Janick joining Maiden

nuno_c

A hollow universe in space
I've been listening to No Prayer For The Dying and this thought came to my mind... What was the general fan reaction when Adrian left the band and, more importantly, when Janick joined?

Nowadays Janick is pretty much loved and respected, but i'm curious about what was the general reaction/point of view/fear/hope/whatever back in the day.

Do you guys know? Were you there? Share it!
 
Nowadays Janick is pretty much loved and respected...
I disagree. Janick gets loads of unfair & unnecessary criticism; particularly in regard to his guitar playing & comparison with the mighty H. That aside, I only started listening to Maiden around '92, so I don't recall Adrian leaving & Janick arriving.
 
I was also about 4-5 years too late...but my older cousin was a big fan of Maiden in the 80's and he basically jumped ship when they released No Prayer and Fear of The Dark because he thought it was too much of a departure from the Maiden he loved.
 
I don't really remember, I was more of a Bruce fangirl anyway. But no, I don't think Janick is loved by all today. There still lots comments about him butchering Adrian's solos (I'm still waiting for evidence of him actually playing badly) and being little more than a clown on stage. There's more recognition for him on this forum than other places, maybe.

I think Maiden's music changed at about the same time - not entirely down to Adrian's departure - and if anything, that was more of a talking point than Janick's arrival.
 
Janick is not loved by all, but he certainly is more appreciated now than when he joined
 
But anyway, i'm really just curious about what was the vibe about it all back then. I'm not at all a Janick hater, but i do see that at the time it might have beem a bit controversial
 
I remember buying NPFTD when it came out and just felt some of the feeling and melody had gone. Then I bought FOTD and although I liked some of the tunes still something was missing. I didn't bother to buy X factor or Virtual x1 for a few years after they came out as I still thought it wasn't Maiden that I would know. Looking back now I rate all the above mentioned albums and enjoy Janicks playing although some of his work is a bit atonal.
I do think he fits in well now though and I'm glad he is on board as his contribution to keeping Maiden going is invaluable.
 
Remember kids, there was no internet back then.
Among my friends and what I remember in the rock mags, there was sadness Adrian was gone, but no crying or pronouncements of doom.

As for Janick, he was the guy who cut Tattooed Millionaire with Bruce and most people felt there was some good stuff on there.
I don't remember any pissing and moaning that he was a bad choice.
NPFTD was considered a disappointment, but I don't remember people blaming Janick.
 
I don't think anyone's genuinely saying that, mckindog. We were just commenting, slightly off-topic, on Janick's popularity generally (or at least I was). When I started listening to Maiden, around '92, I don't really remember anyone talking about Maiden being on some sort of slide, when comparing NPftD & FotD to their earlier 80's material. So in this respect, I totally agree --people (I knew) didn't blame Janick for the quality of Maiden's early 90's releases.
 
There still lots comments about him butchering Adrian's solos (I'm still waiting for evidence of him actually playing badly)

Don't think anybody says he's butchering the solos because he can't play well. A lot of people want to hear the original solos by Adrian, when Janick gets Adrian's solos he almost completely re-constructs the whole thing.
 
I don't think the tone of his guitar helped. Adrian spent a lot of time choosing the right tone that complimented the song where as Janick seemed to jump up on stage and play something that felt good to him.
I just think he was a bit too different at the time.
 
Hooks In You was my favourite track off the album upon release...perhaps because I was soaking up Adrian's parting contribution. But Janick's introduction, his solo in the Holy Smoke video clip, was excellent. Despite mourning Adrian's departure I had no qualms with the choice of Janick as the new guitarist. It actually made sense due to the Bruce/Janick connection. Janick's recorded solos were on par with Dave's during the 90s but there was less variation in the pair's style in comparison to Dave/H.

My disappointment with No Prayer For The Dying was more related to Steve, as "band leader". For some reason I was most disappointed that the album was recorded at his Barnyard Studio...we were robbed of the magic sounds of Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son.

Back to Janick..whoever replaced Adrian was going to be heavily scrutinised. Janick survived and has since written some of Maiden's greatest songs.
 
Janick is not loved by all, but he certainly is more appreciated now than when he joined
I honestly do not think so. I think there's been at least as much or even more criticism on Janick since Bruce and Adrian returned. When I got into Maiden, Janick was around for one year in the band. I ordered several older metal mags and one of them had a No Prayer review. It was not a bad review (pretty positive actually) and I remember that Janick's speed in his Holy Smoke solo was admired (also his guitar wizardry was mentioned in an interview with another member, it might have been Steve).

With Adrian returning, the contrasts between the players became bigger, and the whole vibe (with Bruce back as well) with increasement of history tours brought also more dissatisfaction about Janick. After all, his role became smaller and smaller. Some people even wondered what he was doing there (not just Trunk; I read it this year in a mag as well) and were more busy with his jumps than with the musicality. But these people forget that Janick is a bandmember and he has been very important in the creative process as well. But since Adrian's input increased on the last two albums, especially on the last -also when it comes to quantity of solos- I can't help wondering how all this would be for Janick. Also in this department he has the smallest role. What a patient, nice and tolerant guy he must be. Big respect!

Exciting times ahead. Time for new stuff. Now that we're going into this new phase, I wonder if his role will again be so small on the next album.
 
Last edited:
Don't think anybody says he's butchering the solos because he can't play well. A lot of people want to hear the original solos by Adrian, when Janick gets Adrian's solos he almost completely re-constructs the whole thing.
But the whole topic has always been very exaggerated. We're talking about a few solos only. When Rock in Rio was released, people were raving about this as well, but the funny thing was: how many original (main) H solos were not played by himself? One! Janick did the solo in Hallowed and that's it. How terrible! A disgrace! People should really put things in perspective.
 
Last edited:
But the whole topic has always been very exaggerated. We're talking about a few solos only. When Rock in Rio was released, people were raving about this as well, but the funny thing was: how many original (main) H solos were not played by himself? One! Janick did the solo in Hallowed and that's it. How terrible! A discgrace! People should really put things in perspective.

Exactly. In my opinion, Janick adds a lot to this band. Not only in their music, but also his compositions and stage presence.
 
Exactly. In my opinion, Janick adds a lot to this band. Not only in their music, but also his compositions and stage presence.
I agree--Dave in particular seems to mirror who he's playing with, and with Adrian onstage, Dave didn't do a whole lot of onstage shenanigans. When Janick joined, Dave started trying to put a bit more flash in his movements onstage. Nothing close to Janick's antics, but more so than pre-Janick days.

And yes, Janick still gets a lot of crap. If there are two things the trolls on MaidenFansUnited love, it's to bash Blaze (sorry, Balze), and make fun of Janick's prancing and sloppy live playing.
 
And yes, Janick still gets a lot of crap. If there are two things the trolls on MaidenFansUnited love, it's to bash Blaze (sorry, Balze), and make fun of Janick's prancing and sloppy live playing.

To be fair, Janick's prancing and guitar swirling doesn't bother me, but he should be called out for playing sloppy. He's a professional musician.
 
Back
Top