Your Maiden blasphemy

[Unknown One]

Songs that I feel are overrated - Hallowed (there I said it), Number of the Beast, Flight of Icarus, Fear of the Dark, Brighter than a Thousand Suns
Songs that I feel are underrated - Strange World, Die With Your Boots On, Stranger in a Strange Land, Mother Russia, The Unbeliever, Virus.

I don't rate the album of Matter and Life or Death that highly either.

 

[Night Prowler]

• No Prayer For the Dying is a really good album. Not their best, but far from their worst. As far as 90s albums go I'd probably rate it 2nd only to X Factor.
• Quest For Fire and Sun and Steel are awesome. Especially the latter. There is so much cool stuff happening there, it blows my mind that it isn't as popular as other songs from the album.
• New Frontier isn't that bad.

• 
  I agree with this.

 

[mckindog]

Most of the "filler" on Dance of Dance is pretty good, especially Age of Innocence.

 

[Black Wizard]

Drifter is a great song and a fun way to close an otherwise dark album.

Oooo good one. I love 'Drifter'!

 

[RTC]

Out Of The Silent Planet is one of the greatest Maiden songs, and the best on BNW.
Piece Of Mind is rather overrated. It's better than Killers, and that's about it from the 80's albums.
Run To The Hills and Number Of The Beast are so "overrated", that they're underrated.
Judas Be My Guide and similar songs are so "underrated", that they're overrated.

 

[Collin]

- Heaven Can Wait is top 10 material.
- Aces High is overrated
- Drifter is Amazing
- The Wicker Man is overrated
- I don't like the studio version of Phantom of the Opera
- Judgement of Heaven is awful
- Can I Play with Madness is awesome.
- Dave is better than H
- The Fugitive is better than everything else on Fear of the Dark.

 

[harrisdevot]

- - Dave is better than H

Unpopular opinion ??

Here is my list :

I find Revelations and 2 minutes boring.
Killers is a fantastic record (couldn't say it better than Mosh)
X Factor is masterpiece.
Paschendale never did it for me, except for the fantastic opening theme (so I LOVE the first ten seconds)
I just can't look at Janick onstage
I don't appreciate Starblind and tend to skip it most of the time, because I think this is played too fast
Quest for Fire is one of my faves on Piece of Mind
I'm much more into Burr's drumming than into Nicko's
I admire Rod Smallwood very much (I don't know if it's unpopular, but some fans seem to have rather mixed feelings in that respect).

 

[The Flash]

- That act where all guitarists and 'Arry get together during Trooper is annoying.
- Quest for Fire is a really good song.
- No Prayer is on par with Killers as an album.
- Fear of the Dark's studio version is awkward sounding.
- Fear of the Dark is a horrible album, would give it 1 out of 5 at most.
- To Tame a Land is up there with any Maiden song there is.
- Aces High is far from being Maiden's best opener.
- Flash of the Blade is one of Maiden's best songs.
- Sanctuary is a horrible song.
- A lot of Maiden songs suffer from length problems.
- Maiden is really bad at writing choruses (with exceptions, ofc).

 

[Night Prowler]

- That act where all guitarists and 'Arry get together during Trooper is annoying.

I can understand everything, but what exactly can be annoying about this?

 

[Forostar]

- Fear of the Dark's studio version is awkward sounding

Recent live versions sound awkward. So slow, that I wonder if they're slower than the studio version.

 

[Black Wizard]

Potentially controversial Maiden opinion: it's perfectly acceptable to like Iron Maiden songs are are frequently played live. It's even ok to prefer them to songs which are have rarely (or never) been played live.

 

[Mosh]

Agreed. A lot of songs seem to get overlooked by fans and called "overrated" because they get played a lot. Those songs are popular for a reason, they're awesome. I still love The Trooper and Number of the Beast.

Do I want to see them live every time though? Probably not. It was refreshing getting a break from those songs in 2010. But I don't like them any less.

 

[Forostar]

Potentially controversial Maiden opinion: it's perfectly acceptable to like Iron Maiden songs are are frequently played live. It's even ok to prefer them to songs which are have rarely (or never) been played live.

It's OK for newbies (people who have seen Maiden one or a few times).
.... and for people who really do not mind about setlists at all (in general).

 

[The Flash]

Recent live versions sound awkward. So slow, that I wonder if they're slower than the studio version.

Haven't heard them so cannot say anything about the matter.

I can understand everything, but what exactly can be annoying about this?

Don't know, Maiden is such a "Go out and play" band that a little "act" like that looks weird. When they do do acts, they're mostly well prepared and cinematic. (Bruce's Dance of Death intro, for example)

Potentially controversial Maiden opinion: it's perfectly acceptable to like Iron Maiden songs are are frequently played live. It's even ok to prefer them to songs which are have rarely (or never) been played live.

Sure it is. I think people get concerned about that thing simply because they don't like "n00bz" to be put in the same company (true and true fans) as them.

 

[Mosh]

It's OK for newbies (people who have seen Maiden one or a few times).
.... and for people who really do not mind about setlists at all (in general).

It's okay for anyone. Maybe people like the overplayed songs the most, despite hearing everything else Maiden has done. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[harrisdevot]

- Maiden is really bad at writing choruses (with exceptions, ofc).

THIS is actually surprising to me. I'd like you to elaborate on that if you wish and had time to.

 

[Black Wizard]

It's OK for newbies (people who have seen Maiden one or a few times).
.... and for people who really do not mind about setlists at all (in general).

These songs are still great songs despite being played at every show. Just because they're nearly always in the setlist doesn't mean they are bad songs as a result!

 

[The Flash]

THIS is actually surprising to me. I'd like you to elaborate of that if you wish and had time to.

I think there are a lot of instances where a chorus just isn't as hard hitting as it should be, considering the strength of the rest of the song. Especially in their epics, their epics are better off without a chorus, really. (Alexander and Seventh Son have horrible choruses)

 

[Crimson Idol]

It's okay for anyone. Maybe people like the overplayed songs the most, despite hearing everything else Maiden has done. Nothing wrong with that.

Yup, sure I'd love to hear each song live, but if I like a song then I'm generally happy to hear it in the setlist. It's a chicken and egg situation as to whether the songs are most liked because they're most played, or most played because they're most liked.

 

[Mosh]

I think Maiden (especially Steve) write in a very specific structure every time. Long song, short song, doesn't really matter. They're all written in a similar fashion. As a result you get very predictable choruses that end up sounding forced. Their best choruses are the ones that aren't obvious chorus. i.e. Isle Of Avalon, Starblind, Dance of Death, or WTWWB. Interestingly enough, 3 of these are from the last album. They really branched out in a lot of ways on that album, chorus writing included. Only Mother of Mercy and the title track had bad choruses imo.