Was Fear of the Dark a crowd-pleaser in the 90's?
- Thread starter efekåseo_suomi
- Start date
Fear of the Dark is not as good of a song as Hallowed, but I think it is better live than Hallowed and I typically enjoy it more when I am at a Maiden concert. I have seen several shows now where Hallowed was dropped and I haven't missed it a single time.
With that being said, I also wouldn't miss FOTD if it was dropped as well. But I think of the staples it brings the crowd energy like no other.
With that being said, I also wouldn't miss FOTD if it was dropped as well. But I think of the staples it brings the crowd energy like no other.
BludBrutha
Educated Fool
Seems bizarre that Run To The Hills has typically not been in the setlist for the last 25 years but FOTD has.
dickinson1978
Ancient Mariner
Back in 1992 fear of the dark and afraid to shoot strangers were like iron maiden enter sandman and nothing else matters. Those songs were more than often on tv and radio. For me was a great album. Very 90s.
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
Both are very big (live) hits and one is just tougher for the band. Hills was also skipped during the Blaze era for obvious reasons. I think it's normal for a band (whose setlists are usually not 20 songs) to drop some of its biggest songs (from 5+ of them) for some tours. Unexpected, but still. It wasn't even a regular song during the second Reunion and first album tour!
Yep, FOTD album was perfect for such promotion because of the style of the songs.
dickinson1978
Ancient Mariner
The sing along part is one of the best moments in an iron maiden show. Im really happy to see that song what has become. I grew up with that album. I have great memories of thst years
dickinson1978
Ancient Mariner
The studio version is more dark like the intro has a very good vibe. Like a horror movie. But i prefer live at donington version
Spaldy
Ancient Mariner
An earlier example is the "Angus" chants on AC/DC's Whole Lotta Rosie from the 'If You Want Blood You've Got It' live album (recorded in Glasgow, the crowd just happened to be chanting "Angus" when they started the song and it became a thing).
Helmuth Von Moltke
Educated Fool
Before that, the Real Live One version recorded in Helsinki (1992) hugely boosted the reputation of FOTD.
Maybe because so many fans hate the 1993 live albums, this gets overlooked.
The actual FOTD live promo video SRFC posted is the Real Live One version. The official single release was 'Fear of the Dark Live' from Helsinki. In 1996, Best of the Beast used this live version. When I was in high school at this time, it was a popular version, and it did a great deal to popularise the crowd chants at the start of the song.
On a personal note, Helsinki 1992 is still my definitive version of the song! (Though I love Rio 2000 as well).
Maiden’s live history has been that the centerpiece Harris epic always gets played, and then it gets dropped on the next tour. These songs bucked that trend:
Phantom
Hallowed (obviously)
Rime (carried over into SIT tour)
Fear of the Dark
Sign of the Cross (carried into VXI)
The Clansman (stayed in the setlist until 2004!!)
Rime seems like it was a contingency pick when Alexander didn’t work out and the Blaze songs are kind of a weird occurrence, but otherwise I think it’s significant that FOTD managed to stay in setlists throughout the 90s when typically the Harris epics got cycled out pretty quickly. It’s a pretty clear indication that FOTD was seen as an instant classic even before the Internet and Rock in Rio.
Phantom
Hallowed (obviously)
Rime (carried over into SIT tour)
Fear of the Dark
Sign of the Cross (carried into VXI)
The Clansman (stayed in the setlist until 2004!!)
Rime seems like it was a contingency pick when Alexander didn’t work out and the Blaze songs are kind of a weird occurrence, but otherwise I think it’s significant that FOTD managed to stay in setlists throughout the 90s when typically the Harris epics got cycled out pretty quickly. It’s a pretty clear indication that FOTD was seen as an instant classic even before the Internet and Rock in Rio.
Eddie's Uncle
Trooper
Fear of the Dark was a fan fave from day one. It was the album that got me into Maiden back in 1992, and everyone in the scene back then loved that song. Even some people who were not into Maiden. The album itself was largely criticized, but not the title track. People rocked hard whenever Maiden played that song in the 90s, even with Blaze at the mic. I was at the shows, and people celebrated that song at least as much as Hallowed Be Thy Name. So this podcast guy talking about Rio making it popular obviously was not around back then. Or he is just one of those podcasters who desperately need to make themselves look clever and babble some random bullshit to stir up something. Either way, he js completely wrong.
AncientMariner_Essex
Ancient Mariner
I got into Maiden when NPFTD was the current album so the FOTD album was the first new release album for me.
Being from the uk Maiden were still huge in their home country and there was a lot of buzz around the band. I know both NPFTD and FOTD get a lot of criticism as albums but at the time of release they were massive albums in the uk and from what I remember they were generally well received and had decent write ups in magazines.
NPFTD was number 2 in the uk album charts and had their first uk number 1 single with bring your daughter…. Then FOTD went in at number one and the singles from the album all charted well with BQOBD charting at number 2. The headline show at the monsters of rock was also a big deal.
It felt to me that as soon as they started playing the FOTD title track live it went down well and became an instant classic which is why they chose to release the live version as a single.
Being from the uk Maiden were still huge in their home country and there was a lot of buzz around the band. I know both NPFTD and FOTD get a lot of criticism as albums but at the time of release they were massive albums in the uk and from what I remember they were generally well received and had decent write ups in magazines.
NPFTD was number 2 in the uk album charts and had their first uk number 1 single with bring your daughter…. Then FOTD went in at number one and the singles from the album all charted well with BQOBD charting at number 2. The headline show at the monsters of rock was also a big deal.
It felt to me that as soon as they started playing the FOTD title track live it went down well and became an instant classic which is why they chose to release the live version as a single.
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
This. Found these, so you're right (with some words from Nicko). Maiden were still pretty big in the early 90's. FOTD was better received than NPFTD.
AncientMariner_Essex
Ancient Mariner
I can’t speak for the rest of the world and remember this was pre internet days too but, Maiden to me seemed massive in the UK in the first half of the 1990’s.
The chart positions for both NPFTD and FOTD albums and their singles were very high plus I remember they seemed to be in all the music mags of the time a lot, kerrang, metal hammer etc.
Plus there albums were available everywhere. Back then as well as old record stores like Our Price you could buy music in so many places, WH Smith’s, Boots, John Menzies, Woolworths, Trumps etc and loads of other shops and they all stocked Maiden and their albums and singles weren’t hidden.
I remember when Fear of the Dark released and that album was everywhere. Big Eddie displays in lots of major retail outlets and bill board posters.
The 1992 monsters of Rock was a big deal and Maiden headlining it for the 2nd time just made it feel like they were one of the biggest bands on the planet at the time, certainly the biggest metal band. I was too young to go to the monsters of rock and no way my parents were gonna take me lol so I remember on the day of the gig sitting in my bedroom surrounded by a ton of blank cassettes and listening to the whole thing on BBC radio one, recording as much as I could.
I remember when the band played FOTD and the crowd seemed to go nuts and lap it up so I assume the FOTD title track was an instant crowd favourite, it certainly seemed that way in the UK.
michaellegge
Prowler
I’d be OK if they never played it again.
srfc
Ancient Mariner
I wasn't around in 1990, not discovering metal until the following year. But these poll results are surprising for me regarding Judas Priest, I mentioned in another thread recently about the lack of hype around Priest that I remembered from the 90s, but I didn't think this would have extended back to the Painkiller era as well.