Is Iron Maiden the biggest metal band in the world right now?

Maiden could play to large audience in the US if they headline some festivals in fact. Now they're struggling hardly to sell out arenas or amphs all over there, even one stadium show in LA is configured for 80% of its capacity right now.
 
And the biggest metal band is Metallica (sine 30 years!). Iron Maiden is on the same level as Ozzy Osbourne/Black Sabbath - sometimes less or more but way behind the Metallica and even Rammstein. These two bands' fan base is still growing with hosts of young fans - we can't say the same about Maiden, particulary in US.
 
What about Rammstein, many people call them "metal" could you agree with them? To me they're more into just industrial hard rock with metallic sound.
 
RLonger said:
And the biggest metal band is Metallica (sine 30 years!). Iron Maiden is on the same level as Ozzy Osbourne/Black Sabbath - sometimes less or more but way behind the Metallica and even Rammstein. These two bands' fan base is still growing with hosts of young fans - we can't say the same about Maiden, particulary in US.
Click to expand...

Rammstein? Really? Are they really that big in America today? I always thought that Rammstein is way more famous in Europe than America.
If you said System of a Down (instead of Rammstein) I would believe you, but Rammstein - nah.
 
RLonger said:
And the biggest metal band is Metallica (sine 30 years!). Iron Maiden is on the same level as Ozzy Osbourne/Black Sabbath - sometimes less or more but way behind the Metallica and even Rammstein. These two bands' fan base is still growing with hosts of young fans - we can't say the same about Maiden, particulary in US.
Click to expand...

Please, don't put Maiden and Rammstein in the same sentence.
 
I'm not the Maiden fanatic or any other band at all I just wanna see the things reliable and objectively. "The Biggest" means the most popular/commercial, term "The Best" is most about quality of music, subjective opinions and nothing more. To me "the best" could be my own garage-level band, why not? This thread is called as we can see, so I try to compare popularity level of the different metal bands Maiden's.
 
The Red and the Black said:
Is Maiden your favorite band, RLonger? Does it bother you that Metallica sold more records or has more Spotify hits or whatever?
Click to expand...

Obviously, I'm not spoken to here, but I still want to answer this for myself. Maiden is my favourite band, but I don't care how many records they sell or how big their venues are. I care even less how they compare to other bands. Most of my favourite artists usually play in front of a few hundred people and sell virtually no records. I don't see how this should affect my appreciation for their music. And as an objective question -not a passive-aggressive or rhetorical one, but a genuine "want-to-know" type - why should it?
 
Yeah I'm into Maiden, Black Sabbath, Saxon, Judas Priest, Motorhead and many more classic metal bands. If we talk about "which band is the biggest in metal world" we must obviously admit Metallica is (commercially) a way bigger. Classic heavy metal isn't the most popular genre of metal music particulary in the US. I'm the fan of IM but not blind and deaf. I wanna see some things clearly and believable, if the album or tour become a flop - I would tell it out loud, even when we talk about Maiden. I thing as the fans we should be frank and honest with our verdicts, loyal but not fanatically devoted - that's the lethal way to our personalities.
 
I concluded that things work different in Europe and USA. In US you can't have a mass popularity if you're not in the mainstream and commercial. That's the reason why Iron Maiden has a decent popularity there, but they don't have a mass popularity that Metallica has, because we all know that Metallica became a mainstream and commercial band with Black album in America, while Maiden never achieved that. In Europe whether one rock or metal band will be popular or not, depends much less on mainstream than in America.
 
RLonger said:
Yeah I'm into Maiden, Black Sabbath, Saxon, Judas Priest, Motorhead and many more classic metal bands. If we talk about "which band is the biggest in metal world" we must obviously admit Metallica is (commercially) a way bigger. Classic heavy metal isn't the most popular genre of metal music particulary in the US. I'm the fan of IM but not blind and deaf. I wanna see some things clearly and believable, if the album or tour become a flop - I would tell it out loud, even when we talk about Maiden. I thing as the fans we should be frank and honest with our verdicts, loyal but not fanatically devoted - that's the lethal way to our personalities.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Metallica was more popular with the masses. So was Michael Jackson and Ariana Grande and whoever. I couldn't care less. Maiden is incredibly successful and popular in their own right. How many bands from the 80s still have their classic lineups intact and are still selling out stadiums and arenas worldwide and still regularly pumping out great new music? Only Maiden.
 
I appreciate Maiden's way to success a lot - I swear from the bottom of my heart. And showbizz in EU and US is a pretty different phenomenon - I know. Maiden's never been "a band for everyone", they're not like Def Leppard or so, stuff for AOR publicity. American audiences are more into the trends and commercials, American music taste is bit different than European. So, look at the Motley Crue - they have always been a great attraction in the States, but not here in Continental Europe. I'm still wonder how many fans'll attend 37 dates of North American leg of "LOTB Tour"? Maybe near to the show dates people buy more tix (so same as Ozzy's or KISS' Summer legs) at this moment American fans seem not to be so interested in these concerts as European ones - last year audiences everywhere were massive.
 
In Europe audience can be pretty harsh. For example, some acts, mostly American, have been deliberately avoiding Europe for years, because, well, they don't sound like they used to (Van Halen (since 1997), Bon Jovi (2013-2019)). But, if you win over Europe, the atmosphere is amazing. Speaks volumes about Maiden and their quality of performance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top