Tailgunner

How good is Tailgunner on a scale of 1-10?

  • Total voters
    12
A 7, the Fokker line aside, it is a good song.  Strong rocking music, and an interesting subject.  When not trying to compare it to Aces High, it sounds better.
 
8. Awesome chorus(even though it may have been repeated a little much) Steve is an absolute monster on this track. This song starts no prayer out very strong.
 
Not a bad track, I liked it a lot when I first heard NPFTD and thought it was a solid opener, even if it seemed to be Aces High 2. Time has soured me a bit on it (chorus gets annoying), but the underlying riff is excellent and I think Eddie as a Tailgunner is one of my fav Derek Riggs creations. 7.
 
I love every track on No Prayer, so whilst this is one of the album's lesser songs, all that means is I love it slightly less than the album's best songs! lol

I love Steve's bass playing during the intro, and the way the guitars interact with each other during that section, it does give the impression of fighter planes taking off. Likewise, the Janick/Dave solo duel sounds like an intense dogfight in the skies! That solo section was actually one of the first solos I ever learned, and it's always been one of my favourites, and remains so today. :)

It's a great opener, and gets the album off to a powerful start, I'd love to see it back in the setlist again.
 
I don't mind this song too much. From the start you notice that Maiden is taking a different direction with their sound, perhaps trying to emulate the punkish style of the debut or Killers. Moreover, Bruce's raspy vocals really sound like a Di'Anno imitation, which he simply can't do. The lyrics sound really childish and sound like a video-gaming teenager's first attempts at song writing: "Nail that fucker, kill that son. Gonna blow your guts out with my aft gun" is seriously pathetic. Musically though it's excellent. The intro is great, with the two rhythm guitars and the bass introducing the main theme. The poppy/happy chorus, while sounding nice, doesn't really fit with the theme and shouldn't be repeated over and over again. I love Janick's lead though, it is highly atmospheric and fits well with the music and bombing theme.

5.

Mother Russia and the title track are a lot better, but the album in general is low-calibre.
 
Last edited:
The chorus is too repetitive, apart from that I like it. The song as a whole is a good rocker, the harmony below the lead is amazing, the lyrics could be better.

7/10
 
This song is very reminiscent of Aces High, but obviously not as good. The aviation and airplane theme. The guitar solos are the best quality of this song.
On most albums, this would be filler. It's one of the better songs on this very poor album.
Welcome Janick! Your first solo is a good one. 8/10
 
This definitely feels quite flat after the last few albums.
Tailgunner is not bad, but it isn't good either. The vocals are okay, and the middle section with the solos are good. But as a whole one of Maidens worst openers.

6/10
 
6. Much like the entirety of the rest of this album, it's a fun track which I enjoy listening to but doesn't have that special spark.

Rankings:

Previous Albums:

Iron Maiden - 6.67

8 - Prowler
6 - Sanctuary
7 - Remember Tomorrow
6 - Running Free
9 - Phantom Of The Opera
7 - Transylvania
4 - Strange World
6 - Charlotte The Harlot
7 - Iron Maiden

Killers - 5.91

6 - The Ides Of March
6 - Wrathchild
6 - Murders In The Rue Morgue
5 - Another Life
5 - Genghis Khan
5 - Innocent Exile
8 - Killers
5 - Prodigal Son
8 - Purgatory
6 - Twilight Zone
5 - Drifter

The Number Of The Beast - 7.56

6 - Invaders
7 - Children Of The Damned
8 - The Prisoner
7 - 22 Acacia Avenue
9 - The Number Of The Beast
10 - Run To The Hills
6 - Gangland
5 - Total Eclipse
10 - Hallowed Be Thy Name

Piece Of Mind - 7.44

8 - Where Eagles Dare
9 - Revelations
9 - Flight Of Icarus
7 - Die With Your Boots On
8 - The Trooper
7 - Still Life
6 - Quest For Fire
6 - Sun And Steel
7 - To Tame A Land

Powerslave - 6.75

8 - Aces High
7 - 2 Minutes To Midnight
3 - Loss Fer Words
7 - Flash Of The Blade
5 - The Duellists
6 - Back In The Village
9 - Powerslave
9 - Rime Of The Ancient Mariner

Somewhere In Time - 8.00

8 - Caught Somewhere In Time
9 - Wasted Years
8 - Sea Of Madness
8 - Heaven Can Wait
8 - The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner
7 - Stranger In A Strange Land
8 - Deja Vu
8 - Alexander The Great

Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son - 8.25

7 - Moonchild
9 - Infinite Dreams
9 - Can I Play With Madness
9 - The Evil That Men Do
10 - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
6 - The Prophecy
8 - The Clairvoyant
8 - Only The Good Die Young

No Prayer For The Dying

6 - Tailgunner
 
Decent song. I like the intro, and the solos are fine, but Bruce's singing is bad. 6/10
 
6/10

Tailgunner opens with a typical Maiden barrage of crunching chords and pummeling bass guitar. Though the title was taken from a porn film that primarily featured butt play, the lyrics are reminiscent of Aces High and deal with WWII aerial combat. If you haven’t noticed by now, Bruce truly loves writing about airplanes. The chorus should have been cut in half as it is just the same thing repeated over and over again, and the music is far too cheery for the subject matter, a problem that will reoccur throughout the album.
 
From the first riff, we know that everything we learned about Iron Maiden in the last 5 albums has been discarded in favour of a more raw approach. Gone is the smoothness of Adrian Smith's guitar - you have to imagine he'd never allow Iron Maiden to make an album that sounds like this - and replaced with a more electric approach.

This song is average for any heavy metal act, and as such, deserves an average rating of about 5/10.
 
Cool opening riff and I like that this begins with Arry at the forefront. It's different, it's stripped down, but it's working so far. Love the layered parts at the beginning. Bruce's vocals are different but they fit the material. Chorus is really catchy and was one of my favorites as a developing Maiden fan. The riff beginning the instrumental is awesome and Janick's formal introduction to the band is a good one. I think there's a lot of cool stuff happening with this tune in the guitar department. The sound is stripped down but this still has a lot of the signature Maiden traits that I love about the band, so I don't mind. A worthy addition to the band's high energy war related songs.

7
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top