General fan vibe during the Blaze days

[Ziggyplayedguitar]

Well as Janick Gers said himself, Maiden were probably the most unfashionable band in the world in 1995.

Grunge had sure done a lot of damage, but then metal and grunge were able to co exist. Kurt Cobain once said he liked Powerslave.

It was more the rise of britpop culture in the U.K that made it hard & made 80s metal bands look visually obsolete.

Of course, as we know now, the majority of those grunge and britpop bands all had a very short shelf life.

 

[Deleted member 7164]

Grunge didn't do damage, glam metal did damage. MTV did damage and media did damage. There was an inflation of hair shit and shred guitar.
Problem was that hair shit was flying the metal flag in the U.S. if you asked the media then. Maiden and everybody got lumped in the same box.

 

[fekso]

I wish those forum entries from 1998 were still available somewhere..

 

[Deleted member 7164]

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/alt.rock-n-roll.metal.ironmaiden

Click on "Filters" button below the search box, scroll down, select "First post within", and add "1/1/96" to "1/1/99" as range.

Edit : Maidenfans.com wasn't up in the nineties. Usenet (newsgroups) was the top place on the Internet to have discussions, official forum was up sometime around 2000 or so. Btw around those years, old school BBS had way more functionality than either of those, but it wasn't internet.

 

[Deleted member 7164]

Let's just paste these consecutive quotes here

All the people seem to be saying "Blaze is leaving" but nobody's got proof.
When? Where did you get the info? (well, it's not like I don't believe you, but
I am sick of the posts like this).
I'll be satisfied when he does leave...

Hey that is great news...again, but could you tell us where you heard this,
because we fans are needing something concrete to back these rumors up. We've
been hearing a lot of this kind of thing and its about time we find out if
there is any validity to it all. (Hopefully there is).

You and a lot of other people...

A LOT of people, about 99% percent of all maiden fans, to be more
precise.

If Maiden do get rid of Blaze, I think it would remain as something of
a blemish on their history... releasing two albums with a singer they
realised was the wrong choice.* How do you think Steve will cover his
arse with this one? or do you think he may just call it a day?

I've enjoyed Blaze's work with the band, but some live stuff I've
heard does show that there's room for improvement. Whether they'll
give him time to improve, or just go the easy way of finding someone
new, will be seen next year, I guess...

* this wasn't the case with Paul, of course - he was great live and in
the studio (and I'm sure the band was happy with his performances) -
what a pity he couldn't keep his shit together, although Maiden would
not be the same band today if he'd remained with them.

This is from another topic, called "JANICK AND BLAZE FIRED!!!" :

It's official. Today, it was anounced that Blaze and Janick are no
longer part of the band. The official statement said that it was
because of the fact that during the recording of Virtual XI Janick and
Blaze would sneak into the studio at night and mix vocals and Janick
guitar parts higher and other instruments lower. I hope everyone is
happy.

The guy gets bitchslapped immediately, but this shows the attitude of the day.

 

[Deleted member 7164]

A bit more, https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.rock-n-roll.metal.ironmaiden/f0qrWc1IFF0 , this thread hits bullseye in just a few posts of hypothesis. Blaze is out, Adrian's in, and Aces High will be played.

Discussion about TXF/VXI from December 1998, 34 posts - https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.rock-n-roll.metal.ironmaiden/zwPp4pVvrJE

I think that appreciation for Blaze grew stronger after he left the band, especially after people heard how his voice sounds on Sillicon Messiah. The immediate years also mark a logarithmic growth in peer-to-peer music exchange, this is the age where I got my first Maiden live boots over Napster. It made it really easy for people to get live boots and B-sides. Blaze live wasn't that great but the music was way, way better than on the album. I think many people realized that Maiden live is Maiden live, regardless of who's the singer...shifting the 'blame' away from Blaze towards the songwriting/production department.

 

[Lampwick 43]

It's good to see that the overall quality and tone of internet comments hasn't changed very much in 20 years.

 

[fekso]

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/alt.rock-n-roll.metal.ironmaiden

Click on "Filters" button below the search box, scroll down, select "First post within", and add "1/1/96" to "1/1/99" as range.

Edit : Maidenfans.com wasn't up in the nineties. Usenet (newsgroups) was the top place on the Internet to have discussions, official forum was up sometime around 2000 or so. Btw around those years, old school BBS had way more functionality than either of those, but it wasn't internet.

Thanks alot!

 

[fekso]

I'm a big supporter of the Bayley era, But Christ, this post had me falling out of my chair:

"Virtual is okay, better than SSOASS and everything up, but still no
where near NotB, PoM, Powerslave, LAD, and a little behind SiT..."

 

[TAY666]

this is the age where I got my first Maiden live boots over Napster.

Me too!
I found the Dynamo 2000 show, and I was hooked!
That was what started me down the path of possessing around 2500 Maiden bootlegs at the moment.

[qiote]Blaze live wasn't that great but the music was way, way better than on the album. I think many people realized that Maiden live is Maiden live, regardless of who's the singer...shifting the 'blame' away from Blaze towards the songwriting/production department.[/QUOTE]
Exactly!

 

[TAY666]

Does this make you regret missing the 98 tour?

Nope.
Still not a Blaze fan, and don't regret not seeing him.
I was such a non-fan, that for a long time, it was the thinnest portion of my bootleg collection.
I just wouldn't actually trade for Blaze shows unless it was something rare that I could turn into trades with some of the bigger traders at the time.
In fact, most of the 90's shows I had for the longest time only came because trading friends had nothing else on their lists that I didn't already have. And I would never turn down a request from a good trading partner, I would end up picking 90's shows.

Of course, as online trading became easier and more prevalent, I eventually filled in that portion of my collection just to be as complete as possible.

 

[Deanatron]

X Factor was the first album to come out once I was 'into' music... I think at the time I had 'FOTD', 'NOTB' and 'Raising Hell' so I wasn't super upset about Bruce leaving. Loved X Factor from the start, but I have to admit I just wasn't interested in Virtual 11 when it came out. Angel & the Gambler was a bit dull and I think I heard the clansman on a free Kerrang! CD. It just didn't grab me at all and even the artwork for the album/singles/videos put me off. I would've prefered to hear X Factor part 2!

TBH even with Adrian (my favourite IM guitarist) and Bruce back I didn't hold out much hope. First time I heard 'The Wicker Man' was funnily enough at the Ruskin Arms and I was taken aback by how good it was and went out the next day to by Brave New World...They've not disappointed me since.

 

[SirRobbins]

album sales......

Fear of the Dark - 250,000 confirmed (3.5 million billboard)

Blaze albums
X Factor - 60,000 confirmed (1.2 million billboard)
Virtual XI - 40,000 confirmed (700,000 billboard)

Brave New World - 559,316 confirmed (2 million billboard)

HUGE drop of sales between Bruce's departure album and reunion album

 

[fekso]

album sales......

Fear of the Dark - 250,000 confirmed (3.5 million billboard)

Blaze albums
X Factor - 60,000 confirmed (1.2 million billboard)
Virtual XI - 40,000 confirmed (700,000 billboard)

Brave New World - 559,316 confirmed (2 million billboard)

HUGE drop of sales between Bruce's departure album and reunion album

Not very strange considering Fear of the Dark bears the title of their most successful song!

 

[SirRobbins]

Not very strange considering Fear of the Dark bears the title of their most successful song!

the album itself is consistently rated as one of, if not, the worst of them all.. No Prayer for the Dying sold 3 million copies right before FOTD

 

[fekso]

the album itself is consistently rated as one of, if not, the worst of them all.. No Prayer for the Dying sold 3 million copies right before FOTD

Well NPFTD still had a foot in the 80's... the album right after SSOASS

 

[SirRobbins]

Well NPFTD still had a foot in the 80's... the album right after SSOASS

true..... but the increase from 40,000 in VXI to nearly 560,000 in BNW is insane... especially when 3 songs from BNW were originally written for VXI... ironically the 3 unfavorable songs on the album... though I like Dream of Mirrors

 

[fekso]

true..... but the increase from 40,000 in VXI to nearly 560,000 in BNW is insane... especially when 3 songs from BNW were originally written for VXI... ironically the 3 unfavorable songs on the album... though I like Dream of Mirrors

It's hard to image the decline in popularity they had in the 90's. Especially in Sweden where they still did big shows in 1998.

 

[SirRobbins]

It's hard to image the decline in popularity they had in the 90's. Especially in Sweden where they still did big shows in 1998.

they still did big shows likely because they played "classics".... if they played Virtual XI in its entity like they did AMOLAD, it'd have been different for sure

 

[fekso]

they still did big shows likely because they played "classics".... if they played Virtual XI in its entity like they did AMOLAD, it'd have been different for sure

To be fair they played 7 out of 8 songs early on. And keep in mind they didnt play Como Estais, which would have been great in the live environment. As for the rest of the setlist, half were songs from Blaze era!

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/iron-maiden/1998/hovet-stockholm-sweden-1bd729e0.html