Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
True. I think album sales are only important for the band's management. For the fans (and the band itself) the most important thing should be the music and the concerts, of course.
New Single - The Writing on the Wall
- Thread starter LooseCannon
- Start date
Powerslave wasn’t an instant success they got the success with extensive touring. Even now most American fans mention Powerslave when talking about best Maiden album. SIT, after world slavery tour, did 2.5 million copies and 7th son plummeted to 500k.
People that say sales don’t matter are WRONG, had 7th son been a huge success in the U.S Maiden would have continued with that style instead of whatever they tried to do with NPFTD, so we all lost in the end.
Iron Lurker
Ancient Mariner
What a stupid statement....
Twarkle
Nomad
Look, I greatly dislike NPFTD, but your statement about what Maiden’s stylistic direction would have been had 7th Son done better in the States, or if it had any impact at all is simply baseless, unless you have some interview or comments which explicitly say otherwise, in which case I’m more than happy to stand corrected. But I know I have never seen anything that would remotely imply that they said, “hey, 7th Son didn’t sell as well as we had hoped in the States, so we better write an album that sounds even further removed from the sound that sold well there”.
Oregano
Nomad
Maiden will simply no longer make an album with cult status, because that is no longer possible these days. Back then, NOB and Powerslave were outstanding. At that time it was new and revolutionary. but that is not the point. The point is that Maiden will hopefully have no ohohoh parts and artificially drawn out songs on the new album. But Steve is responsible for that. He wants it that way.
They tried to approach the hard rock sound with NPFTD , with disastrous results. It is well documented how disappointed they were with 7th son’s failure in the U.S. Up until NPFTD Maiden with Dickinson had a certain style, yes their albums were different but they all had the same principles. They were a class act above the rest of the metal scene, they were aristocrats of metal, don’t know how else to put it. That all changed with NPFTD.
Twarkle
Nomad
Yes, but none of that shows that the ”failure” of 7th Son was what led to NPFTD being terrible. Dickinson had already moved on from his classic style at that point, as demonstrated by “Tattooed Millionaire“, he wasn’t particularly good live, even on the older material on that tour, and he wouldn’t fully return to the more classic style until Accident of Birth.
They changed because they wanted to, not because 7th Son didn’t sell well in the US. You’ve come up with a theory and are trying to make the pieces fit your narrative. The reason they have never returned to pre-NPFTD is that they don’t want to. They have free reign at this point and could attempt to make an album in any style they choose. You don’t like what they choose, and there‘s nothing wrong with that, but they have chosen not to make an attempt to recapture the past, and I think that’s a good thing, even if I don’t always love the result.
Edit: Fixed NPFTD acronym.
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Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
This could be one of the reasons.
Isn't a cult status = classic album (nowadays)?... like BNW or AMOLAD. Anyway, the first 7 albums forever will be with a cult status.
Oregano
Nomad
Yes you are right. For me, BNW already has cult status. It probably also depends on the generation. Nevertheless, Maiden is more immediately associated with NOB than BNW, for example. And yes, I mean the first seven albums. They have a magic that all other albums will no longer have. Some don't seem to think about that when they want to go back to the old days.
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
BNW album will always have this magic for me.
Making another Powerslave would be lacking creativity.
gazda
Ancient Mariner
Almost every band at some point try to change sound and to be honest the main reason is to gain new fans and earn more money.
I belive it is very frustrating for bands when you are recording album after album, working so hard then some Nirvana or Guns came and after one album become "bigger" than you.
So eveybody try to adopted to more American style becuse if you are big in America that means more money for you. Maiden, Metallica, Helloween, Sabbath, Ozzy, they all try at some point gain more American fans.
I dont know why but any type of metal with symphony or keyboards is not very popular in USA, so normal thing is that SIT and 7th never got big success in USA.
I belive it is very frustrating for bands when you are recording album after album, working so hard then some Nirvana or Guns came and after one album become "bigger" than you.
So eveybody try to adopted to more American style becuse if you are big in America that means more money for you. Maiden, Metallica, Helloween, Sabbath, Ozzy, they all try at some point gain more American fans.
I dont know why but any type of metal with symphony or keyboards is not very popular in USA, so normal thing is that SIT and 7th never got big success in USA.
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
I think it's because almost every band wants to develop their style and not to play in their comfort zone all the time.
Midnight
The Ever Present "It"
It reminds me of the pre-chorus in Mother of Mercy.
R@inmaker
Educated Fool
Gotta chime in the Powerslave vs Seventh Son discussion - yes, I'm old enough to remember (even though the hardest music I listened to at the time was Van Halen!) the music scene during Powerslave era and, like the NOTB shirts, the Powerslave shirts MADE that album cool/scary/awesome. even if you never listened to Maiden and couldn't really identify them musically, EVERYONE thought that Powerslave shirt (like NOTB ) was wicked awesome, head and shoulders (ha) above all the other "cool" metal T's that all the bad/cool kids wore. I remember playing baseball in 6th grade and some kid on the team had that shirt on and all I could do was stare at the back of the shirt during practice and just marvel at this Biblical sounding "World Slavery Tour" disclaimer !!! Badass.
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Azas
Conjure the Jester Again
I'd say it requires big balls, because if this endeavour fails, they'd be eaten alive. So it's exact opposite. Maximum creativity is needed to compose songs, in greatness similar to Powerslave level, yet not make direct copy of it.
karljant
Ancient Mariner
100% agreed. Not forcing an aged Bruce to sing 1000 words per second at high notes helps a lot. And I'm sure that's the main reason why he sounds amazing on this song.