Greetings, fellow Maiden fans. My name is Tony Greene and I am writing from Mckinney, Texas, which is a suburb just north of Dallas. At thirty-nine years old, I am very, very late to the IM game, but I am very, very glad to be here.
I grew up on punk (Ramones, Clash, Social Distortion) and new wave/goth (Bauhaus, U2, Ultravox) in the ‘80s, with some classic rock thrown in (Pink Floyd, Rush, Boston) and, though I have always been aware of Iron Maiden, I had never really heard more than “Run to the Hills.” A friend had even invited me to go see them in Dallas on the Ed Hunter tour in ‘99, but I blew him off at the last minute because I really wasn’t interested. I am sure that you can all imagine my regret over that decision.
Anyhoo, last summer, VH1 here in the States aired “Flight 666” and I just happened to catch it one night. Needless to say, I was immediately hooked by the sheer ferocity of the band’s live performances. Being a musician myself, I will simply walk out of a live show if the artists do nothing more than stand on stage and sing and/or play their instruments. Whatever, the genre, I demand to be entertained if I’m going to spend the time and money on going to see a band in concert.
I quickly went out and bought “The Essential Iron Maiden” to test the waters. That was sometime last summer. Here, just over a year later, I now own every studio album, minus the two with Blaze, and have learned a good bit of the band’s history by heart. You can believe me when I say that I have listened to nothing but Iron Maiden for the last year. I, of course, was able to see the opening night of the tour here In Dallas, too.
As a fan, I can’t say that I have a favorite period for the band. Coming out of my early punk days, I really, really dig the feel of the first two albums with Paul. Being a primarily electronic/industrial musician myself, I don’t mind the middle ‘synthy’ period whatsoever. And since I’m not tied to the early albums as many older fans are, since I wasn’t following the band from the beginning, I love the recent albums. For me, they’re not changing their sound, as it’s all new for me regardless of era.
And for “The Final Frontier”? Fookin’ love it! Since it’s the first album released since I became a major fan, this one is mine all mine. You lot can enjoy it, too, as I’m more than happy to share it with ya’.
Cheers from Texas and Up the MF’n Irons!