a look at the shapes and details on Powerslave/SiT tour stage and see what I'm talking about.
Btw, Maiden's pyro was on high level in mid-80's, nowadays Eminem has got better effects on stage than Maiden, let alone other visual-intensive metal concerts (eg. Rammstein) ...
 
LooseCannon said:
Go back to 1785 and tell me Mozart wasn't pop music.
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In a certain way, you are right, music theatres were open to a wide public and to broad social categories, but his music , although much appreciated, was not "popular". It was "learned" and academic music, which required a deep knowledge, which "pop" music doesn't. Anyway, I fully agree with you arguing that the Beatles are not the alpha and omega of all things that happened afterwards. If we had to design a family tree, I'm not sure Maiden would link in some way to the Beatles.
 
Zare said:
And I disagree with that, Maiden has only changed theme of their set shows in almost 20 years.

Before mid-90's you had differently shaped stage, and in mid 80's you had stuff flying over stage, stuff on stage (laser guns n' shit), etc. Nowadays "stage set" is just a big rectangle with cutoff for Nicko at the center, themed (painted) for a particular tour. They changed lighting for AMOLAD tour.

I said it even then, stage set for SBiT tour sucked. If you scaled it down to club size, and take off pyro and lighting, it would come down to high-profile Maiden cover band in concert.
Just take a look at the shapes and details on Powerslave/SiT tour stage and see what I'm talking about.
Btw, Maiden's pyro was on high level in mid-80's, nowadays Eminem has got better effects on stage than Maiden, let alone other visual-intensive metal concerts (eg. Rammstein) ...
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Guess we'll have to agree on disagree ;)
 
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