Maiden’s political silence
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They remain silent because they are business-minded and value that over anything else. They'd rather turn a blind eye to atrocities than risk alienating a potential fan/customer. It's gross but they've always been that way and I suspect it's largely to do with boring old Rod.
DJ James
A coma stole my name.
What's Maiden gonna do anyway? Why does it matter if a 70 year old rockstar says war is bad or not?
GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
Yeah, why bother standing against barbarism? 
GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
Deep Purple speak on Ukraine
Sweet childIn time you’ll see the lineThe line that’s drawn betweenGood and badSee the blind manShooting at the worldBullets flyingTaking tollIf you’ve been badLord I bet you have…
jonlord.org
Some older rock stars speak out.
Azas
At the Eternity's End
I'm sure you all know the term 'influencer'. Maiden boys have access to wide audiences. Maybe, brainwashed russian fan of theirs, will think for a second: 'if my favorite band condemned my country's actions against Ukraine, maybe we are really doing something wrong there.' Maybe he will search for alternative information channel, not propaganda tv.
Deep Purple speak on Ukraine
Sweet childIn time you’ll see the lineThe line that’s drawn betweenGood and badSee the blind manShooting at the worldBullets flyingTaking tollIf you’ve been badLord I bet you have…
Some older rock stars speak out.
I'd feel compelled to do that too if I had this picture of me floating around:
____no5
Free Man
How Bruce has been involved with Sarajevo?
There's a whole film about it.
permanenteddie
Educated Fool
I really don't understand why is it so important that Maiden gives their opinion about this war? Is it going to change anything?? Is it mandatory that they express what they think about every single matter that goes on all around the world? If they don't...are they cowards, are they bad guys??? For sure they have their opinion as each one of us has his but what's the point? There are some artists that are very political in their songs, in the way they deal with it but this has never been Maiden's way from day one. So why should they change now? And again, knowing that they condemn this war, is it going to make some people love them more or less??? As far as i'm concerned, Maiden is about music and this is what matters to me, their opinions about politics, events in the world, what they see as being good or bad, as being wrong or righ...well it's just their opinions and I'd rather not know what are their favorite politicians, the ones they dislike and so on...If they make a public statement as DP just did, so what??? If they don't...so what as well? Back in the day, coming from a band like Rage against the machine or similar bands, of course we expect them to make their opinion known asap because they're a political and if they didn't then they could be called cowards...Maiden, not really or unless after 40 years they totally decide to change the way they handle things...
____no5
Free Man
Exactly that.
Or after seeing that everybody does they decide to go with the flow. But again, it would probably be a business decision, because as you correctly said they are no Rage Against the Machine.
Rod for sure. For Steve, I genuinely believe his stance is honest.
If Steve believed that speaking out is the best course of action he would have done it. Not as Maiden -he’d abide to Rod’s recommendation -but as Steve Harris, he would. But that is not Steve Harris.
The way I see it is that Steve doesn’t speak out of respect. He respects the fact that he’s not an expert so he ends up speaking for a very few things publicly. He’s been that way all along. Whatever he has to say, he does so with with lyrics. I respect that immensely.
Last but not least, I get who’s Xi Smallwood, but who’s Li Harris? Bruce? 
matic22
Ancient Mariner
Exactly that.
Or after seeing that everybody does they decide to go with the flow. But again, it would probably be a business decision, because as you correctly said they are no Rage Against the Machine.
Rod for sure. For Steve, I genuinely believe his stance is honest.
If Steve believed that speaking out is the best course of action he would have done it. Not as Maiden -he’d abide to Rod’s recommendation -but as Steve Harris, he would. But that is not Steve Harris.
The way I see it is that Steve doesn’t speak out of respect. He respects the fact that he’s not an expert so he ends up speaking for a very few things publicly. He’s been that way all along. Whatever he has to say, he does so with with lyrics. I respect that immensely.
Last but not least, I get who’s Xi Smallwood, but who’s Li Harris? Bruce?
It's a joke regarding Maiden's neutral stance, comparing them to China, in particular president Xi and premier Li.
Diesel 11
As you scream into the web of silence...
Yeah I just feel like even if they say something, it’s not like Putin will be like, “Even Iron Maiden is against me? Well this changes the game!” Would it be nice for them to give us an official statement? Sure. But also, I think that Steve gave us one already in September and I think that counts for something.
Edington
Last Son of The Miracle
Metallica haven't made an official statement either, but their All Within My Hands foundation has donated $100k to the World Central Kitchen to help feed Ukrainian refugees. Honestly, this is the kind of thing I'd rather see bands doing rather than Facebook posts stating the obvious.
I think, for me, it's that performative statements matter to individual people. If there was a Russian on the fence somewhere and his favourite band said, look man, this shit is evil, maybe that one particular guy moves from support to neutral on Putin, or neutral to oppose. I don't personally need Maiden to influence that decision, and I don't think it has a lot of potential impact, but there's some.
The other piece is that we're living through a challenging time in history, when there's a very clear-cut choice as to who is right, and who is wrong, and we know from history that those who pick the wrong side or say nothing are going to end up being remembered for those choices. We've been down this road before.
The other piece is that we're living through a challenging time in history, when there's a very clear-cut choice as to who is right, and who is wrong, and we know from history that those who pick the wrong side or say nothing are going to end up being remembered for those choices. We've been down this road before.
srfc
Ancient Mariner
I'd feel compelled to do that too if I had this picture of me floating around:
Am I mistaken or didn't they get paid a million quid to play a private gig?
Well, years ago I read that Deep Purple played at Medvedev's birthday party, but I haven't been able to verify this. The photos are real though, and their meeting was widely publicised:
Russia's Medvedev hosts his idols Deep Purple
Ardent British rock fan Dmitry Medvedev got his wish on Tuesday night when the Russian president hosted Deep Purple at his luxurious residence near Moscow, the Kremlin said.
www.reuters.com
Purple patch: Medvedev meets his hard rock heroes
Russian president realises childhood dream by having tea with members of Deep Purple at his Moscow residence
www.theguardian.com
etc., etc.
The band's statements very clearly seem to be in reference to this meeting. So yeah, there is some more background to this than just old rockers speaking their minds, and it's not really a good reference for Maiden, who have very much stayed away from being involved with political leaders.
EDIT: For the record, I'm not saying I don't believe that the opinions of Deep Purple's members aren't genuine, I'm just saying they have more reason to publicly distance themselves from Russian politics than Maiden do.
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