Run to the hills - The Biography

Welsh Phantom said:
I enjoyed it due to the fact that interviews were included which are kept out of any official biographies. For example Bruce slagging Maiden after his departure.
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Sounds interesting.
Edit: There's offers for 0.01 quid on Amazon, I think I'll just buy it.
 
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Foro mentioned a couple of them but I have Run For Cover - The Art of Derek Riggs, "Iron Maiden - The Photograps" by Ross Halfin and "Iron Maiden On Board Flight 666" by McMurtie. They're all official and are great coffee table sized books to have around or to pull down from the shelf and skim through from time to time. The Halfin book is pictures only with a little bit of foreword but is full of really great pictures from the beginning up until about Dance of Death. Art of Derek Riggs is interesting because you get the Maiden story from his point of view! Aboard Flight 666 is basically the picture version of the movie...But great in that it offers more from each location and legs of that tour.
 
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I read the Stenning book a few years ago and have no strong memories of it. I think it was worth reading.
Got the Daniels one for Christmas. It is absolutely gorgeous.
I've only read the first couple chapters. Seems well-written, but I doubt there is much in there a hardcore fan like Perun wouldn't know.
I'm to the point, its hard to remember what I didn't know.

What I would like is book that focuses on the music and the creative process.
Where did each song/album come from, how was it developed, what does the band think of it?
Martin Popoff did this for Blue Oyster Cult's entire discography. The book wasn't what it could have been, but the concept was amazing.
 
mckindog said:
What I would like is book that focuses on the music and the creative process.
Where did each song/album come from, how was it developed, what does the band think of it?
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If people like this, just with the artwork of Maiden instead of the music, definitely get the book by Riggs...It's done by the same guy too, Martin Popoff, so there's a lot of questions like how did Riggs come up with the idea for a piece, how did he work on it, all the technical sides of it, where was he when he worked on a piece, what was the communication like with the band etc etc...Very cool!
 
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mckindog said:
I read the Stenning book a few years ago and have no strong memories of it. I think it was worth reading.
Got the Daniels one for Christmas. It is absolutely gorgeous.
I've only read the first couple chapters. Seems well-written, but I doubt there is much in there a hardcore fan like Perun wouldn't know.
I'm to the point, its hard to remember what I didn't know.

What I would like is book that focuses on the music and the creative process.
Where did each song/album come from, how was it developed, what does the band think of it?
Martin Popoff did this for Blue Oyster Cult's entire discography. The book wasn't what it could have been, but the concept was amazing.
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This is currently as close as you are going to get....I have not read it but it does not have stunning reviews!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Iron-Maiden...8&qid=1420656983&sr=1-18&keywords=iron+maiden

 
I have just ordered this book: Outside Iron Maiden (from http://www.maidenholland.com/ )

650 glossy pages (115gr) filled with more than 250 bands and projects, and over 1500 recording involving (former) Iron Maiden members.
Special artwork by Baz Crowcroft, foreword written by former Iron Maiden frontman Mr. Dennis Willcock.
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... Being an Iron Maiden collector I stumbled upon more and more solo material and recordings before or after Iron Maiden whilst searching on internet, record fairs etc. It started for me with a vinyl version of "Tattooed Millionaire" by Bruce Dickinson and continued after that copy. I discovered a new world outside of Iron Maiden but it is quite difficult to exactly find out who was where at what time.
That is why I started writing a book. I wanted to know what (ex) Iron Maiden members were doing before, after or even during their time in the greatest heavy metal band in the world. Which bands did they play in? Did they record something? Are these recordings available? ...
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As you know, I am into "overviews", so I am curious to see what current and ex-members have done (and how that is presented)!
 
Perun said:
Oops, I missed the 'Stenning' part. :oops: Sorry.

Sorry, here comes a rant:

My problem is, I'm oversaturated with 70s stories. I read all the interviews, all the Loopy blogs, all the Maiden77 Facebook posts, and all the official bio releases put heavy emphasis on this period. At some point, it gets tedious to keep hearing people reminisce about the 'good old days' that I wasn't part of. Not to mention that I can't know how accurate their memories are... and even if, where's the point? Yeah, I get it, 70's London was awesome, you guys had a fantastic time, I'm happy for you. But hearing somebody talk about someone they knew who was in Maiden for a few weeks in 1977 really isn't my idea of getting to know the band's history. Not to mention the attitude of some people (like Maiden77), that I don't know shit because I wasn't there. Yeah, I wasn't. I can't do anything about it. If you guys gave me concrete information on who wrote which song, fine, I want to hear that. Or what kind of stage acts they experimented with, yes, please, tell me. But not with the "that was the real shit" attitude. I respect what those guys did back then, but the way they come forth claiming their fame 40 years on is pathetic and just goes to display they haven't gotten over the fact that they were sacked before Maiden got big. Not to mention that there's just so much that happened at Soundhouse for so long... at some point, Maiden were hitting bigger stages and I want to know about that too. By 1985, more than just a few East End kids had heard of Maiden, and the band was a worldwide phenomenon, but so far no biography I read seriously tried to investigate why... they just mentioned that they were. I find that a lot more interesting, to be honest.

Rant over. -_-
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If I'd seen this earlier I'd never have pestered you with V1 and Thunderstick.
 
Iron Maiden: Infinite Dreams by Dave Bowler & Bryan Dray, published by Boxtree. I think it is a good read. However, it stops in 1995 and the views of the authors may not match some common opinions from this forum, regarding SiT for example.
 
Iron Maiden '80-'81 by Greg Prato is an oral history of a very specific point in time. The people interviewed include Paul Di'anno and a lot of guys in other bands (Saxon, Raven, etc) around London at the time as well as more contemporary players like Scott Ian. It is really clear that Raven and Lips from Anvil are pretty jealous of Maiden's success. It's a pretty good book and certainly a more insightful book than What Does This Button Do?
 
I would love to read a book that really delves into the period from the start of the world slavery tour up until the reunion.

I’ve read enough stuff from the early days that I do t need any more info about how the band started and covering the di’anno years and the introduction of Bruce. Theirs enough material available out there that covers this period in great detail.

What disappointments me with most publications out there is that the real interesting stuff seems to be glossed over or not mentioned at all. I don’t expect any book covering the period I suggested above to ever have the official stamp of approval from the band. What we need is a brave author who isn’t scared of upsetting anyone and simply tells it like it was and collected interviews done around this time.

The period starting with the world slavery tour is where the real juicy band stuff starts. It was their biggest ever tour up to that point and we know from interviews that it really took a toll on the band both physically and mentally. This where some cracks started to appear as the following studio album SIT as we know had zero input from Bruce apart from his recorded vocals. It was here Bruce started to think about solo records and probably where he first contemplated leaving the band. We then have Adrian’s exit as he wanted to develop the SIT and SSOASS sound yet Steve wanted to go back to basics with NPFTD so he upped and left. There was Bruce’s exit and I remember loads of mud flinging and insults thrown between Bruce and the band in the press during this time.

I would also like more detailed info about the auditions for Bruce’s replacement as it would be interesting to see exactly who they turned down for Blaze. We know that Doogie White was a contender and recently I discovered that Damien Wilson was asked to audition for Maiden too but for some reason it never happened. I really like Blaze and his voice but there must have been a ton of great singers that were chomping at the bit for the job yet Steve was determined to get a singer that sounded nothing like Bruce, such was his animosity towards Bruce at the time. Then we have Blazes sacking and whilst there is info out there about the reasons for this something more in depth about how and why it happened would be interesting.

Then the whole getting Bruce back saga. I was so surprised when it was announced Bruce was returning. Not because the Blaze Years has been mega successful more because I had read so many magazine interviews during the blaze years where it was clear the band held a huge amount of resentment towards Bruce for leaving. Plus it was clear Bruce was unhappy with how his solo career was going as he thought when he left Maiden he would go on to be a lot bigger and more popular than he was. He simply couldn’t escape Maiden and in the end went back to making metal records before rejoining. Knowing how stubborn Steve is I would love to know how Rod convinced him to give Bruce another crack. Yes from a business sense getting Bruce back was the obvious thing to do but Steve strikes me as a man of principle and was already minted money wise before the reunion and honestly I’d have expected him to rather fold the band than get him back! That first meeting to discuss the reunion would have been one of the most awkward meetings ever.

There’s so much stuff that would be interesting to read about instead of hearing endless stories from old geezers who spent a week in maiden back in 1976 going on about the good old days.

Come on someone, dish the real dirt lol.
 
Wayne - I agree. I was really hoping Bruce’s book would give a lot of insight into those times, but I was sadly disappointed by it.
 
Operations666 said:
Wayne - I agree. I was really hoping Bruce’s book would give a lot of insight into those times, but I was sadly disappointed by it.
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To be honest, I think he provided greater insight into the exits of Clive and Adrian from the band than any version of the official biographies.
 
GhostofCain said:
To be honest, I think he provided greater insight into the exits of Clive and Adrian from the band than any version of the official biographies.
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I agree on this point actually. It’s the clearest explanation we’ve had so far but still it was kinda glossed over a tad.

To be honest I never expected much dirt to be dug up in Bruce’s book. Obviously the animosity of the past has been buried somewhat since the reunion era began and it honestly feels that right now there’s a lot of harmony in the band and they’ve all found ways to not only cope with each other but to genuinely get on as friends. It would have been wrong of Bruce, especially as he’s still the bands frontman to dish any dirt and cast a bad light on any other member.

The real dirt could only be dished by someone close enough to the band to have enough knowledge about events but not so close they they are scared to reveal anything.

I’m hoping that once the band packs up then a few years later someone in the road crew writes a warts and all tell it how it is story of life in the Maiden camp. Plenty of their road crew have been around the band for years to have built up enough knowledge of all the events I’m curious about.

If I never read about any of what I’ve mentioned it’s not the end of the world. I’m just curious and find it all quite interesting. Maybe one day Blaze will write a book and tell us what it was really like fronting Maiden and how he was really given his marching orders.
 
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