Bruce Dickinson

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That's an amazing interview, thanks! The fact that Bruce is so open about everything is shocking. I know he's always been that way, but for a musician to straight up say, "I didn't sell any tickets" is way different than dishing on bad blood between band members.
 
'I'm still friendly with everybody, except Steve'. Wow, some serious shots fired in that interview. I didn't know Bruce has ever spoken about the conflict so openly. It's so interesting that the reunion happened soon after that interview - it must have been the same year.
 
No problem! You can find lots of stuff like this on an archived version of screamforme.com.
https://web.archive.org/web/20031011030509/http://213.86.54.13/brucedickinson/press/index.asp

If the link does not work for you just go here: https://archive.org/index.php and type in screamforme.com and then pick a version from 2003 or 2004.

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jazz from hell said:
Do you (or anyone) have got more interviews from around that time?
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Some stuff from 1998 is archived here as well:
http://maidenfans.com/index.php?ACT=module&name=rwarticles&cid=1
 
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jazz from hell said:
Thanks, that's very cool, but the "heavy stuff" isn't in any of these.

By 1996, Bruce was pretty much a "has-been", his career seemed to be over after only 3 years solo. Later he said he even thought about giving up music as a career during that time. How he managed to become successful again after that, eventually even more so than ever before, I find extremely fascinating, and I think it has a lot to do with his personality. Let's say he wasn't afraid to take "dirty roads" to get the attention he wanted.
I think it was in a series of interviews in 97, in promotion for Accident, where he accused Steve of being responsible for No Prayer sounding like "shit" (that's the word he used iirc), of being a control freak that hasn't ever tried drugs and never ever gets drunk (one question in the interview posted by Talisman hints at that), etc. etc., basically of everything that was "wrong" in the world. I can't remember everything he said, but it was just nasty, just seeking attention in whatever way he could, even if it was completely unfair, ridiculous and dishonest (afaik Bruce didn't get drunk very often himself and was anti-drugs pretty much since the 80s, but hey, he wanted the headline). I can perfectly understand Steve being mad at him afterwards.
(About the sources: Kerrang 660 may be one of those interviews, but as I've said I haven't found any of them anywhere on the net... they've magically disappeared... And I don't have my teenage-years-magazines anymore. Some people here might remember too though.)
So what I'm really wondering is, did those interviews help or hurt Bruce more? Not in a moral way, just "matter of fact". Accident of Birth was a success after all... I'm very interested to know what you guys think.
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I think this is the interview you are mentioning: http://www.bookofhours.net/beta/inter_960428.htm There are others in this website. I always wondered why Bruce would say something like that about Steve, but now that you mentioned this probable reason, it makes sense. I hadn't thought about it from this perspective.
 
No disrespect, but I think Bruce is a big-mouthed guy. He can say stupid or even offensive things just to get attention. That said, his main problem with Maiden was him trying to get more control on the band, while it was crearly impossible. Steve producing the album and recording it at home was a bad move, because it still reduced the space of the others and Bruce didn't accept it.
 
harrisdevot said:
No disrespect, but I think Bruce is a big-mouthed guy. He can say stupid or even offensive things just to get attention.
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I think that's a foregone conclusion at this point. He isn't a dickhead or anything but he has let his passion get in the way of reason at times in the past. It's especially evident in his rants during gigs.
 
The Flash said:
I think that's a foregone conclusion at this point. He isn't a dickhead or anything but he has let his passion get in the way of reason at times in the past. It's especially evident in his rants during gigs.
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Foregone? After some 30+ years reading the guy's interviews and attending gigs, I think there are some facts behind this conclusion. I mean, he sometimes goes to far, just for the sake of talking. And not a dickhead ? When he insults a fan calling him fatboy ? I know the guy had behaved badly, but this kind of stuff goes far beyond what is tolerable.
 
I disagree. To call someone fatboy is absolutely no sin compared to asocial behaviour. And I love his rants. These excellent anti-USA rants. Unforgetable, legendary stuff, how he uttered his ideas about corporate bullshit.
 
The thing is you get trapped in your own contradictions very easily when you adopt such an attitude. To insult someone because of his asocial behavior, and blame "corporate bullshit" when you sell beer, tee-shirts and so on to your fans and when your are providing "motivational" conferences to corporations employees... I don't know. And ranting about the US when he admittedly was ready to do a lot to break through there. I love him when he sings and write lyrics.
 
I love Bruce as a musician, as a singer, as a lyricist. He is a very talented man. But although his rants might be funny from time to time, I never liked those. It's nice he expresses his opinions, but when he does so via lyrics, he comes out looking much smarter. Sometimes his rants sound more like a pissed off adolescent...

 
This thing you've just posted is hallucinating and dangerous. I mean, some guys in the audience could take it too litteraly and do the job themselves.
 
harrisdevot said:
The thing is you get trapped in your own contradictions very easily when you adopt such an attitude. To insult someone because of his asocial behavior, and blame "corporate bullshit" when you sell beer, tee-shirts and so on to your fans and when your are providing "motivational" conferences to corporations employees... I don't know.
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Bruce commented on how corporations in the USA interfered with concerts (giving the best seats to affiliated people with no interest for the band). I am not a big fan of Maiden's commercial activities but they can't be compared that easily with the stuff he ranted about.
harrisdevot said:
I love him when he sings and write lyrics.
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I love him when he performs. He is the best performer on the world.
JudasMyGuide said:
It's nice he expresses his opinions, but when he does so via lyrics, he comes out looking much smarter.
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Albums, concerts. Pears, apples. Very different environments.
 
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To answer your question - I believe it hurts. For every person liking that, feeling like he's "passionate" and hot-blooded and romantic, you get two others thinking he should learn to watch his mouth, all the more as he approaches his sixties.

From a certain short-term point of view it might help - bad popularity is better than none at all - but if you do this repeatedly, it cheapens the impact anyway. People stopped caring about the 80's hair bands and their escapades. People stopped caring about Roger Waters and his boycotts of Israel etc.

Though I remember reading somewhere that when his wife cheated on him with someone from Motley Crue, he challenged a completely different member of the band to a fencing duel. That was pretty funny :D
 
You don't have anything to back up what you said, but who cares about the majority anyway. A majority doesn't mean the majority is right. It's good to be outspoken. Good job Roger Waters.
 
Well, a perpetual stimulation must be either increased in time or done in a different way unless you want your recipient to get desensitised to it.

Waters is a different case anyway (and the guy otherwise produces pretty much no new music nowadays), but as far as Bruce is concerned, there's a difference between being outspoken and having poor impulse control. And you don't really have to express anything that flies through your head, just because you can.
 
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