Adrian Smith

[Black Abyss Babe]

But if Steve never gave this project to Bruce he probably would have never left to pursue a solo career, because If I'm not mistaken again, the reviews of Tattooed Millionaire were good and that gave Bruce a additional confidence to leave the band and to begin a solo career.

With or without the early solo sortie I think he would have left Maiden eventually, because he simply felt stifled. But I don't think that doing Tattooed Millionaire was what gave him the idea, at least not straight away. He said of that time that he "wandered back into Maiden ... a very happy-go-lucky little leprechaun, so there was no intention whatsoever of leaving at that stage. If anything, the joy of doing my own album had made me sure I was happy where I was." But I guess he would have remembered it so that when he became less happy later on he knew it was a possibility. Risking it all ...

 

[LooseCannon]

Steve and Bruce simply weren't able to get along at that point forever. Two huge personalities fighting for position. Not a tenable position.

It wasn't until they lost each other that they realized how much they needed the other (ahem, Steve needing Bruce a bit more than Bruce needed Steve, but still).

Paraphrased from Bruce's book: "The world fucking needs Iron Maiden."

 

[matic22]

I think it was quite possible that Steve wanted full control over IM at this point, simply because he failed in his private life and he became very obsessive with IM (not a psychologyst, but I know that if one thing in your life fails, you concentrate on other things and sometimes become obsessive about them) and Bruce simply couldn't cope with that, took a shot in the dark and left.

Ade, on the other hand, strictly left/was asked to leave because of musical differences and remained friendly with the guys.

 

[LooseCannon]

I think that those musical differences were due to Steve taking more control. He really wanted to make that stripped-down sound we heard on NPFTD, and that's understandable when you have Adrian writing these lovely progressive songs over the past few albums. It was a complete change in direction from the way the band had been evolving.

I also think Bruce took it more personally than Adrian did, because Bruce has a bigger ego.

 

[srfc]

It wasn't until they lost each other that they realized how much they needed the other (ahem, Steve needing Bruce a bit more than Bruce needed Steve, but still).

Not really. As good as Bruce's albums were, no one was interested in them at the time. They needed each other equally. Hardly anyone wanted Bruce to stay solo.

 

[GhostofCain]

Not really. As good as Bruce's albums were, no one was interested in them at the time. They needed each other equally. Hardly anyone wanted Bruce to stay solo.

That is a bit of an exaggeration. The sales of Bruce's solo albums went up significantly with Accident of Birth and, especially, The Chemical Wedding. By then he had achieved a sustainable solo career that was getting more successful (obviously not at the level of Maiden) with each release.

Either way, regardless of whether Steve needed Bruce more than Bruce needed Steve (or vice versa), Maiden is a much better band with both Adrian and Bruce being part of it.

 

[srfc]

That is a bit of an exaggeration. The sales of Bruce's solo albums went up significantly with Accident of Birth and, especially, The Chemical Wedding. By then he had achieved a sustainable solo career that was getting more successful (obviously not at the level of Maiden) with each release.

It was only really Maiden or ex Maiden fans interested though and not a huge proportion of them, certainly a lot less than what were still buying Maiden's iffy albums and going to see Balze's bad performances.

He wasn't generating any significant interest from new fans, and while he got some decent reviews in the press, I also remember Killing Floor being mocked in the Kerrang singles reviews.

Either way, regardless of whether Steve needed Bruce more than Bruce needed Steve (or vice versa), Maiden is a much better band with both Adrian and Bruce being part of it.

Agreed, and the only thing that really matters.

 

[GhostofCain]

It was only really Maiden or ex Maiden fans interested though and not a huge proportion of them, certainly a lot less than what were still buying Maiden's iffy albums and going to see Balze's bad performances.

True, but as I said in my post, his career was gaining momentum and was on the rise by late 1998 while Maiden's albums were selling less and less, even with a loyal fanbase. We never would know what would have happened had Bruce stayed solo though.

As much as I have enjoyed the last 20 years of Maiden's career, it is a shame that as a result we have not got more solo stuff from Bruce with Roy Z and Adrian.

 

[Deleted member 7164]

Killing Floor was probably mocked by someone that doesn't have a career any more.
Kerrang or Rolling Stone it's all the same to me. They'll write what they're told to write by the one paying their paycheck.

 

[srfc]

It was a band reviewing it I remember correctly, Agnostic Front or One Minute Silence. Futureal was also mocked, but I can't remember who mocked who, whoever was the band that mocked Bruce , then the other band mocked Maiden and vice versa.

Either way, the point was that both Bruce and Maiden were seen as being past it and irrelevant at the time.

 

[Deleted member 7164]

Yeah I remember earlier post of yours, I think I specifically asked who those bands are. That's why I said a current nobody mocked Bruce/Maiden. It's easy to ride some media company wave, just take a look at bands like Silverchair that were hugely popular, and weren't able to play their instruments properly (per Kevin Shirley). Basically these bands were shitting on most classic acts thinking they're gods now because a journalist told them.

 

[srfc]

Yeah I remember earlier post of yours, I think I specifically asked who those bands are. That's why I said a current nobody mocked Bruce/Maiden. It's easy to ride some media company wave, just take a look at bands like Silverchair that were hugely popular, and weren't able to play their instruments properly (per Kevin Shirley). Basically these bands were shitting on most classic acts thinking they're gods now because a journalist told them.

Exactly. Korn got Bruce kicked off an MTV show because he was too "heavy metal" for them to be seen with. They've done nothing since their heyday* and they were the main media darlings at the time.


* for clarity's sake, I'm not implying they done anything in their heyday either! As far as I'm concerned, Korn are the worst band of any genre of music. But I accept that at the time they were huge.

 

[Kalata]

I want to put a little thoughts here, (about Adrian's exit from the band)...

He wasn't happy with the decision to leave out the synths and the keyboards (for the next album) and return to the style of the early albums (like Killers). The idea was, after SSOASS album, they will have 3 months time to write songs for the next album and Adrian was happy with that decision, but when Bruce and Steve sat down to work they wrote ''Tailgunner'', ''Run Silent Run Deep'', and ''Holy Smoke'' for one day, thus the first plan was scrapped and the recording started pretty soon in a barn, with which Adrian again wasn't happy (and I think nowadays Bruce and Steve admit that they should have used a proper recording studio for the NPFTD album). And he wasn't happy with the songs being played live too fast back in 1988.

How can you leave a band like Iron Maiden when they were on the top, because I think SSOASS album was the peak of their creative powers. He maybe should have tried with NPFTD. I really wanted to see a Maiden album with Adrian in the 90's. The album could have been different with 3-4 songs co-written by him (not in the style of Hooks In You though).
If I'm not mistaken, when he played with the band on ''Running Free'' in Donington '92 he said that he shouldn't have left (he probably realized that he gave up from the best band in the world so easily and that was a mistake).
From the picture that I've posted of the interview with Adrian back in 1992, he said that he missing playing live, touring and writing and recording songs/albums, so two years after he was out of Maiden he was already hungry again for what he does best - creating and playing music.

But why Steve (and maybe Bruce too) wanted to ''return to the roots'' for the first Maiden album in the 90's..../ SIT and SSOASS albums were and still are one of the best albums of the band. Sure there were some fans that probably were not happy with the experiments on these two albums at that time and If I'm not mistaken, the sales of the SSOASS album in the US were not that good (SIT sales also, but better than SSOASS) and Maiden already played in a smaller venues during Seventh Son tour in the US (and during the SIT tour too). Maybe this was one of the reasons why Steve wanted to return to the style of the early albums (who knows), because otherwise, it does not make sense. SSOASS was a huge album and it's logic to continue in that way.../But the sales in the US of the NPFTD album were even worse than the ones for SSOASS, so not a good move. They even left out their legendary complicated stage designs from the 80's when the first tour of 90's started. And the style of the songs was more rock type, rather than heavy metal.

 

[Kalata]

Does someone has a full list of all songs recorded (released?) by Urchin ? I must say I really like their stuff, that 70's vibe, Adrian's voice...

Have they ever released a album/s ?

 

[GhostofCain]

Does someone has a full list of all songs recorded (released?) by Urchin ? I must say I really like their stuff, that 70's vibe, Adrian's voice...

Have they ever released a album/s ?

Not officially. There are are a couple of albums of demo recordings available (released by High Roller records).

 

[Jer]

Not officially. There are are a couple of albums of demo recordings available (released by High Roller records).

Note that Adrian never approved the release of those demos, so buying them is rewarding someone who the artist believes acted in bad faith. I didn’t find this out until I’d already bought them, so now I feel a bit dirty...

 

[Magnus]

Note that Adrian never approved the release of those demos, so buying them is rewarding someone who the artist believes acted in bad faith. I didn’t find this out until I’d already bought them, so now I feel a bit dirty...

Makes two of us.
But hey, H could always hire McKay, no?

 

[Black Abyss Babe]

Makes two of us.
But hey, H could always hire McKay, no?

 

[GhostofCain]

Note that Adrian never approved the release of those demos, so buying them is rewarding someone who the artist believes acted in bad faith. I didn’t find this out until I’d already bought them, so now I feel a bit dirty...

Same here...

 

[Kalata]

Not officially. There are are a couple of albums of demo recordings available (released by High Roller records).

Are these all songs recorded/(played live) by Urchin ?

Spoiler

Black Leather Fantasy
Rock 'N' Roll Woman
She's A Roller
Long Time No Woman
See Me Through
Walking Out On You
Somedays
Watch Me Walk Away
The Late/Latest Show
Lifetime
Keeping It Mellow
Life In The City
Countdown
My Lady
Animals
Madman
Need Somebody
Get Up And Get Out
Little Girl
Countdown (alternate version)
Don't Ask Me
Suicide

Steal My Heart
The User
Ain't Got No Money
Music
Somebody Like You