Have Maiden Ever REALLY Made A Bad Song?

matic22 said:
The Angel And The Gambler - Badly arranged song with some good parts
Weekend Warrior - Bad song with disgusting (not just bad) performance from Bruce, good solo from Dave though.

The Apparition is a song that used to be below those (last) in my rankings... It's not anymore. Listened to to those 3 and Weekend Warrior is easily worst thing that Maiden has ever done and probably worst studio performance of Bruce in studio ever. Apart from the solos, anything else is bad.
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Bad performance, or highly stylised singing in a style that's underwhelming if you appreciate Bruce's previously flamboyant style?
 
The Angel and the Gambler is so annoying, mainly because Blaze repeats ...."Don't you think I'm a saviour, Don't you think I could save you, Don't you think I could save Your life" ......ad nauseum ad infinitum!
 
Mosh said:
It goes both ways too. I've probably given Weekend Warrior way more chances than it deserves because it's an Iron Maiden song. I've found things to like about it over the years where if I heard it on FM radio I'd make sure never to subject myself to that again. And I don't know how impressed I'd be if I heard it from, say, a bar band either. There are times where a bad song is just a bad song.
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This is exactly right. It's harder for us to admit a song is bad just because it's an Iron Maiden song and the right hand of Steve Harris can at least make every song listenable.
 
jeffgt14 said:
This is exactly right. It's harder for us to admit a song is bad just because it's an Iron Maiden song and the right hand of Steve Harris can at least make every song listenable.
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This might be true. On the other hand though, I'm the kinda guy who will quite literally enjoy anything (with exception to modern country, most reggae, bluegrass, and some modern pop shit like Rebecca Black). I have yet to find a Maiden song that isn't at least a little enjoyable. Some of the weaker songs are still good overall, for instance, Fear is the Key is a terribly flawed tune and the worst on FOTD, yet it's still not terrible enough that I'd skip over it when I give the album a listen. So you might be right, but on the other hand, maybe they just do write good songs. :P
 
Diesel 11 said:
This might be true. On the other hand though, I'm the kinda guy who will quite literally enjoy anything (with exception to modern country, most reggae, bluegrass, and some modern pop shit like Rebecca Black). I have yet to find a Maiden song that isn't at least a little enjoyable. Some of the weaker songs are still good overall, for instance, Fear is the Key is a terribly flawed tune and the worst on FOTD, yet it's still not terrible enough that I'd skip over it when I give the album a listen. So you might be right, but on the other hand, maybe they just do write good songs. :p
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Well now Fear is the Key may be the best song on FOTD!
 
I guess at the end of the day, this is all subjective. I'm also overly kind/forgiving to any musician who creates and puts something out there.

In generally, I think there is a difference between a poorly crafted song and song that checks off your personal needs and likes.

Case in point (don't laugh - hear me out): Katy Perry - Firework. I don't like the song, but I'll admit that it's well crafted. The verse, pre-chorus, and chorus all flow very well together (the build up to the chorus is admirable). The vocal line is memorable and her delivery is good. I can see why millions of kids like it.

Does it check off any of my personal needs and likes? Nope.

Same general thing with Maiden. Weekend Warrior doesn't check off want I want from Maiden (escapist lyrics, musical twists and turns, high energy soaring chorus etc...), but is it a poorly constructed? Is it a truly bad song where the parts don't make any sense? That's debatable.
 
I consider The Assassin to be a bad song, for example. It doesn't stop being enjoyable but it's too simple, superficial and the lyrics are corny but not enough to be blatantly tongue-in-cheek. I guess it's the kinda thing that reminds me of negative album reviews stating that songs don't ''go anywhere''. Also I think of repetitiveness as a flaw (at least with their style) and there's a point in which it makes a song bad to me, so some of the Virtual XI songs I consider bad. They still sound good to me and I enjoy most, though.
 
Desdemona said:
I think of repetitiveness as a flaw
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This reminds me, I'm sure most of you know I'm not big on BNW, but what I find interesting personally is that I enjoy the repetitiveness of TAATG and DLTTEOAS, but the songs on BNW that are repetitive are more annoying. Case in point:

A brave new world, in a brave new world
A brave new world, in a brave new world
In a brave new world, a brave new world
In a brave new world, a brave new world

Show them no fear, show them no pain
Show them no fear, show them no pain
Show them no fear, show them no pain
Show them no fear, show them no pain

And that shit about being the 'chosen one' in The Fallen Angel... god!

Still, I wouldn't say that BNW is a bad album, I actually do still enjoy it. Just, compared to the rest of Maiden's discography, it falls short.
 
For me, yes. The chorus in invaders ruins the song, the angel and the gambler , the assassin and the alchemist are just simply bad. And I'm comparing to the band standards and some albums from the same years. There are some songs that are saved by the chorus like Montsegur or from here to eternity
 
Manofsorrows said:
For me, yes. The chorus in invaders ruins the song, the angel and the gambler , the assassin and the alchemist are just simply bad. And I'm comparing to the band standards and some albums from the same years. There are some songs that are saved by the chorus like Montsegur or from here to eternity
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The Alchemist is not even in the same galaxy as "bad". Come on, dude.
 
The answer to the thread title is no they haven't

This is why Maiden are my favourite band, they have never released a dud of an album in my opinion. Yeah some are better than others but even my lowest ranking Maiden album, Virtual XI would still be a 7/10 album for most other bands.

Same with individual songs. There's some I like more than others but nothing that I have to skip. Actually that's a lie. When I ripped my cd of TFF onto iTunes I did remove satellite 15.... from the final frontier song. Not sure if it counts as a song itself but to me it's longest and most boring intro to a song the band have ever done.
 
I class "Hooks in You" as possibly the weakest of the Maiden catalogue, Its not awful and has a catchy tune but when it is compared to the whole of Maiden's career then for me it lacks a certain finesse. it is also my opinion that the lyrics are not to the high quality we have come to expect from the band.
 
Manofsorrows said:
For me, yes. The chorus in invaders ruins the song, the angel and the gambler , the assassin and the alchemist are just simply bad. And I'm comparing to the band standards and some albums from the same years. There are some songs that are saved by the chorus like Montsegur or from here to eternity
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Every song on TNOTB is a brilliant track, and that includes Invaders in my opinion. There is definitely not a bad song on that album.
 
JM666 said:
Every song on TNOTB is a brilliant track, and that includes Invaders in my opinion. There is definitely not a bad song on that album.
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I found the chorus annoying hahha and that ruins the song for me, but I have to agree, but the rest yes, almost perfectly album
 
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