Things that affected his music career in different ways presented in the book:
1. Wolfsbane being lucky enough to get the support slot with Maiden during the No Prayer UK tour.
2. Bruce Dickinson deciding to "throw himself into the sea" (Like he sang in his song Tears of the Dragon) - Steve Harris, impressed by Blaze on the tour, gave him the job.
3. The grunge wave and heavy metal becoming out of date in the 90's as a result.
4. Steve Harris refusal to work with a producer for The X Factor and Virtual XI - Rod Smallwood didn't agree at first.
5. Steve Harris decision to release "The Angel and the Gambler" as the first single from Virtual XI - Rod Smallwood suggested "Futureal".
6. The band's refusal to tune down the instruments to match his lower vocal range during the two tours.
7. Staying with Sanctuary after the split and having Dave Thorne managing the BLAZE band - a misstake.
The thing that interests me the most is what happened at the end of his tenure with Maiden - the official reason for firing Blaze was because he had problems with his voice.
"Bayley's tenure in Iron Maiden ended in January 1999 when he was asked to leave during a band meeting.
[104] The dismissal took place due to issues Bayley had experienced with his voice during the
Virtual XI World Tour" (Wikipedia - citing Run to the Hills biography".
Kind of ironic really, as it was the band forcing him to push his voice on a nightly basis, because they would not transpose the songs lower.
Then Gers in 2010 stated that it was the band's fault: "although Janick Gers has since stated that this was partly the band's fault for forcing him to perform songs which were beyond his natural register.
[106]" (Wikipedia).
Also kind of strange that Harris would rather fire his singer than tune down a few instruments for him!
The reason for his firing likely goes deeper than the official reasons, but we will most likely never get to know them. It seems like they would have worked with another singer even if Bruce hadn't rejoined, so something was clearly going on inside the band at the end of the Virtual XI tour, following into January 1999.
"E - How were you approached about the reunion? What was your involvement?
A - Since I joined up with Bruce to do his project there has been a lot of people saying when are you guys going to get back with Maiden. I kind of felt bad because the had Blaze and they were doing there own thing and going in their own direction. I said, well I can't see it at the moment.
But I guess Blaze was going to leave and before they asked any other singer they asked Bruce. Inevitably, I suppose, they got around to me and said why don't we try to get Adrian back, as well, to do this new three guitar thing, cause then it gives it an extra little twist, which is quite interesting. -Adrian Smith.
http://maidenfans.com/index.php?ACT=module&name=rwarticles&show=43
"Naaah, even if Blaze had stayed in the band we’d still have been touring this summer and making the next album abroad - even looking for a producer because Nigel Green [who worked alongside Steve on both ‘The X Factor’ and ‘Virtual XI’] isn’t available to do it.”
With such talk we are, of course, entering a decidedly grey area. For Maiden still insist upon keeping the reasons for Blaze Bayley’s departure close to their chests. Aside from a few criticisms about the consistency of his performances over a nine-month tour and his behaviour after a few beers, nobody seems to have a bad word to say about the bloke. Indeed, Steve continues to defend Blaze’s corner most robustly than he has to, claiming that the British press never have him a fair crack of the whip. He expresses his opinion that Bayley was a great singer, sighing deeply when I express my own viewpoint that he simply wasn’t up to such a Herculean task. So can the removal of Blaze in favour of Dickinson only be attributed to external pressure? Again, beyond a vehement denial that he was railroaded into making the change, Steve’s not saying anything. “If Blaze hasn’t spoken about it yet then neither will I,” he states defiantly. “That’s what we agreed.”" - Steve Harris. (
http://www.daveling.co.uk/doc-ironmaiden.htm)
17 years on and counting and Harris has not really spoken yet...
it was a band, but for me it was always Blaze Bayley
