Charlotte the Harlot and Inflation Rates

Perhaps the 15 quid is some sort of combo deal? So in '82 the one flat fee paid for both services, which represents good value for the customer.

Must have made transaction logistics more difficult though. Handing over a five or ten pound note is nice and simple. Dealing with a twenty is a pain - nobody like carrying change.
 
How about the value of the merchandise? I guess it goes down as it gets older. But nowadays it is already antique.
 
CriedWhenBrucieLeft said:
^ Is that meant to be serious? If the forum mods gave two fucks about the issue you should have closed this frivolous thread the day it opened.
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It speaks to the poverty from whence Iron Maiden came, and if you knew anything about @Perun and I, you would know that we were dead serious when we were discussing this.
 
Simply stating the components of her profession relative to cost whilst not objectifying her seems to be a bizarrely dificult and fine line to try and tread, especially since her livelihood is build upon the premise that some bloke will do just that.

This thread is ace.
 
It is a bit of a fine line, but I have trust in our fine members that they will know to distinguish between a service and the person who is providing it.
 
Perun said:
That's a different, though also interesting matter.
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I think with 22 Acacia Avenue lyrics, they are probably somewhat enlightened and sympathetic for a 1982 Heavy Metal song, but still not nearly enough. The "beat her mistreat her" verse, and how "coming" is sleazily underlined in the final line is embarrassing, and how they had a dolly bird on stage with them as well. It's all very beneath what Maiden are usually about, and stop it from being a top tier Maiden track for me which otherwise it very easily would be.
 
You have a good point there, but I'm willing to cut them some slack, by looking at it differently: they might have thought they needed to provoke a bit by talking so openly about prostitution, but at the same time took a critical angle that would not be expected at first glance.
 
Perun said:
You have a good point there, but I'm willing to cut them some slack, by looking at it differently: they might have thought they needed to provoke a bit by talking so openly about prostitution, but at the same time took a critical angle that would not be expected at first glance.
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I'd like to believe that to be the case, but you might be reading too much into the lyrics writer's intention. Let's not forget that they were written by someone who managed to present himself in a not too intelligent way by using racist language in an NME interview that same year. :(
 
GhostofCain said:
I'd like to believe that to be the case, but you might be reading too much into the lyrics writer's intention. Let's not forget that they were written by someone who managed to present himself in a not too intelligent way by using racist language in an NME interview that same year. :(
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Is not 22 one of the songs supposedly ghost-written by Bruce, though he was not allowed to receive a credit due to some contractual crap with Samson?

I'll admit the lyrical content of 22 has always bothered me, it seems far more aggressive than even the content of Charlotte. Sorry, Charlaaaaaaaaay. But it's entirely possible that it's meant to be sympathy-inducing, like the latter half of Run to the Hills.
 
LooseCannon said:
But it's entirely possible that it's meant to be sympathy-inducing, like the latter half of Run to the Hills.
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This is what I've always thought as well. Prostitutes often find themselves in a bunch of trouble given the people they service and I think that the Maiden song was looking at both sides of the issue. Whether or not they succeeded is up for debate but I think they did a decent job.
 
LooseCannon said:
Is not 22 one of the songs supposedly ghost-written by Bruce, though he was not allowed to receive a credit due to some contractual crap with Samson?
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No, the four tracks Bruce co-wrote and couldn't get official credit for were Children Of The Damned, The Prisoner, Run To The Hills, and Gangland. He's probably happy about that last one.
 
It might be worth mentioning that Bruce assaulted a model on stage a year later.
http://www.ironmaidencommentary.com/?url=tour04_pom/bootlegs04_pom&lang=eng&link=tours#1983-08-07

I dunno, a lot of rock bands in the 80s could be pretty objectifying toward women. It was a product of the times. I'm not saying Maiden are automatically associated with that, but I don't really see much forward thinking in the song either. They definitely did not look at both sides of the issue because the side of the issue that is completely missing is Charlotte's. There's no exploration of what drove her to this profession or why she continues to engage in prostitution when people around her are encouraging her to leave. In fact, there’s actually a heavy amount of victim blaming in both Charlotte and 22 Acacia Avenue. Of course, the story ends with the male narrator forcibly removing her from a lifestyle that, for all we know, she was content with.

I don't really fault them or find the lyrics offensive, it is fiction after all. And, like I said, the more misogynistic elements are pretty much of its time. The concept itself is interesting. Maybe they were trying to take a sympathetic approach, they just went about it the wrong way IMO.
 
Jer said:
No, the four tracks Bruce co-wrote and couldn't get official credit for were Children Of The Damned, The Prisoner, Run To The Hills, and Gangland. He's probably happy about that last one.
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Gangland? Never heard of that before.
 
Forostar said:
Gangland? Never heard of that before.
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It's credited to Smith and Burr, I think it's unlikely that either wrote the lyrics.

What about Total Eclipse? Could Bruce have contributed to those lyrics too? I think they are more typical of Bruce's style than Steve's.
 
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