soundwave
Educated Fool
I was having a conversation with friends at lunch - if you could magically snap your fingers and have the success of any rock/metal band, which band would it be?
Metallica came up (album sales/volume), as well as Rush (influence/reach), Led Zeppelin (respect/legacy/truck loads of money) , Aerosmith (commercial success in almost every decade), Gojira (street cred/uniqueness/grabbing the torch), and Motley Crue (debauchery/perpetual party). To no one's surprise, I said Maiden:
Metallica came up (album sales/volume), as well as Rush (influence/reach), Led Zeppelin (respect/legacy/truck loads of money) , Aerosmith (commercial success in almost every decade), Gojira (street cred/uniqueness/grabbing the torch), and Motley Crue (debauchery/perpetual party). To no one's surprise, I said Maiden:
- Sold tens of millions of records during the traditional record selling era - without selling their souls to MTV/Mainstream radio.
- Jet sets around the world playing famous arenas...and tours areas outside of North America and Western Europe
- Generally viewed as having artistic integrity/indepdence
- Despite the financial success, they tend to be relatively anonymous in certain places(allowing for a somewhat normal existence off-tour -- e.g. they don't have celebrity gossip reporters following them around in the supermarket. They are probably the only band that can sell out Madison Square Garden and then go back to the hotel to get a beer in the bar and few people would know who they are)
- Enjoys lots of exotic world tours, yet has plenty of downtime to pursue other interests
- All of the members appear to be in good health for their age (despite Bruce's health scare) - not crippled by drug abuse
- Other than Sharon Osbourne and Nikki Six, few feuds with other folks in the industry (respect of peers)