Which band is more influential on Iron Maiden: Sabbath or Purple?

Which band is more influential on Iron Maiden: Sabbath or Purple?

  • Total voters
    62
Zare said:
But the most DP-alike song should be Stranger in a Strange Land, for the riff and the hammond textures.
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Well, the most Purple-esque part of the song from IM catalogue is the very beginning of TAATG, mainly because of the Hammond. But then the cheesy synths come in, the chorus repetition begins and the song is ruined.

How to save TAATG? Replace all of the poor brass synths with constant Hammond chords and remove 50% of choruses. Aaaaand you have a good song. Not a great one, but a good one.
 
On your previous comment, weren't there some remarks by Bruce about Gers solos and how he's putting a lot less effort than he expected of him? It would make sense in the context.
 
Metal Warrior 330 said:
If you listen to songs like "A National Acrobat," "Fairies Wear Boots" (especially the closing section), and "Hole In The Sky" you will hear the Sabbath influence on Maiden. I also hear a lot of Dio-era Rainbow in Maiden. The guitar solo in "Sixteenth Century Greensleves" sounds like something Dave or Adrian might do and also "Tarot Woman," "Starstruck, "Stargazer," "Gates of Babylon," and "Kill The King" sounds like something that strongly influenced Maiden.
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Stargazer is one of the greatest songs of all time.... Vocally phenomenal, musically brilliant!
 
Zare said:
The instrumental interplays, I think. Especially the tradeoffs. It's a "later day" song but Judgement Day's instrumental is Purpulesque in my ears. From early days, Revelations.
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Something about the early Maiden albums with Bruce, The Number of the Beast and Piece of Mind, sorta have a Purple vibe to me. Not talking about the entire albums but hints here and there. I think it's what Zare says mostly because of the interplays. And the fact that Deep Purple also possessed the ability to play very intricate and melodic stuff, fast! Also, Purple certainly also has an epic/storytelling side to them as well, not unlike Maiden. And then there's Martin Birch who worked on both Maiden and Purple, so his sound connects them both too...

There's many songs I could pick to showcase some of the above, but a song that immediately comes to mind:

 
Zare said:
On your previous comment, weren't there some remarks by Bruce about Gers solos and how he's putting a lot less effort than he expected of him? It would make sense in the context.
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Yeah, I remember reading something like this too. Considering Janick's comparatively small solo count on AMOLAD, I'd almost bet the second BTATS solo was originally meant to be Dave's, but was given to Janick to make up some of the difference. Janick apparently even lost his solo spot in Lord of Light to Adrian's frankly awful whammy pedal noise segment, so I'm fairly certain something was up with that.
 
Out of those two, Purple, definitely. If not Uriah Heep.

SixesAlltheway said:
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Ah, nevermind.

However - and I think I never heard of those being ever mentioned, possibly because they're not as "hip" as Yes, Genesis, Lizzy or whomever - after hearing Allman Brother's Band's At Fillmore East I don't see how those could have not been an influence. The two lead guitars and the specific Jaimoe/Trucks drumwork that reminds me of the "busy" McBrain feel... yeah, that's probably it.
 
These interplays and intricate playing and other examples mentioned do not sound much like Purple at all. Wishbone Ash, Thin Lizzy, Jethro Tull, Yes and Genesis and probably also UFO (the Angel and the Gambler; I thought Steve mentioned UFO in 1998) have influenced Maiden much more. Bruce's voice, Janick's style: apart from sounding in personal style, they both did not change Maiden's direction in songwriting or stylewise by using Purple influence. They added something different. But the core comes from other bands. That said, I'd like to compare Wrathchild and other songs with Purple songs. Copying a songidea is different from (more regularly) using stylistic and constructive elements and ideas used by other bands.
 
Ok but keep in mind the question in topic. The poll results are giving the answer, obviously. And it is already stated that those prog rockers et al. are chief influence on Maiden.


2:35
 
Ruflux said:
Yeah, I remember reading something like this too. Considering Janick's comparatively small solo count on AMOLAD, I'd almost bet the second BTATS solo was originally meant to be Dave's, but was given to Janick to make up some of the difference. Janick apparently even lost his solo spot in Lord of Light to Adrian's frankly awful whammy pedal noise segment, so I'm fairly certain something was up with that.
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I don't think that solo is anything less than stellar, including the whammy part. Where did you pick up that bit about Janick having a solo in Lord of Light?
 
Zare said:
I don't think that solo is anything less than stellar, including the whammy part. Where did you pick up that bit about Janick having a solo in Lord of Light?
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I think Kevin Shirley wrote about that in the diaries.

Anyway. Janick solos in BTATS, Pilgrim, OOTS (the melodic Blood Brothers-esque solo), FTGGOG and The Legacy. That's not a very small amount, really.
 
Neither bands (Sabs or Purple) would have sprung to mind if not for this thread. It's much more UFO, Wishbone Ash, Lizzy, Tull etc

However, I saw an interview with Bruce somewhere where he stated Speed of Light is a direct nod to Purple.

Also, Martin Birch always said that Innocent Exile reminded him of Purple's "Into The Fire"
 
Looking at the autumn of their career (the band was 40 years old around The Book of Souls) I would not call that being influenced by but "paying tribute to".
 
The topic makes me think of what you learn at school. Don't try to answer the question: show it's not a relevant one, and reformulate it to find the good one.
To my knowledge, Steve has several times cited Sabbath as one of his early influences, not Purple, but I doubt he really appreciated Sabbath that much: not melodic enough. Actually, I think none of them had a real impact on Maiden. As @Forostar rightly pointed out, Tull, UFO, and Genesis are the good candidates. The more I listen to early Genesis, the more Maiden I can hear (in Selling England by the Pound, many vocal melodies are in the same vein as Maiden quiet intros in The Final Frontier). And more obscure stuff like Golden Earrings also played a big role (listen to Fighting Windmills' last section and you will ear more Maiden in that than in all Purple's discography). As for the more Purple-esque Maiden song, I would say the horrible Fear is the Key.
 
matic22 said:
I think Kevin Shirley wrote about that in the diaries.
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He did.

Kevin Shirley said:
Iron Maiden Recording Diary - April 29, 2006 *


Greetings - winging my way to Germany to go and see the last show in Joe Bonamassa's European tour in Lorsch, Germany tonight. Had another very productive week with Maiden, and some hedonistic nights out with long-time Maiden photographer, Ross Halfin, but that's another story!!


Mixed another two songs this week - the first (and #8 on the album) is one of my favorite mixes so far, it's almost 10 minutes long and sounds huge and very cinematic and I am very happy with it. The lads came in and 'Arry says that's the way he thinks Maiden should sound - and wished he could remix some older material - but I think older stuff is to be celebrated because of it's chronological perspective, and should be left alone! Wing Commander Biggles rushed in on Monday to pick up a CD, as he was piloting a commercial flight to India later that day and wanted to listen to some mixes, and got back on Wednesday after a visit to the Taj Mahal and is ecstatic about the album's sound. I'm sure all you anoraks out there will find plenty of stuff to keep the bulletin boards and forums on fire for a while to come!!!


Adrian was in and played a killer solo over Song #9, sounding a little like Trevor Rabin meets Pat Thrall - with an octave divider - and then finished off with some kinda theramin sounding histrionics, over the solo section reserved for Janick - but it sounded so great, and Janick was away with his family, so we're decided to keep it!! Hope Jan doesn't mind............
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