Iron Maiden turns 60+
- Thread starter Forostar
- Start date
John Silver
Electric Buddy
And Rod Smallwood is 68. He'll have to be there too.
GroundZero
Ancient Mariner
At this point it all depends on how long Nicko can keep going for Maiden; once he can't do it anymore then it's retirement for Maiden. I'd say he can keep it until 70
srfc
Ancient Mariner
I know Maiden lead a much, much healthier lifestyle than Lemmy, but he went from being great live, to not being able to hack it, then to being dead over a very short period of time. Maiden aren't showing the effects of old age at the moment, but it could hit them very quickly.
Palpy
Blacker than the night
2048+
Forostar
Ancient Mariner
Deuces High
Nomad
Living a healthier lifestyle than Lemmy ain't exactly the highest threshold of clean living: Charlie f'n Sheen lived a healthier lifestyle than Lemmy! (10yrs ago, his booker told me some crazy-ass stories about Lemmy's drinking. Lemmy made Ozzy look like a Mormon.)
But you're right... at IM's age, they could hit the wall at any moment. Their borrowed time is on borrowed time. (Especially vocally.) I really, really hope the band feels a sense of urgency, 'cause the longer they wait, the more probable it becomes that their next album will be their last album. And that makes me a VERY sad clown.
At least in the studio, they can probably mask the instrumental limitations due to age... but once Father Time grabs Bruce's throat, I think that's it for the greatest metal band of all time.
Black Abyss Babe
CriedWhenJanickCutHisHair
How come every discussion that starts with how well Maiden are doing so quickly turns into "we can't have them for much longer"? I appreciate that we can't keep them for ever but it must surely be apparent by now that the normal laws of mortals do not apply to them. No one wants to think about them retiring (least of all them!) so let's not think about it and go back to being amazed by how well they're doing 
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Ziggyplayedguitar
Educated Fool
Yeah people were saying “Wow, Maiden can’t go much longer” around the time of the X Factour tour and they were in their late 30’s then, which is relatively young now.
Jer
A window to the west, a blazing star above
Pretty sure that had more to do with the quality of the music they were putting out at that time rather than their age...
CriedWhenBrucieLeft
Meme Only Account
Dunno. Heard Nicko's arthritis was so bad he had to sit out the next album session.
D
Deleted member 7164
Guest
I'd wish that was true. They can go on before a random event happens - Dickinson is the only active member of Maiden to go through a nasty health condition, just by universal chance something else could happen, even something trivial like on-stage slip can be quite serious in the age of 60s and result in tour leg cancellation. Nicko has arthritis, it is already visible on his hands, it's just a matter of time. People like to speak about, and even Nicko likes to speak about Maiden continuing without him. So the question is real.
I'm going against the opinion here but the guitars aren't that important, as they don't come close to uniqueness of Maiden's rhythm section and vocals. In my own opinion, two of the three could quit and Maiden would be more complete than without McBrain. I'd think the example lineup of Dickinson-Harris-McBrain-Z-Gers is way more Maiden than Portnoy-Harris-Dickinson-Smith-Murray-Gers. Nicko McBrain is one of the greatest rock drummers ever to walk this planet and he can be replaced only by a star drummer, and in that case Maiden would become a supergroup, not a band of brothers it used to be.
Also if you consider general opinions and stupid magazine lists and such, by prowess guitars are lower ranking than other instruments. What I want to say is that a lot of people in general rock/metal world consider Dickinson, McBrain and Harris to be giants at their instruments and style, while guitarists, albeit being highly regarded, aren't exactly considered as such.
Maybe that can be seen as a guideline on who's toughest to replace.
D
Deleted member 7164
Guest
When you compare VXI live drums with VXI studio drums it's like a situation when a band can't afford recording drums so they give a demo to studio guy who listens to it and does the drum track on the computer.
Actually why Brucie left in the first place comes off a bit more clear when you take into consideration all the production errors Harris did in that period.
Ruflux
Ancient Mariner
Yeah, especially if you consider the production of his solo works and compare that to TXF and VXI. AoB and TCW are practically the polar opposites production wise; polished, really heavy on guitar at the cost of the drums and bass and well-thought out and mixed vocal harmonies and keyboards.
The keys are louder than the guitars on various TXF tracks, which is just absurd. People say they think the production fits the music, but I just don't see it when the guitars suffer so much from the boneheaded style of mixing employed on those albums.