Bruce's Solo Discography Ranked - The Complete List

63: Meltdown
Average Score: 6.58/10
Skunkworks 5/13


Yeah, yeah, more Skunkworks. After Tattooed Millionaire, it's the album whose tracks are falling fastest. Sad! I don't think it has a bad song on it, but they're definitely less... memorable. Bruce has written some awesome earworms, but there aren't as many on this album. Which might be a good thing, because it takes a certain person to appreciate it. Anyways, above average track.

Choice comments:

I always thought Bruce's song "Meltdown" from Skunkworks could be about Steve Harris, with the "you and your twisted convictions" line and everything.
A song like Meltdown I personally consider his finest lyric. Period.
I'd buy Skunkworks for you if you promise not to vote for Meltdown:innocent:
"Meltdown" is a hidden gem, I think.
Meltdown and I Will Not Accept The Truth are two songs that bring down the album for me.

Votes:
10 - 3
9 - 3
8 - 1
7 - 5
6 - 1
5 - 2
4 - 0
3 - 2
2 - 1
1 - 1

Overall:

63 - Meltdown
64 - Gypsy Road
65 - Fire Child
66 - Shoot All The Clowns
67 - Octavia
68 - Dreamstate

69 - Hell On Wheels
70 - Fire
71 - Believil
72 - I Will Not Accept The Truth
73 - Mars Within
74 - Armchair Hero
75 - Toltec 7 Arrival
76 - God's Not Coming Back
77 - Darkness Be My Friend
78 - Confeos

79 - Headswitch
80 - Dive! Dive! Dive!
81 - Rescue Day
82 - No Lies
83 - Re-Entry
84 - Midnight Jam
85 - Over And Out
86 - Dracula
87 - Cadillac Gas Mask
88 - Tibet
89 - Elvis Has Left The Building
90 - Americans Are Behind

91 - Lickin' the Gun
92 - R 101
93 - Ballad of Mutt

94 - Zulu Lulu
95 - The Post Alternative Seattle Fall Out
96 - I'm In A Band With An Italian Drummer

Albums:
Tattooed Millionaire 6/10
Balls To Picasso 2/10
Skunkworks 5/13
Accident of Birth 1/12
Tyranny of Souls 2/10
Bonus Tracks 18/31
 
The highest number of responses was for The Chemical Wedding, which had a total of 22. I think the lowest was 19, though on occasion there were songs where a person either forgot or ignored, and these ended up being lower. I think 18 is the lowest number of votes for any one song, and 22 the highest.

Thanks!
 
62: Winds of Change
Average Score: 6.63/10
Bonus Tracks 19/31


A Tattooed Millionaire bonus track, not to be confused with the Scorpions' song. I like it, but I concede it isn't one of his greatest. I think I'm fine with where this one ranked, all-told, especially considering some of the more mind-boggling ones. 62 sounds about right.

Choice comments:

I know it's a bit sketchy, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that some of the discarded Somewhere in Time material found its way onto the Balls to Picasso album. Winds of Change, which appears on the Balls to Picasso bonus disc, could fit the description of this acoustic song, plus he played it on the Tattooed Millionnaire tour, which means the song had been around since at least 1989.
Scorpions did it better, but I still enjoy this one.
This isn't a cover of the Scorpions song.
Well duh.
Then whey did say Scorpions did it better if they're 2 completely different songs?
I’m comparing two different songs to each other because the titles are the same.

Votes:
10 - 1
9 - 0
8 - 6
7 - 4
6 - 3
5 - 3
4 - 1
3 - 1
2 - 0
1 - 0

Overall:
62 - Winds of Change
63 - Meltdown
64 - Gypsy Road
65 - Fire Child
66 - Shoot All The Clowns
67 - Octavia
68 - Dreamstate

69 - Hell On Wheels
70 - Fire
71 - Believil
72 - I Will Not Accept The Truth
73 - Mars Within
74 - Armchair Hero
75 - Toltec 7 Arrival
76 - God's Not Coming Back
77 - Darkness Be My Friend
78 - Confeos

79 - Headswitch
80 - Dive! Dive! Dive!
81 - Rescue Day
82 - No Lies
83 - Re-Entry
84 - Midnight Jam
85 - Over And Out
86 - Dracula
87 - Cadillac Gas Mask
88 - Tibet
89 - Elvis Has Left The Building
90 - Americans Are Behind

91 - Lickin' the Gun
92 - R 101
93 - Ballad of Mutt

94 - Zulu Lulu
95 - The Post Alternative Seattle Fall Out
96 - I'm In A Band With An Italian Drummer

Albums:

Tattooed Millionaire 6/10
Balls To Picasso 2/10
Skunkworks 5/13
Accident of Birth 1/12
Tyranny of Souls 2/10
Bonus Tracks 19/31
 
Skunkworks top 4 best songs:

1 Back From The Edge
2 Meltdown
3 I Will Not Accept
4 Headswitch
Hmm, I'd go something more like:

1. Strange Death In Paradise
2. Innerspace
3. Solar Confinement
4. Meltdown

...but your point is well taken.
 
I lean more towards "Space Race" and "Back From The Edge", but I really need to give that album another listen. Might do it tonight!
 
61: Real World
Average Score: 6.7/10
Bonus Tracks 20/31


Only 11 more bonus tracks left, all the others have hit the countdown already. We return to the era of The Chemical Wedding for this song, which, if my suspicions are correct, gave former owner Real World his name. Can anyone confirm? Anyway, this is a fun song, and it's got more to it than "Confeos". I was honestly expecting it to place higher, but I'm pretty fine with this ranking.

Choice comments:

Nothing to see here....

Votes:
10 - 2
9 - 2
8 - 4
7 - 2
6 - 4
5 - 3
4 - 2
3 - 1
2 - 0
1 - 0

Overall:
61 - Real World
62 - Winds of Change

63 - Meltdown
64 - Gypsy Road
65 - Fire Child
66 - Shoot All The Clowns
67 - Octavia
68 - Dreamstate

69 - Hell On Wheels
70 - Fire
71 - Believil
72 - I Will Not Accept The Truth
73 - Mars Within
74 - Armchair Hero
75 - Toltec 7 Arrival
76 - God's Not Coming Back
77 - Darkness Be My Friend
78 - Confeos

79 - Headswitch
80 - Dive! Dive! Dive!
81 - Rescue Day
82 - No Lies
83 - Re-Entry
84 - Midnight Jam
85 - Over And Out
86 - Dracula
87 - Cadillac Gas Mask
88 - Tibet
89 - Elvis Has Left The Building
90 - Americans Are Behind

91 - Lickin' the Gun
92 - R 101
93 - Ballad of Mutt

94 - Zulu Lulu
95 - The Post Alternative Seattle Fall Out
96 - I'm In A Band With An Italian Drummer

Albums:
Tattooed Millionaire 6/10
Balls To Picasso 2/10
Skunkworks 5/13
Accident of Birth 1/12
Tyranny of Souls 2/10
Bonus Tracks 20/31
 
60: Inside The Machine
Average Score: 6.75/10
Skunkworks 6/13


I wouldn't necessarily call "Inside The Machine" a favorite, but I think it's almost a sweet kinda song. I get the low ranking though. Not really much else to say... I think I will go listen to Skunkworks right now. Time to hear that album again.

Choice comments:

I find Inside the Machine a beautiful, dynamic song with variety and different colours. There's this dark layer over an uptempo beat, which makes it quite interesting. All packed in just three and a half minutes.

I especially love the guitar riffs. The ones in the bridges, -repeated in that solo section!- the most, but the chorus (in which the music reminds me of Rush) is quite good as well.
'Inside The Machine' has wonderful vocal melodies. It's my second favourite song from 'Skunkworks'.
Inside the Machine is a great underrated track.
Very strong.

Votes:
10 - 1
9 - 3
8 - 6
7 - 4
6 - 2
5 - 0
4 - 1
3 - 1
2 - 1
1 - 1

Overall:
60 - Inside The Machine
61 - Real World
62 - Winds of Change

63 - Meltdown
64 - Gypsy Road
65 - Fire Child
66 - Shoot All The Clowns
67 - Octavia
68 - Dreamstate

69 - Hell On Wheels
70 - Fire
71 - Believil
72 - I Will Not Accept The Truth
73 - Mars Within
74 - Armchair Hero
75 - Toltec 7 Arrival
76 - God's Not Coming Back
77 - Darkness Be My Friend
78 - Confeos

79 - Headswitch
80 - Dive! Dive! Dive!
81 - Rescue Day
82 - No Lies
83 - Re-Entry
84 - Midnight Jam
85 - Over And Out
86 - Dracula
87 - Cadillac Gas Mask
88 - Tibet
89 - Elvis Has Left The Building
90 - Americans Are Behind

91 - Lickin' the Gun
92 - R 101
93 - Ballad of Mutt

94 - Zulu Lulu
95 - The Post Alternative Seattle Fall Out
96 - I'm In A Band With An Italian Drummer

Albums:

Tattooed Millionaire 6/10
Balls To Picasso 2/10
Skunkworks 6/13
Accident of Birth 1/12
Tyranny of Souls 2/10
Bonus Tracks 20/31
 
Listened to Skunkworks, awesome album but the songs work best together. I nearly fell asleep toward the end though....
 
The problem with Skunkworks is that it's very front loaded. First 5 or 6 songs are really good but then the quality dips quite a bit with only a few songs that bring things back up.
 
59: All The Young Dudes
Average Score: 6.75/10
Tattooed Millionaire 7/10


Only three TM songs left, and you knew from the beginning they'd be the highest so no surprise there. Yes - the only cover in this list, because I excluded the ones released as bonus tracks. Fits Bruce well but isn't a huge improvement, and he himself agrees. This song tied with "Inside the Machine", but I gave it the higher ranking on the basis of ITM getting votes for 2, 3, and 4, and ATYD getting none there. It could go either way, obviously, so you can mentally switch the two around if you like.

Choice comments:

I heard Bruce's rendition of All The Young Dudes years before Mott the Hoople's. I still prefer Bruce's version as that's what I'm used to, and I think it is a good song.
Sat at my desk at work sniffling into my lemsip... gonna be a long day
Great for a cover, but it's not a mind-blowing song. Enjoyable when it comes on.
the song for itself doesn't deserve such a high score, but since it played an enormous part in my childhood, I couldn't give it less

Votes:
10 - 1
9 - 3
8 - 2
7 - 6
6 - 4
5 - 3
4 - 0
3 - 0
2 - 0
1 - 1

Overall:
59 - All The Young Dudes
60 - Inside The Machine
61 - Real World
62 - Winds of Change

63 - Meltdown
64 - Gypsy Road
65 - Fire Child
66 - Shoot All The Clowns
67 - Octavia
68 - Dreamstate

69 - Hell On Wheels
70 - Fire
71 - Believil
72 - I Will Not Accept The Truth
73 - Mars Within
74 - Armchair Hero
75 - Toltec 7 Arrival
76 - God's Not Coming Back
77 - Darkness Be My Friend
78 - Confeos

79 - Headswitch
80 - Dive! Dive! Dive!
81 - Rescue Day
82 - No Lies
83 - Re-Entry
84 - Midnight Jam
85 - Over And Out
86 - Dracula
87 - Cadillac Gas Mask
88 - Tibet
89 - Elvis Has Left The Building
90 - Americans Are Behind

91 - Lickin' the Gun
92 - R 101
93 - Ballad of Mutt

94 - Zulu Lulu
95 - The Post Alternative Seattle Fall Out
96 - I'm In A Band With An Italian Drummer

Albums:

Tattooed Millionaire 7/10
Balls To Picasso 2/10
Skunkworks 6/13
Accident of Birth 1/12
Tyranny of Souls 2/10
Bonus Tracks 20/31
 
First of all - Diesel, you're amazing for doing this! Very interesting to see where this ends up :)
So far, as expected, I agree on some songs and completely disagree on others - Fire Child is way too low, for example! But that's the beauty of user-voted lists like these.

And for the record, the best song on Skunkworks is clearly Space Race - aside from Solar Confinement, the rest of the album takes a huge dip and becomes bland and uninteresting. (Almost) all the songs sound the same! Tattooed might contain Bruce's worst song, but I much prefer the album itself to Skunkworks, that's for sure.
 
I agree that a lot of skunkworks seems to blend, and that it’s quality tends to dwindle the deeper one gets.

All The Young Dudes is a pretty faithful and pretty worthwhile cover.
Bruce sounds fabulous on it.
 
63: Meltdown
Average Score: 6.58/10
Skunkworks 5/13


Yeah, yeah, more Skunkworks. After Tattooed Millionaire, it's the album whose tracks are falling fastest. Sad! I don't think it has a bad song on it, but they're definitely less... memorable. Bruce has written some awesome earworms, but there aren't as many on this album. Which might be a good thing, because it takes a certain person to appreciate it. Anyways, above average track.

I think it is a pretty good song. By the way, it is about some people who dumped Bruce after he left Maiden and did some pretty nasty things (Bruce did not explain more during the interview in which he said that).
 
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