General fan vibe during the Blaze days

harrisdevot said:
Have you got details please ? Never heard/read that.
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Is a story,you know in 98 there was no internet at all homes,there were magazines and stories where told,but it was about Nicko mocking Blaze moves between the songs,from the drum kit.

I think most of the members included Blaze knew that it wasnt working,first album Xfactor was bad in the 90s,now its weird because its for the forum like the jewell of the crown LOL.But i remember the first tour and starting to listen to bootlegs.........wow,what a disaster.Blaze forgot many times the songs,there is a bootleg eternal flame that he starts mumbling during fortunes of war,and many others disasters.Apart of his way of sing was not at all good for maiden songs

:facepalm::facepalm::facepalm:
 
dickinson1978 said:
Is a story,you know in 98 there was no internet at all homes,there were magazines and stories where told,but it was about Nicko mocking Blaze moves between the songs,from the drum kit.

I think most of the members included Blaze knew that it wasnt working,first album Xfactor was bad in the 90s,now its weird because its for the forum like the jewell of the crown LOL.But i remember the first tour and starting to listen to bootlegs.........wow,what a disaster.Blaze forgot many times the songs,there is a bootleg eternal flame that he starts mumbling during fortunes of war,and many others disasters.Apart of his way of sing was not at all good for maiden songs
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I'd disagree. If they knew it wasn't working by the end of the X Factour, Virtual XI wouldn't have happened at all. You (and many others who would agree with you) might think The X Factor is bad, but even after the reunion, Steve still counted it as one of his favorite albums Maiden's done. And yeah, Blaze did forget a good chunk of lyrics on the first tour. The second tour he did a lot better remembering the lyrics for shows, judging by all the VXI tour boots I have.

As for Nicko he jokes around about everybody (he's said Janick's "so bloody ugly he's got to have nasty farts"), not just Blaze. In fact, when Blaze auditioned, Nicko was the one quoted in the biography saying something along the lines of "now that's Maiden, innit?" It does sound like that opinion changed, however, as several rumors suggest Nicko was the most vocal one who pushed to have Blaze out. There hasn't been any official substantiation on that, though, unless someone here has an interview stating that.
 
Thanks for answering Dickinson :). I obviously disagree with you on The X Factor, which is one my favorite albums ever :p.
 
I can't say for certain what the entire fan vibe was during the Blaze era, having not really gotten online until 1997. However, I can say that I enjoyed X-Factor, feeling it was their strongest album since at least 7th Son, and possible even Somewhere in Time. Seeing them on the X Factor tour was a different story. They did the songs competently, but it was clear that Blaze was better for the newer material than the old. On the other hand, the crowd only really got into the older material. It was amazing how much the energy level of the fans rose during songs like Trooper, 2 Minutes to Midnight and Wrathchild, compared to the equally energetic Man on the Edge. And of course, Virtual XI was very disappointing (and repetitive), with a tour that had the second half of the US run cancelled due to Blaze's "allergies."
 
Re: Nicko vs Blaze

As confirmed by Blaze's current manager/wife and, I believe in a book that Blaze contributed to; Nicko apparently sat Steve down in 98 and played the soundboard recordings of gigs from the VX11 tour highlighting how bad Blaze was performing in order to convince him that Blaze had to go.

Further, in an interview in 99 or 2000, I specifically recall Nicko being quoted in an interview as saying that if Bruce had not have returned, the band may have 'called it a day' - a point quickly disputed by Steve who said the band would have continued with another singer. (I think it was Metal Hammer)

It appears Steve was the most resistant to replacing Blaze and then the most resistant to bringing back Bruce. Pride, edo? Who knows.
 
nibblet said:
Re: Nicko vs Blaze

As confirmed by Blaze's current manager/wife and, I believe in a book that Blaze contributed to; Nicko apparently sat Steve down in 98 and played the soundboard recordings of gigs from the VX11 tour highlighting how bad Blaze was performing in order to convince him that Blaze had to go.

Further, in an interview in 99 or 2000, I specifically recall Nicko being quoted in an interview as saying that if Bruce had not have returned, the band may have 'called it a day' - a point quickly disputed by Steve who said the band would have continued with another singer. (I think it was Metal Hammer)

It appears Steve was the most resistant to replacing Blaze and then the most resistant to bringing back Bruce. Pride, edo? Who knows.
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Ah, "At the End of the Day"--I've been meaning to read that, but haven't since my e-reader went kerplunk and it's only available as an eBook (that I can find). Thanks for the possible confirmation on that Nicko rumor. But as mentioned above, it would have been his then-wife/manager, Debbie, who made those statements. His current wife/manager is Eline.

And I do recall that interview (it probably was Metal Hammer, or possibly Kerrang), but yep, I remember Steve shooting down what Nicko had told the interviewer. I'd forgotten that whole "Blaze was out one way or another" thing until this thread popped up.

There probably was a good amount of pride involved with Steve not wanting to get rid of Blaze. It would kind of be an admission of picking the wrong guy, and with Bruce coming back, an admission that Bruce was a more vital ingredient to Maiden's success than Steve would have liked to believe.
 
CA Bryers said:
I'd disagree. If they knew it wasn't working by the end of the X Factour, Virtual XI wouldn't have happened at all. You (and many others who would agree with you) might think The X Factor is bad, but even after the reunion, Steve still counted it as one of his favorite albums Maiden's done. And yeah, Blaze did forget a good chunk of lyrics on the first tour. The second tour he did a lot better remembering the lyrics for shows, judging by all the VXI tour boots I have.

As for Nicko he jokes around about everybody (he's said Janick's "so bloody ugly he's got to have nasty farts"), not just Blaze. In fact, when Blaze auditioned, Nicko was the one quoted in the biography saying something along the lines of "now that's Maiden, innit?" It does sound like that opinion changed, however, as several rumors suggest Nicko was the most vocal one who pushed to have Blaze out. There hasn't been any official substantiation on that, though, unless someone here has an interview stating that.
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Sorry! i was pointing that everybody knew that it was not working "after Virtual Xi".I was explaining the situation in 95 when Xfactor was out.But yes,after Virtual Xi the general vibe was........fuck! why they are still with this guy! he sucks!.


And aparently Nicko was one of the first guys to point that blaze was horrible.But its true,there are no official statments,i think maiden said,we have Bruce back,let him go in peace ( blaze)
 
I will be completely honest - I think that if Maiden had treated Blaze well after Bruce came back, he'd have had a much better time of it. His post-Maiden work, especially Silicon Messiah and The Tenth Dimension are monster albums. His later stuff would have been better if he was a bigger act.
 
I agree. Silicon Messiah was a fine Metal record and something any Maiden fan could get into, whether they liked Blaze in Maiden or not, it's just that nobody knew about it or had any motivation to check it out apart from the people who liked the Blaze era.
 
Mosh said:
I agree. Silicon Messiah was a fine Metal record and something any Maiden fan could get into, whether they liked Blaze in Maiden or not, it's just that nobody knew about it or had any motivation to check it out apart from the people who liked the Blaze era.
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Yep, most Maiden fans who weren't fans were probably just glad to have him gone, and not give him a second thought. But given a support slot on the BNW or DoD tours, Blaze could've shown those skeptics that those albums of his were very worthy of their attention, showcasing ability and range not readily apparent on his two Maiden albums. I agree with LooseCannon, Blaze's career almost certainly could have been quite different had that courtesy been offered.
 
Honestly, do you think he would have agreed to open for a a band he was fronting one or wo years before ? It would have been very difficult I think. They could have helped him in many ways though, as Rod was supposed to manage him (or am I wrong ?) and apparently did an awful job.
 
Blaze was signed to Sanctuary, at the time run by Rod and Andy Taylor. They then proceeded to bury him.
 
I'm completely ignorant about his post-Maiden career. Are you serious about the duo "burying" Blaze ? Did they deliberately ruin his career ?
 
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Sure as hell looks like it. They didn't promote Silicon Messiah at all and released it the same week as BNW, pretty much ensuring even people who liked Blaze wouldn't buy the album.
 
Thanks. I didn't know the release dates. This is outrageous, most of all considering that the guy's career is completely down.
 
I think most reasonable people agree with you. I honestly wonder if they didn't listen to Silicon Messiah and go...damn, this is better than Brave New World, we gotta make sure nobody hears it.

For reference, I don't think Silicon Messiah is better. But it is damned close.
 
I'm going to listen to Silicon Messiah tonight. Been a while since I listened from start to finish.
 
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