Worst Iron Maiden Song

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I don't have all the albums yet (namely No Prayer and Fear) so I can't make a fully qualified statement on this, but I have heard No Prayer before, and The Assassin struck me as being quite awful. Not really anything catchy I remember musically (unlike Bring Your Daughter and Hooks), plus the lyrics are truly awful. Not merely cheesy, like BYDTTS, but an actual tragedy. The way the vocals are mixed in the chorus, as well, are memorably bad.

Now, I must qualify this post by saying that I have not actually heard Fear of the Dark, meaning that I don't have familiarity with some of the favorites to hate, such as The Apparition and Weekend Warrior. So I won't say that The Assassin is the worst, but it's the worst of the ones that I have heard.

Also, I feel the need to defend The Angel and the Gambler once again. It is true that it goes on for maybe 2 minutes longer than it needs to (the first chorus section does not bore me, the second gets a little old since there are less musical changes and it's just basically the same rhythm behind "Don't you think…"). However, the music is interesting enough and fun, even though it is a tiny bit cheesy at times with those keyboards, and the lyrics (in the verses) are, in my opinion, rather interesting to think about. It has been suggested that perhaps the Angel is not actually a saviour (who can save you, and your life, you know), and every time I listen to this song I listen for evidence that this may or may not be the case. I'm not suggesting TAATG is a Top 50 song, but certainly you can find a worse Maiden song, such as the aforementioned The Assassin.

Sponsored by the "Committee for 'Better watch out… Cause I'm the assassin' Is a Dumber Line Than 'Don't you think I'm a saviour/could save you/could save your life" No Matter How Many Times You Repeat the Latter"
 
The Assassin is better than The Angel And The Gambler by several country miles! :p I find the former to be an intense track with a blazing solo section that grabs me by the throat every time I hear it. I don't hate TAATG, but it's certainly a weak track, made especially so by the unnecessary repeating of "Don't you think I'm a saviour, don't you think I could save you, don't you think I could save your life?" for what seems like an eternity!

Maiden have made a few weaker songs over the course of their career, Quest For Fire, Weekend Warrior, Face In The Sand, and Coming Home for example spring instantly to mind when I think of weak Maiden tracks. However, one track above all others has always been the Maiden song I like least since the moment I first heard it, and over the subsequent albums, it has continued to be so. "Fortunes Of War" really has to be the dullest, most boring and lifeless song that Maiden have ever came up with! The intro/outro of the song is nice, but everything else in between is incredibly monotonous, and I actually almost fell asleep when I saw them play it in concert back in 1995! lol
 
Coming Home one of the weakest songs?
Fortunes Of War dull, boring, lifeless?

I rechecked the date, and it's not April 1st. Uatafak?
 
Zare said:
Coming Home one of the weakest songs?
Fortunes Of War dull, boring, lifeless?

I rechecked the date, and it's not April 1st. Uatafak?
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No, it's not April 1st, it's just someone who clearly has a different opinion on those songs to yourself. Oh the horror! lol
 
I'm a communist. "Different opinion" does not exist in my book. Sorry.
 
No surprise to see this coming from the world's #1 AMOLAD-hater ;)

I think I have a pretty mainstream selection of least favourites. Let's pick from several different eras, shall we?

- Drifter. I simply find this song boring. The album should have ended with the much better Purgatory.
- The Assassin. That chorus is just plain annoying.
- Chains of Misery. The only part of the song I like is the riff that leads into the chorus.
- Fear Is the Key: The singing is the worst Bruce has done for Maiden. Period. Listening to the "lies and lies and lies ..." part is painful.
- Don't Look To the Eyes of a Stranger: The last half of the song just goes on and on with hardly any changes at all. It is actually more boring than The Angel and the Gambler. Well done!
 
Sara said:
Strange... as a communist, you should be all for different opinions! :p
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There are actually some different opinions on that one ;)

Fortunes Of War is a good song, but not among the best on TXF. It's underdeveloped. The gallop comes out of nowhere, and not in a good sense. Repeating the nothing-special chorus makes things even worse. However, up to the gallop, it really builds the atmosphere. Then it fucks up. But I'd place half of Dance Of Death and Fear Of The Dark + some other "gems" ahead of Fortunes Of War, on the shitlist. On the other hand, Coming Home is excellent, the only remark I can think of was playing the intro riff again before solo section. Which is Murray-Smith back to back, full of melody and blues.

The Longest Day or Lord Of Light.
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Now this is serious blasphemy.
 
Zare said:
There are actually some different opinions on that one ;)
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I wouldn't have guessed it was any other way. haha ;)

Zare said:
Fortunes Of War is a good song, but not among the best on TXF. It's underdeveloped. The gallop comes out of nowhere, and not in a good sense. Repeating the nothing-special chorus makes things even worse. However, up to the gallop, it really builds the atmosphere. Then it fucks up. But I'd place half of Dance Of Death and Fear Of The Dark + some other "gems" ahead of Fortunes Of War, on the shitlist. On the other hand, Coming Home is excellent, the only remark I can think of was playing the intro riff again before solo section. Which is Murray-Smith back to back, full of melody and blues.
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Well, unlike a lot of Maiden fans, I rate TXF as an overall album, very highly, and find a lot of merit in the Blaze Bayley-era material. The only two parts of that song ("Fortunes Of War") which I like are the intro/outro, and galloping melody which comes in after the second chorus. However, whilst that galloping melody sounds good in it's own right, it doesn't fit in with the rest of the song. There is some below-par material on "Dance Of Death" and "Fear Of The Dark", but nothing on those albums is as bad as "Fortunes Of War". At least not for me, although "Face In The Sand" and "Weekend Warrior" do run it close, for sure!

Zare said:
Now this is serious blasphemy.
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On this, we can agree 100%! lol Both of those songs are total gems, not only from that album (AMOLAD), but from Maiden's entire catalogue. At a push, I'd probably say those two are my faves from that album, which is saying something when the majority of that album features great songs.
 
Zare said:
Now this is serious blasphemy.
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No, it is not! These songs drag, they don't flow with the lyrics! Lyrics are great, but, it doesn't save them! There are silly lyrics, like Hooks In You or The Assassin, but the songs make up for it very nicely. Just because it's a long song, it doesn't mean it's epic! I slept, lost the attention listening to it, but never while listening to Weekend Warrior, Gangland, The Assassin or Hooks In You.

I can't believe Swedish chosen this album as the best of the decade! I love 4 songs in there, but the album, as a whole, is pretty weak! Maiden's weakest! The batteries feel like are by the half, even if Bruce and Nicko performances are stellar (Nicko's drum sound in it is incredible!)
 
AMOLAD is great. Sure it's not for everyone, but enough people think it is fantastic for it to make sense as a favorite for the decade.
 
Mosh said:
AMOLAD is great. Sure it's not for everyone, but enough people think it is fantastic for it to make sense as a favorite for the decade.
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It's a really tough call between BNW and AMOLAD for Maiden album of the decade... BNW might just sneak it, but it's a photo finish for sure!
 
Not only do I think it is the best Maiden album of the decade, it is my 2nd favorite album of theirs. 1st being Piece of Mind.
 
Mosh said:
Not only do I think it is the best Maiden album of the decade, it is my 2nd favorite album of theirs. 1st being Piece of Mind.
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Well you know, both BNW and AMOLAD are up there with the classic 80's albums in my opinion. I know a lot of people would disagree with me, but overall, I find that "The Final Frontier" pales in comparison to AMOLAD. It's difficult to make an album mostly made up of long, epic-length songs, but also make it very memorable, but they did that with AMOLAD. Most of the material on the album is simply stunning.
 
Sara said:
Well you know, both BNW and AMOLAD are up there with the classic 80's albums in my opinion. I know a lot of people would disagree with me, but overall, I find that "The Final Frontier" pales in comparison to AMOLAD. It's difficult to make an album mostly made up of long, epic-length songs, but also make it very memorable, but they did that with AMOLAD. Most of the material on the album is simply stunning.
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I agree with all of this.
 
Jeffmetal said:
No, it is not! These songs drag, they don't flow with the lyrics! Lyrics are great, but, it doesn't save them! There are silly lyrics, like Hooks In You or The Assassin, but the songs make up for it very nicely. Just because it's a long song, it doesn't mean it's epic! I slept, lost the attention listening to it, but never while listening to Weekend Warrior, Gangland, The Assassin or Hooks In You.

I can't believe Swedish chosen this album as the best of the decade! I love 4 songs in there, but the album, as a whole, is pretty weak! Maiden's weakest! The batteries feel like are by the half, even if Bruce and Nicko performances are stellar (Nicko's drum sound in it is incredible!)
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A Matter of Life and Death is Awesome,In my Opinion Every song Except Out of The Shadows is Awesome.
But Even On A Good Day I could listen to Out of the Shadows
 
"Out Of The Shadows" is an amazing song to me. The lyrics and music are ethereal and beautiful, and remind me of the best qualities of Bruce's softer solo material. H plays a great solo on it too, and that strumming breakdown bit near the end is awesome, especially when Davey comes in with a wonderful harmony solo! It's definitely not a filler, or weaker track on AMOLAD, it stands up to the very best of the album's other songs. :)
 
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