Does Bruce satisfy his need for artistic expr

gor

gor

Ancient Mariner
I remember a 1996 interview in which Bruce said that Maiden should have called "The X Factor" "The Y Factor". Later, in a 1998 interview in which Bruce was asked to comment on VXI, his reply was that he didn't want to do so out of respect for his former bandmates.

The problem is, both music wise and lyric wise, Maiden have kept many elements from those two albums. Hell, Adrian has said that 4 songs for BNW were VXI leftovers (reworked or not). Songs like No More Lies, others with the progressive feeling, the slow acoustic intros, the soft guitar sound, lyrics such as those on Blood Brothers, Age Of Innocence... these elements are all heritage from that period, and they are a large portion of what Maiden is about nowadays... But Bruce, in different times, expressed his dissaproval of this musical path...

In my opinion, Steve and Bruce have really distanced from one another as songwriters. They were always different, but nowadays their difference is huge. And seeing how Steve gets his finger in all songs on the post reunion albums, I can't help but wonder how confined that could make Bruce feel... For example, when Bruce sings vocal Steve's rimeless/cluttered vocal melodies/lyrics, doesn't he ever think "Damn! Why doesn't he leave this to me! I can do it better!"? Is this why Bruce still wants to make solo albums? I think so...


PS. This is not meant to be an insulting or inflamatory thread, so don't turn it into one.
 
Bruce has always been a very creative musician, as well as he's been open for new ideas, while Steve Harris, not saying he's a less songwriter, has always been writing only the real heavy metal stuff. I think that is still the case in Maiden, and I think Bruce still makes solo albums to be able to write his own songs and decide what he's going to put out by himself.
 
I agree there's a significant musical difference between Bruce and Steve. But I thinks what's different about Maiden since the reunion is their attitude. It seems like they're both more open-minded to the other's ideas now. In short, they're more mature.

Another big difference is that Steve isn't dominating the songwriting anymore. Since the reunion, there's only been 2 songs that have been penned by Steve alone ("Blood Brothers" and "No More Lies"). Compare that to the average of 4 Steve-only songs on each album from NotB thru FotD. I can tell you from personal experience that when one guy dominates the band, the rest of the band are going to get resentful about it sooner or later. Relating this to what I said above, I think the real change has been Steve. He seems more interested now in being an equal member of the band instead of the iron-handed ruler.

As far as why Bruce still wants to make solo albums: His solo style, while having some similarities to Maiden, is still a totally different thing. If he wants to sing those songs, he has to do it on his own. A guy like Bruce can't just flip a switch and shut off his creativity. Making solo albums doesn't necessarily mean he's not happy in Maiden, it just means he has more to offer than Maiden allows.
 
[!--QuoteBegin-SinisterMinisterX+May 21 2004, 10:39 PM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(SinisterMinisterX @ May 21 2004, 10:39 PM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--] I agree there's a significant musical difference between Bruce and Steve. But I thinks what's different about Maiden since the reunion is their attitude. It seems like they're both more open-minded to the other's ideas now. In short, they're more mature.

Another big difference is that Steve isn't dominating the songwriting anymore. Since the reunion, there's only been 2 songs that have been penned by Steve alone ("Blood Brothers" and "No More Lies"). Compare that to the average of 4 Steve-only songs on each album from NotB thru FotD. I can tell you from personal experience that when one guy dominates the band, the rest of the band are going to get resentful about it sooner or later. Relating this to what I said above, I think the real change has been Steve. He seems more interested now in being an equal member of the band instead of the iron-handed ruler.

As far as why Bruce still wants to make solo albums: His solo style, while having some similarities to Maiden, is still a totally different thing. If he wants to sing those songs, he has to do it on his own. A guy like Bruce can't just flip a switch and shut off his creativity. Making solo albums doesn't necessarily mean he's not happy in Maiden, it just means he has more to offer than Maiden allows. [/quote]
Yeah i agree.

And don't forget when bruce wanted to do some acoustics in 1986, Steve refused.
Look what we got on Dance of death. [!--emo&:)--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/smile.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'smile.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
And after all that had been said here I think we must remeber that Bruce, as admitted by himself, is an workaholic. HE JUST CAN´T STAND STILL !

That´s why on SIT era he was writing books, fencing, touring, thinking on his oncoming solo career......

Also, Bruce solo and Maiden are very different. I just know too little of Bruce solo albuns, but they seem to be more direct and less "progressive" than Maiden...

And last but not least, we should remember that Bruce sometimes make some, er..... how can I say ?...... some........ er.......... "silly" comments.

For example, take the comments he has done about Metallica. One time his is arrogant, other he say they are good.

Sometimes he says Korn is nothing but a fashion, other he says that another band, alike korn, is good. So what´s up ? There are times we don´t know what he really want to mean... (I´m not cursing him or something like that, but that´s what I think indeed).
 
I want to agree with SMX, although when two people are so different from each other, a mental wall is inevitable. But IMO, that's what makes maiden tick. H is unlike any of Harris or Bruce, and yet, he writes his stuff as freely as he wants ( I think?). Hell, he wrote "Paschandale" in DOD. My point is, that if their styles were not different, then maiden wouldn't have produced such versatile work. But being in a metal band, you have to play by some rules, and that's why Bruce and H persued separate solo carriers, to explore their own horizons. Had Dave been a major song-writer, we might have seen him doing stuff on his own, too. That's the thing about great musicians, they are always trying to rediscover themselves. None of this means that there's a divide between any band members, 'coz if there was, that would've shown in their work.
Anyway, these are just my thoughts on the matter, and what's cooking inside, only they can tell.
 
I agree with all but why is Adrian sort of getting the short end of the Stick..

We talk about Bruce and Steve but the real driving force is Adrian i dont know if you guys agree, but who initially parted ways because of a bust up with Steve and musical Direction.

Look at the Songs that Adrian wrote and co-wrote on Accident and Chemical.. Far heavy more constructed with harmonies compared to the previous 2 Bruce Albums and his influence on both really make the difference. Bruce is very creative likes to experiment, Steve has kinda got a song structure and primarily sticks to it.

As for Adrian his songs are kinda different, I was watching Rock In Rio and he seems like a fill in guitarist for maiden with a huge variety of musical influences and IMO the best all round guitarist for Maiden. Why i she getting the reall crappy guitar lines or not really having much input to songs apart from a few in Dance of Death were he gets to shine. The heavist songs are wrote by Adrian the more melodic and when Adrian left it seemed like all harmonies were gone soon as he re-enters harmonies begin again..

Adrian to me writes the best songs with Bruce were they both and proved on Accident and Chemical...

Cheers..
 
[!--QuoteBegin-tabor+May 25 2004, 03:21 AM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(tabor @ May 25 2004, 03:21 AM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--] I agree with all but why is Adrian sort of getting the short end of the Stick..

We talk about Bruce and Steve but the real driving force is Adrian i dont know if you guys agree, but who initially parted ways because of a bust up with Steve and musical Direction.

Look at the Songs that Adrian wrote and co-wrote on Accident and Chemical.. Far heavy more constructed with harmonies compared to the previous 2 Bruce Albums and his influence on both really make the difference. Bruce is very creative likes to experiment, Steve has kinda got a song structure and primarily sticks to it.

As for Adrian his songs are kinda different, I was watching Rock In Rio and he seems like a fill in guitarist for maiden with a huge variety of musical influences and IMO the best all round guitarist for Maiden. Why i she getting the reall crappy guitar lines or not really having much input to songs apart from a few in Dance of Death were he gets to shine. The heavist songs are wrote by Adrian the more melodic and when Adrian left it seemed like all harmonies were gone soon as he re-enters harmonies begin again..

Adrian to me writes the best songs with Bruce were they both and proved on Accident and Chemical...

Cheers.. [/quote]
I totally agree. H gives a new side to maiden, without which, they would just not be complete. But I think that even when he doesn't have major credits in songwriting, his presence still influences their sound a great deal. You can tell the difference in VXI and BNW. Or atleast I hope that is the case. I wish that his absence in the mid-era has made Harris realize something. H rocks! [!--emo&:rock:--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/headbang.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'headbang.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
[!--QuoteBegin-Wrathchild666+May 22 2004, 07:32 AM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Wrathchild666 @ May 22 2004, 07:32 AM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]And don't forget when bruce wanted to do some acoustics in 1986, Steve refused.
Look what we got on Dance of death. [!--emo&:)--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/smile.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'smile.gif\' /][!--endemo--][/quote]
Yes, but can you imagine an acoustic song on Sommewhere in Time ?
I think Steve was right at that time. It wasn’t the right moment.

Bruce himself said that his ideas were not enough strong. Steve said that he didn’t used them on his solo album.

But some acoustic stuff was used on Seventh son... (intro and outro ; end of ‘The Prophecy’), one of the most ‘collective’ album of the eighties (only 3 ‘Steve-alone’ songs [!--emo&:p--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'tongue.gif\' /][!--endemo--] )
 
[!--QuoteBegin-abhi+May 25 2004, 12:44 PM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(abhi @ May 25 2004, 12:44 PM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--] I totally agree. H gives a new side to maiden, without which, they would just not be complete. But I think that even when he doesn't have major credits in songwriting, his presence still influences their sound a great deal. You can tell the difference in VXI and BNW. Or atleast  I hope that is the case. I wish that his absence in the mid-era has made Harris realize something.  H rocks!  [!--emo&:rock:--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/headbang.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'headbang.gif\' /][!--endemo--] [/quote]
If you think about it, H is kind of trendy. During the 80s, he's the one who persuaded Maiden to try out synths. Now, he's tuning in dropped D tuning and even has the goatee to match his heavy sound. Just thinking. [!--emo&^_^--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/happy.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'happy.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
[!--QuoteBegin--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--] If you think about it, H is kind of trendy. During the 80s, he's the one who persuaded Maiden to try out synths. Now, he's tuning in dropped D tuning and even has the goatee to match his heavy sound. Just thinking.  [/quote]
Yes, I think you've made a very good point. I have always liked people who are willing to try out new things, and more so in something as established as maiden. That's what keeps my interest going in them, 'coz if they tried to repeat themselves, there'd be no point in going back to them. Change is what keeps you alive.
 
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