Fan reaction when Paul left

nuno_c

nuno_c

A hollow universe in space
Was there any backlash or negative reaction from fans when it was announced that Paul was leaving?
 
Um, not too sure about what the fans thought then, but I'm going to assume that any/all negative backlash was quelled by the time The Number of the Beast came out.
 
Dityn DJ James said:
Um, not too sure about what the fans thought then, but I'm going to assume that any/all negative backlash was quelled by the time The Number of the Beast came out.
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Although I'm sure there was a portion of fans who were unhappy that Maiden had lost their punk rock edge in favor of Bruce's operatic and theatrical style. Even now there's a segment of people who think Maiden ended after the first two albums.
 
I will say the first two albums do have a certain charm to them that didn't really translate into the Bruce-era Maiden.
 
True, but while I love the first two albums I think it was definitely worth the tradeoff. That style would've gotten stale quickly.
 
As I only became a fan in the early 90s, and was not old enough in 1981/82, I can't give a first hand account to the opening question.
However, the former owner of a local record store I visited was quite adamant that the first two Maiden albums were the only ones he listened to!
Now, he was more into the Punk side of rock, so I think it is quite possible that a few like minded people never actually took to Bruce.

Another interesting thing to note..... 'Killers' charted at number 10 in Germany, and TNOTB actually charted only at number 11.
So, in Germany at least, it is not the case that Bruce took the band new heights - at least not straight away.

Of course, as we know, may millions more around the world did take to Bruce!
 
I was there. I'm old. I had seen a picture of the first record's cover in some rock mag and had ordered it by mail. Then I followed them through Killers and even had an original pressing of Maiden Japan. Then... Bruce.
So... here's the deal, as you all know, Maiden on those early records were kind of a punk/metal hybrid, and they were bad ass. Number Of The Beast was bad ass, too... and I dug it... except, and this is where it's taken me decades to come around... Bruce. I used to smugly refer to him as "the castrato". Paul's voice was growly and unique for a metal band... Bruce at initial listen (in contrast to what came before) was a high-pitched screamer.
All these years later, I like Bruce a lot... but at the time... ugh. I stuck with it, though, and even dug a lot of Piece Of Mind, but that's where I got off the boat. Started getting into heavier punk, and then transitioned to American alt-rock, and then it was decades later I started listening to Maiden again. I'm glad I did, and I'm glad I've been able to go back in time and find a new appreciation for Powerslave and some of Somewhere In Time and some of 7th Son, and see what I missed when I jumped ship back then. I even like the recent records once Bruce came back.
So, there you go... for me, an old guy, Bruce was pretty polarizing, and ultimately led to my losing interest in the band... until years later.
 
cdm613 said:
I was there. I'm old. I had seen a picture of the first record's cover in some rock mag and had ordered it by mail. Then I followed them through Killers and even had an original pressing of Maiden Japan. Then... Bruce.
So... here's the deal, as you all know, Maiden on those early records were kind of a punk/metal hybrid, and they were bad ass. Number Of The Beast was bad ass, too... and I dug it... except, and this is where it's taken me decades to come around... Bruce. I used to smugly refer to him as "the castrato". Paul's voice was growly and unique for a metal band... Bruce at initial listen (in contrast to what came before) was a high-pitched screamer.
All these years later, I like Bruce a lot... but at the time... ugh. I stuck with it, though, and even dug a lot of Piece Of Mind, but that's where I got off the boat. Started getting into heavier punk, and then transitioned to American alt-rock, and then it was decades later I started listening to Maiden again. I'm glad I did, and I'm glad I've been able to go back in time and find a new appreciation for Powerslave and some of Somewhere In Time and some of 7th Son, and see what I missed when I jumped ship back then. I even like the recent records once Bruce came back.
So, there you go... for me, an old guy, Bruce was pretty polarizing, and ultimately led to my losing interest in the band... until years later.
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Thank you for this post!
 
cdm613 said:
I was there. I'm old. I had seen a picture of the first record's cover in some rock mag and had ordered it by mail. Then I followed them through Killers and even had an original pressing of Maiden Japan. Then... Bruce.
So... here's the deal, as you all know, Maiden on those early records were kind of a punk/metal hybrid, and they were bad ass. Number Of The Beast was bad ass, too... and I dug it... except, and this is where it's taken me decades to come around... Bruce. I used to smugly refer to him as "the castrato". Paul's voice was growly and unique for a metal band... Bruce at initial listen (in contrast to what came before) was a high-pitched screamer.
All these years later, I like Bruce a lot... but at the time... ugh. I stuck with it, though, and even dug a lot of Piece Of Mind, but that's where I got off the boat. Started getting into heavier punk, and then transitioned to American alt-rock, and then it was decades later I started listening to Maiden again. I'm glad I did, and I'm glad I've been able to go back in time and find a new appreciation for Powerslave and some of Somewhere In Time and some of 7th Son, and see what I missed when I jumped ship back then. I even like the recent records once Bruce came back.
So, there you go... for me, an old guy, Bruce was pretty polarizing, and ultimately led to my losing interest in the band... until years later.
Click to expand...
Great read
 
Albie said:
I remember reading an article in Sounds at the time saying that Paul Di Anno is to be replaced by Bruce (this was not too soon after Reading Festival in '81). I was actually gutted and did not want him to go at all and all I knew of Bruce was a tape of "Earth Mother". I was, to be honest, not overly sure about his voice but thought he could be good.

Anyway, fast forward half a dozen months and I'm sitting in my room recording Friday Rock Show (as I would always) and Tommy Vance gave his normal "Tonight, we have....." and then I heard those words "new stuff from Iron Maiden". So, I got a little excited and then on came the first track. It started of with a drum intro and then in came the guitars. "This sounds like...." - then the voice - "it's Bruce, it's Maiden." As such, I was a little out of control at that point.

The track was "Run to the Hills", obviously.
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Another thing I forgot to mention, maybe because the thread's only concerned with Bruce in the title, but another big reason I kind of fell off was in Clive's leaving. Nicko is a spectacular drummer, and I can't even imagine him not being there now... but back then, as a drummer myself, I was a HUGE Clive Burr fan. So, with Bruce coming in on NOB, and Nicko coming in on POM, I think it was just too big of a one-two punch in terms of chemistry, and I got a little turned off.
In retrospect, that was all silly, though. I was in high school at the time and took things too much to heart is my only defense.
 
^at that time, thrash was not a word for metal and they were certainly fast and very heavy live during those two albums. They would never do what slayer did of course
 
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