Bruce Dickinson

[Black Bart]

Yeah, but Iron Maiden also had plenty of great banger-type songs during their golden years. The question is: why did they stop making them? Why fix what isn’t broken? (I remember Steve Harris saying he’s not really into that style anymore—which is a shame, and a big loss for us as fans.)

Unfortunately, I think this has got to do with the labels' legendary lack of flair: even before ignoring the changes the Internet would bring, they thought that because CDs were longer than vinyls (roughly 75' vs 45' respectively), the bands should fill them to the brim ...while keeping the same demands for tours. Consequently, this led to (relative) plodfests like Fear of the Dark and The X Factor (Maiden were of course not the only band to go down this route, think about Load and Reload for instance). Quantity over quality.

Since most bands had to deal with addiction to keep up, it is not surprising something had got to give after a decade or so at full power.
Thinking about it, the first half of the 90s was particularly deadly for the great hard rock bands: Judas Priest collapsed after arguably their best album - the same can be said about Guns N Roses, Helloween and Queensrÿche; Steve Clark (Def Leppard) died; Duff McKagan almost did so; Eddie Van Halen became a real loony... Magic cannot be entertained forever, sadly, especially when there is business involved.

That being said, it is obvious that Steve admitted to the need to do something "different" to keep the fans interested and possibly getting new ones, which possibly saved the band. Hence The X Factor, which was more relevant than backpedalling Virtual XI (the same goes for Slang and Euphoria). But damn, that was a hard time for 80s hard rockers!

 

[Azas]

Kevin Shirley’s take on Atmos mixes — is it basically pointless for home listening? From his Facebook:

So, this is a bit of a “flame on”! At some point, somebody has to get realistic about Atmos mixes versus stereo mixes for domestic use. Anyone with the Apple headphones or Apple earbuds that think they are getting the immersive experience, i’m sorry to tell you that you are sadly very mistaken. Apple might tell you otherwise but they have a vested interest – they’re trying to steal market share away from Spotify (stereo) and sell their awful and very overpriced headphones! I think it’s as simple as that! Now, I enjoy Atmos mixes, when you are in the sweet spot in the studio. When you are outside the sweet spot, it is as they say in the classics, a “clusterf*ck”! If any of you have checked your Apple iPhone Music settings – you’ll notice that the default listening situation is set at Atmos. So you’re never actually achieving the best possible headphone mix, which is the stereo mix. What bothers me, is that they don’t let the artist or the production company choose the default format. I think we would all choose stereo at that point, but the problem is then all the Atmos data would look like no one uses it, which is actually true. So, if you want to better music experience – set the default listening on your phone to stereo – turn Atmos off, and enjoy music as it’s meant. And if you want to hear true Atmos, go to the movie theaters or a recording studio. OK, flame off! Anyone got any opinions about this? The KS produced track today is “Mind’s Eye” by Joe Bonamassa. (There is also an Atmos mix for this! Mixed by Bob Clearmountain – the greatest ever!).