If you're as nerdy as us about old metal bands and the stories behind them, we're looking for you. Whether it be fact-checking, scriptwriting, narrating, editing or any other skill - there might be a place for you on our team. Talk to us - even if you're not sure what you could help with (that's how our producer got in)! We're on Discord: discord.gg/9hqX4hw Or message me on Twitter: twitter.com/razbenari
@@ilyalead4blade897 he means that Blaze couldnt sing well the Dickinson-era maiden songs especially high notes but then again Steve Harris could and should have seen this very early, even in the audition.
@@mitsmann8024 maybe he could sing Dickinson era songs, but didn't expect Maidens touring schedule to be so ruthless. but I agree that Harris should have seen that he didn't fit for the job from the start
@@ilyalead4blade897 yes but Maiden were touring for 8-10 months each time since 1983-84, this was known. But all this wasnt Blaze's fault at any time, he tried and gave his best. And I ve been in the 90s with people roasting him and its one of the nicest things in metal that he is nowadays respected by almost all.
Most people dont realize this. Brave New World, the return of Bruce!! Uhh hum, and ADRIAN. Albums without Adrian were ok, Fear Of The Dark was as good as that gets, bring Adrian back and the sky's the limit.
@@saltpeter7429 Yes, and even Janick has improved his playing with Adrian back (out of necessity, to a degree). There is a tightness and polish they just lack without him.
He was always going to suffer in comparison to Bruce... he just hasn't got the same range... but then who has? Personally I think xfactor and xi have got some great songs on them, but can't help thinking how much better they'd be if Bruce was singing them. that said, I wish him well.
@@mikeboosh8776 the main problem was that in live shows people want to hear hallowed be thy name , trooper, aces high , Rime …he simply couldn’t sing those and Steve wouldn’t downtune
Iron Maiden for me is a Steve Harris,without him nothing would sounds good...albums Iron Maiden,Killers and as you said such 2 albums with a Blade especially Virtual XI were good,which proved that even without a vocalist,Iron Maiden maded very good instrumentals...and Bruce is a just a brand...for me one direction boring vocalist,he cannot to change voices like DiAnno can or some singers like Sebastian Bach...as I said he is a Brand...
X Factor was very well received in France, reaching gold status. Shows were sold out even though in smaller venues than previously. Whoever would have been the singer, the mid ans late 90's would have been difficult because, well, the times were difficult for 80's heavy metal bands.
I think it says something when to this day, Sign of the Cross and The Clansman still show up in concert setlists. That almost never happens with other bands who change singers and then reunite with the original later on. (Ozzy never sang Dio's tunes, Dave never tried any Sammy songs, etc.) It tells me that Blaze's era is still respected and considered valid by Bruce and the others, and there's not as much ego involved with only keeping the "real" Maiden songs going live. There's just something so wholesome about that.
Ozzy never sang Dio's tunes, because Ozzy could never pull off Dio's vocals :D:D:D Ozzy is great at what he does, but imitating Dio's performance would be an embarrassment...... if Ozzy could pull it off, they would definitely play songs like "Heaven And Hell" or "Neon Knights" :D:D "Heaven And Hell" is easily just as famous as any Ozzy classic...... a metal anthem at this point
@@itkojecockot I'd take it further, and say if Heaven and Hell is not the best Sabbath album ,it's at least top 4 .Last few Ozzy albums were def hit or miss overall .Dio was responsible for rebirth of Sabs ,they floundered without him
@@stingereasybuck6919 yep I agree with all your comments about Sabbath. As far as the original point, it's true that for instance Priest never go back to the Ripper tunes.
@@itkojecockot Dude I remember the first time I came across "Neon Knights" after being a Sabbath fan for years and was floored. One of those "What the hell was that!?" songs that just grab you by your throat and hold your attention until it's over. I went out that week and bought Heaven And Hell as well as The Mob Rules. I love Ronnie's solo, even his stuff with Rainbow, but damn I wish I could've seen him with Sabbath live before he passed and the others retired.
Exactly, that was true with Priest. I thought Demolition and Jugulator ESPECIALLY were great. Jugulator is one of the strongest albums Priest ever put out and they never touched those songs again after Halford came back.
Blaze is a class act, Steve even has him in his thank you list on Senjutsu. Thank you Blaze for 2 great albums and keeping Maiden going in the hardest years for any metal band. Up the Irons 🤘
Blaze was just excellent, to the point I bought his albums after Bruce's return, but, well, as usual, the whole band does much, much more than just the singer. But honestly, I love the Iron maiden albums with Blaze. Bruce just seemed to have lost the motivation at that time, and it's probably a good thing he did something else for a while and came back really motivated. Still, I think Blaze's voice really fitted Iron Maiden's music. It was said he struggled because it wasn't his usual register, but he still nailed it IMHO. He provided a really honest and genuine performance and I'd always be thankful for those really great albums.
I never let anybody down Blaze. Nobody could ever have filled that role, he was the "rebound". Some fans criticize him for not being Bruce. But who is?
I think Steve Harris never understood that singing Maiden stuff for 2h is incredibly strenuous. The early albums contain so many high notes, often times sung in a staccato-like fashion, that your diaphragm must be as strong as Arnold's biceps and Lou Ferigno's chest to pull that off. And then he hires a baritone to do that and wonders why that doesn't work out... 🥴
@@sunnyday157 Blaze knew it was going be tough, but you cant reject such offer, just like if Real Madrid or the Los Angeles Lakers come calling, you cant reject them no matter what. Its a once in a lifetime opportunity.
@@aesir1ases64 It takes a bigger man to admit when he's outmatched. You can't tarnish an otherworldly band like Iron Maiden because you can't come to terms with the fact that you simply can't do the job at the level necessary. He should have gracefully declined.
Dispite that, Bruce wasn't in his right mind when he went off solo, he got too cocky and thought he could get out of Maiden and still keep the fans. He was in the wrong there. He was also lucky, yet again, to get re-accepted into Maiden.
@@eddiethehead4791 wasn’t in his right mind? Chemical wedding is better than any album Maiden put out after Bruce left. Bruce’s solo career in that period was much more well received than any of Maidens stuff - and in hindsight, it’s far superior than anything maiden did in that period.
I almost shat me pants when they released brave new world and I put it in the cd player and The wicker man started .still one of my absolute favorite songs. Epic reunion! Up the irons!
Dorngrunder I did the minute I heard Dickinson would rejoin ! And....I immediately thought...Hmm...Great time to bring Smith back....And sack Gers most importantly....Oh well, I wiped myself and got the deal for a six piece...It can't all be perfect
I always wished Brave New World got a proper mixing job though. In an interview Kevin Shirley said that all he really did was set some levels and the band said "send it" which is why the production has a bit of a demo quality to it. Still an amazing album.
Blaze in my eyes will always be the man who saved IM in their darkest hour, plus Lord of the Flies, Virus and Clansman were out of this world... For that time period - enough for me. Nothing but love and respect for Blaze, and a thank you.
Virtual is still pretty bad tbh. Even despite the new light shed upon both the albums with time passing. X Factor on the other hand is glorious and one of their absolute best albums in my book.
You should...his solo material is killer!!! Also he has a few live CDs and an acoustic album and he covers some of his Maiden tenure. Blaze is simply producing some of the best Heavy Metal today.
Blaze always puts his fans first and makes sure that they get the most out of their money. There have been times when he's been signing stuff, chatting and taking photos with the fans on the street in the rain when the venue he was playing at told the fans to leave because they wanted to close right after the show. I personally got the shock of my life when I went to one of his gigs and he straight up walked up to me to shake my hand and thank me for showing up. And then of course there's the music, which for the most part is amazing, especially now that he's teamed up with Absolva.
He's a really cool guy, super down to earth. I had the chance to talk a little bit with him during one of his tours. If it wasnt because he had a line of 50 people waiting to take a picture with him I'm sure he would keep talking to me about his music. Not so long ago a friend of mine had the opportunity to do an interview with him for our fan page MaidenArg, and he was super chill about it and talked about pretty much everything. Musically speaking "The X Factor" is a masterpiece, and his whole solo career it's amazing, you can pick any of it's albums and you would be surprised for how good it is. Well, except "The King of Metal" that one kinda sucks lol
I’d also like to add that the Adrian Smith angle was fantastic!! Steve hit the nail right on the head when he said what Adrian means to Maiden musically!! He just does!! The man is a monster on that guitar!!
@@benashton3691 In his autobiography ("What does this button do?" - very good, incidentally) Bruce recounts meeting up with Steve to discuss rejoining Maiden. I think he said that Adrian rejoining was one of his conditions and Steve said something like: "Fair enough, I always wanted Maiden to be a 3 guitar band anyway!"
@@tested211 i'd heard some conflicting details over the years. I remember reading that part in Bruce's book, but it didn't sound convincing to me. What was stated in the video definitely sounds like something Steve would do. Maybe the real story is a mix of everything we've heard so far.
This video really helped me come to grips with the Blaze era and gave me a new-found respect for the guy. He had huge shoes to fill and really made the best of it. I'll never bad-mouth the guy again!
@@d.st.michael4195 Your acting skills are amazing my.friend, but OK... Tell Steve Harris there is no need to produce prolonged boring stuff like guys last 18 yrs always do and to fire Kev Shirley. Do it for me and you deserve my respect.
I was a Blaze skeptic until I went to one of his shows. If you see him live, in person, comfortable, in his element, it is easy to see why he was Steve Harris' choice. He has a magnetic stage presence, gives it his all and is a fantastic singer (especially when singing songs written for him and by him). Really genuine guy and I respect him so much for sticking to what he believes in.
@@freakazoid4691 he couldn't sing the damn high notes, and it was embarrassing. Harris has always been weirdly perverse in his decisions, and the two Blaze albums have very little to offer.
@@pentagrammaton6793 neither could most male vocalists. It's bizarre that they picked Blaze, and then didn't transpose their older songs to match his register. You can't expect him to magically make his vocal range higher.
@@pentagrammaton6793 I don't think that's fair- no 90's alt rock ever sounds like the two Blaze-era Maiden albums. Nothing sounds like those albums. Weird experiment? Sure, but calling it trend-chasing would be a stretch
well you say that , but after 12 years they wanted to try something different for their covers becaue riggs was getting burnt out on eddie. (starting with fear of teh dark being the frist non rigs cover), they did commision rigs for a few jobs down the road , but usually for singles , or stage art they could blow up on canvas and what not. they never tapped him for album covers any more though. damn shame too.
Powerslave and Somewhere in Time have some really neat hidden details that you dont really notice unless you see it at a large size on the vinyl record cover.
@@jasonrackawack9369 in his book derek riggs said those two works are two of the few times he used a canvas bigger than 12inchx12inch (record size). most his art work he did on a record sized canvas because he wanted it to just fit the album cover with out needing to be resized becasue back then resizing art work was a bitch. anotehr reason he usually didn't use large canvas' is because he said it was just too much space to work on.
@@DenverStarkey I did not know that, the irony is I listened to all my first maiden albums an cassettes and the art got all reduced or cropped anyway. I have a collection of tour books and vinyl from that era and Riggs did some awesome work even for the inserts and inner covers. I will have to check out his book.😉👍
It’s incredible. I actually think it’s such a dark moody album, there is no other maiden album like it . Lord of the flies is one of the best singles they ever released , the edge of darkness is incredibly moody and the aftermath has one of their best guitar solos. I genuinely think it’s a much better album than number of the beast which seems to be everyone’s favourite
I dismissed it altogether back when I first bought it. In all honesty, I only bothered to keep it around because it had Lord of the Flies and Man on the Edge, the only two songs I liked, and because I wanted to have a complete collection of Maiden albums on my shelf. A couple years later I decided to give it another spin while listening through all my Maiden albums back to back. I don't know what it was, but when this album finally kicked in, it hit me like a ton of bricks, as if some switch had turned in my head telling me this was good now. I still clearly remember the feeling of confusion I got when I realized I had just discovered one of my favorite Maiden albums, and it had been on my shelf all along, forgotten and nearly untouched ever since I first bought it.
I had the chance to meet Blaze in a trip he took to Brazil, he had a Brazilian girlfriend at the time, and he had a bunch of interviews set, I was the translator for the interviews. He’s such a nice fellow, and I remember he telling me how hard it was to sing for Iron Maiden. Incredibly humble and aware of his limitations, very nice bloke.
I'm glad that Blaze is getting some fairer levels of respect than he's had over the past 30 years for daring to join Maiden. It's strange hiring a baritone to replace a Tenor, but not tuning down your guitars to match the voice. Thankfully Blaze's solo band (which I've seen 4 times live) are always on point and compliment his voice well. As for Blaze himself, I've never heard a flat note or a dull comment when he's onstage. Legend
I agree with u. Barittone will never sing as high as tenor and his higher notes could be darker so at least they could pick tenor. I don't blame Blaze that he couldn't hit Bruce's tenor high notes.
Blaze really won me over with his solo material over the past decade or so. Really solid Maidenesque tunes, much more well suited for his vocals. Following his journey and seeing his classy handling of his past in Maiden, his passion for music in traveling to the most rinky dink and remote areas to do shows a fraction of the size of what he used to do, and how generous and genuine he's been with his fans through the years has only made me a bigger fan. Great job on this documentary--I hope it earns Blaze some new listeners for his post-Maiden material, and at least a bit of a general reassessment for the people so quick to give him a beating for what 90s Maiden sounded like. Adrian Smith leaving led to a string of four not very good Maiden albums, and Bruce's solo work in the 90s was a lot better than the last two Maiden records he did before leaving. Wonderful that they came back and really rediscovered their mojo.
Man I love seeing such positivity towards Blaze, because he is a very good and talented man! I love X Factor and his solo albums. And he is so humble!!!
Those were dark years for Maiden. Steve Harris went through a divorce, Adrian Smith and Bruce left the band, plus heavy metal fell out of favor in the mainstream music press because of the grunge/alternative trend. The X Factor was the darkest sounding Maiden album, it reflects what they're going through. But alas, the dark times ended in 1999 and everything turned around for them and their careers were resurrected.
"and their careers were resurrected." their careers never died. even in the US they sold out madison square garden both in 1995 and in 1998 for some reason though promoters gave them lotta small gigs after the madison square garden shows. but their careers were definitely not dead.
heavy metal hadn't fallen out of mainstream public at that time (compared to now) It only underwent a different phase by drifting away from its classical influences into balls to the wall edginess epitomized by Pantera just so it could keep up with the serious-themed/less glamorized Grunge scene
@@ColtraneTaylor i remember well how torn the fan base was over blaze bailey though. it was litterally 50/50 back in the early internet days you could count heads on the IM website forums and you get a near perfect split between those that loved blaze and those hated him, and then you had an equal ammount that were neutral about it. so even with out bruce maiden were good at selling tickets out.
You forgot to mention that before Brave New World the full line-up did the "The Ed Hunter Tour" in 1999, to promote the video-game/compilation "Ed Hunter". I was there in Madrid in October 1999 and it was absolutely fantastic. The full band (three guitars and all) was at the top of their game once again. Bruce running around like crazy, climbing up the stage, singing like ever before... Best live show I've ever seen. Megadeth were the opening act and they were amazing too. Good memories.
@@MoonshineSazerac funny i found most of The Book Of souls to be more tedious than Senjutsu. to me only two songs really stood out from the whole in BoS. while Senjutsu already has three stand out songs to me off just one listen.
X Factor was probably the best album that they did in the nineties from a front-to-back quality standpoint; I would have put the song Judgment Day on there instead of 2AM though for better pacing. Fear of the Dark is IM's worst album with a lot of filler tracks, and even the ones that people praise are not all that special, like the title track. Had Bruce persisted with the band with how the relationship was at the time the next album probably would have been much worse than how X Factor turned out. Virtual XI has a couple of good songs (tracks 1 and 4) but then inexplicable stuff like Angel and the Gambler keep the album in the lower tier; a lot of it was meh; could have been a lot better if they had continued in the X factor style with more refinement and catered towards Blaze's singing range and strengths. I thought that Book of Souls was pretty boring with a good musical moment here and there, but it should have been trimmed to one disc. I like Final Frontier because it has a raw production that reminds me of UFO; the new album Senjutsu is one of their better ones since the reunion.
Paul has said some shit over the years but he is a good dude , he has been nothing but complementary to maiden for a long time now. Plus I personally think he was the best singer they ever had! Those first two maiden albums are the best ( next to Powerslave and Piece of Mind ) .
This is a great video, I love the interviews with Doogie White and Blaze. I could write a thesis on what I think went wrong, Adrian leaving was the start of the rot IMO.
I´d add that Steve approved Bailey because he didn´t affect the music negatively in the way he wrote it, and he had not to fight anymore. And with this particular concept, he made the mistake of chosing him instead of a better vocalist, phisically and creatively wise.
To be completely fair the flops started with No Prayer For The Dying when Iron Maiden tried to strip down their sound. It wasn't Blaze that started the downturn in Maiden's career - that started when Bruce was still in the band.
You absolutely NAILED it. Adrian left after SEVENTH SON. The next two "Bruce" albums were sub par and everyone knows it. I actually like "Fear of the dark", not bad. But that's the point, MAIDEN is supposed to be great! BRAVE NEW WORLD was a gift of the metal gods, but people only focused on Bruce, not the return of Adrian.
Hmmmmm, disagree. SiT wasnt a great album, SSoaSS wasnt much better. Having said that, no many bands can write and release 5 decent albums (or 6 if you include LaD) on the bounce like Maiden did between 80-84
@@KP-viking88 But that was their experimental phase where they were doing something different. I personally love those two albums but it took me a while to get into them. Their true downward spiral period started with NPftD because that's where the record sales started to decline, and the writing fatigue truly showed.
This is the best and most honest look at this time period of the band. I am a Maiden fan from the debut album and I love the X-Factor. Blaze Bayley is all class and his solo albums are just brilliant...both in quality of songs and production. Top notch video and review.
2 AM will always be in my rotation. Blaze is so good on that one. Always makes me stop and listen to the profound lyrics and think how well I am doing. Kinda puts my problems in perspective.
Various factors: Adrian’s departure (Gers not being as good as him), Change of musical climate (Metal taking a back seat to grunge and rap/hip hop music), Bruce’s sudden departure, Blaze being an odd replacement choice, Lack of artwork quality (Riggs’s departure), Steve’s writer’s block (songwriting nosedive)…
Gers is really good, but arguably not an equal in Iron Maiden as a lead player. He has great compositional chops, whether with Maiden (certainly way more than Dave) or on Bruce's first solo album. Tattooed Millionaire was banged out in a very short time and it's quite good for what it is. There are a handful of Gers songs that stand among album favorites. The Legacy is so cool.
Well, Gers is tad sloppier than Adrian but his style is unique, too - you always can tell whether it is him who plays the solo or not. So he was not an issue at all.
Blaze was desperately trying to sing high by stretching his chest voice: IMPOSSIBLE! Had he unlocked his mixed voice, all his live gigs would've been perfect. I've seen him live and I really enjoyed it, especially when he sang the X & VI songs that were written for his voice range
He never unlocked it He always had the same limited vocal range Which is fine but it just didn’t work with maidens catalog. Watching him try hallowed be thy name was like watching him take a dump while constipated
@@bigtommy9715 check out a rare Blaze high pitch in "Wolfbane - Money To Burn" at minute 2:15: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1qOKqugbJQ8.html I always wondered why everyone says he can't go high...? In this song he went as high as Bruce's scream in Number of the Beast.
@@SonicFreqCtrl Yes, ONCE, most of us can pull that off in a studio environment Now try that live constantly in a gig that lasts over 2 hours, with your voice already operating at its limit
Blaze is a good guy. One time I confused him with Tim "Ripper" Owens, and I felt really bad about it but he just laughed it off and told me it was fine.
I like that Rainbow album Stranger In Us All better than X Factor. I actually wanted Blaze to join the band though and them go in a new direction, but it didn't happen.
Brave New World has been in my top 3 Maiden albums since I first got into them, over a decade ago now. I was only two and a half years old when it came out, so I can only imagine what it was like for seasoned fans to hear the return of Bruce and Adrian on an album that just kicks so much ass from start to finish. The Wicker Man, Ghost Of The Navigator, The Fallen Angel, Out Of The Silent Planet -- all top tier bangers for me. The title track as well!! Beautiful!!
I totally agree about brave new world being in the top three. It's not that just one or two songs are better than some of their best. It's that the whole album kicks ass!
My recollection from this time was that Maiden was already on a bit of a downward trajectory starting from the underwhelming No Prayers album and by the time Fear of the Dark hit, quite a number of metal heads including myself, were into far heavier and more underground stuff. Even before Blaze era, Maiden was really "unfashionable" even amongst a lot of metal heads. Hard to imagine now but at least among the circles I ran with, there was definitely a line that was drawn between "heavy metal" vs. newer subgenres that were sprouting like crazy in the early/mid 90's.
Yep. Spot on. I'm another huge fan who had the exact same experience. The Iron Maiden albums getting lost behind Coronor, Sabbat, and Boltthrower, etc.
There was a Death Metal explosion going on which was a HUGE game changer in the metal scene at the time No Prayer and Fear of the Dark came out. These were simply wrong albums in a wrong time, plus evident drop in quality on these records made Maiden look even more irrelevant, worn-out and outdated back then. In other words, for most of us who were discovering a lot of new exciting and heavier bands like Morbid Angel, Entombed etc listening to songs like Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter or Fear of the Dark was pretty lame and cringe or at best sounded as some kind of entry-level metal for kids.
However, when The X Factor came out it was entirely different time. Being a very dark album in a sort of progressive doom metal style, by 1995 it was totally right thing in a right time. It was in tune with what was going on in the metal underground, and it resonated especially very well with the wave of depressive metal which was prominent from mid to late 90s (Paradise Lost, Tiamat, At The Gates. Anathema, Type O Negative, Sentenced etc). They even had My Dying Bride with them on that tour.
Great documentary mate. I've known Iron Maiden for a long time before I've become familiar with their songs. I started listening to them and became a fan relatively very new, in 2000 (starting from the Brave New World lineup). I felt a bit 'un-confident' at that time because, I felt like a rookie fan (since the band was already around in the 1980s). But boy, am I glad I became a fan at that period. The BNW album was perhaps my favorite album and it blew me away. I was only 13 years old at that time, so it's quite logical to start liking the band in 2000, and impossible to know before because I was too young or not even born yet. But looking back now..I can now proudly say: I've been a Maiden fan for more than 20 years. Up the irons!
Too traditional a band to use lower tunings. Steve is a reactionary fellow, and this is why he will only ever hire British band members regardless of singing ability.
It seems crazy that this did not occur to them. They could tune down half a step and nobody would notice except the guitar players in the audience. They could probably have got away with a whole step.
Maybe this is a hot take but they should've started doing this in the 2000s era with Bruce. Not that he doesn't still do an impressive job but with each album he's straining for those high notes more and more. But maybe Bruce is too stubborn to accept a lower tuning...
They brought in a baritone to replace a tenor, forcing him to sing tenor songs. No wonder he blew his voice on those tours. If they had stuck to a register where Blaze was comfortable with he wouldn't have that many issues.
Now they should bring a Ville Valo to sing a bass,..and try with that too...as I younger I had all male voices I could sing Barriton,Tenor even a Bass...but with a years and lot of smoking I lost lot of my natural colour voice...some vocalists have a many voices,however,maiden music was always more-less good...that they if they never had a vocalist could sound still good and to be popular...
Ironically, as this was happening Bruce Dickinson made arguably some of the best metal albums there’s been. These may have been the ‘dark years’ for maiden but Bruce gave us two GOAT metal albums as a solo artist.
Stellar video mate. A proper narrative, flowing well with great pacing and even with the old school "where are they now" segment at the end. Keep it up!
@@sinnanna7471 honestly harris could have saved those songs live if he had just dropped tuning down to even e flat. but maiden has never been a band to work outside standard tunings. which is why he probably stuck to the songs as they were written. that said some bruce and dianno era stuff blaze did good, just not all of it. i personally always prefered blaze's voice on afraid to shoot strangers over bruce's. his darker tone jsut fits the song so much better.
@@DenverStarkey Blaze sounds great when songs suit him (tune vise). Albums Silicon Messiah and 10th Dimension are pure masterpieces and he sounds amazing there!
@@kanaziras you're preaching to the quire. i always liked blaze's voice from day 1, though i did acknowledge his voice wasn't a fit for most bruce's IM stuff. i think he did pretty good on a lot of the Dianna era stuff as well. it's just they covered so little dianno stuff when they had blaze. i always thought he'd sound wicked evil on the song Killers (not counting the intro screams). but oh well , we'll never know.
WOW! Just stumbled onto this. Well done, with more depth then the usual stuff out there. Looking forward to more! I gained a lot of respect for Blaze with this.
Many consider It as Maiden's darkest hour, however me being a Maiden fan since the very early years I still supported the Blaze Bayley era and I still think that both X Factor and Virtual XI are still very good albums indeed.
Seconded. Iron Maiden's darkest hours were "No Prayer for the Dying" and "Fear of the Dark" (the latter is partially saved by two or three good songs, though). All IMHO, of course.
@@francescorossi8772 I actually like No prayer for the dying. IMO It is a very good álbum and has got some real killer tracks. As a matter of fact the track 'Holy smoke" is one of my all time fav Maiden tracks.
@@francescorossi8772 These are the only 2 I cant instantly remember the songs when I look up the albums. Theres a couple good tracks but this is usually the slog for me when I go through their Discography. I actually really like the Blaze period
@@francescorossi8772 At least 'Fear Of The Dark" gave us "Be Quick Or Be Dead," "Fear Of The Dark," & "Afraid To Shoot Strangers," whereas, "No Prayer For The Dying" pretty much sucked ass!!
Mr Blaze, gentleman and a scholar! I've always hear him (his tone of voice) as 2 levels darker compared to Bruce. An those 2 albums he did with Maiden profes it. It was a perfect match for those times. But Blaze could not bring progression the same way bad went. That's why Bruce and Adrian came back. Iron Maiden lovely in each era of their existence!
I remember when fear of the dark came out. Brought back so many grand memories. Great times. I have to say the chemical wedding album was AWESOME as well.
@@kevinmaillet4712 totally agree brother. Was listening back the other day because this reminded me. Its timeless. I mean, you would assume maybe that theres a few decent songs and all that and the rest are fillers, but its not. Every song is a classic. The time period and feel really reminds me of Ozzys Ozzmosis album. Same story.
@@kevinmaillet4712 "Balls To Picasso" "Accident Of Birth" & "Chemical Wedding" are all incredible albums!!! This is why Roy Z should be the 3rd Maiden guitarist instead of Gers
This is all stuff I never heard before. I never cared to get into the Blaze Bayley stuff, As a teenager it's easier to write things off and say they suck. But as you get older you start to appreciate that these guys are all human and have had great passion for music when they were kids too and as they grew into adults. watching this and seeing it from an empathetic standpoint you can't help but have a greater respect for these guys through these years as well as the music. From Steve's standpoint X-Factor was a critical point in his life. They went from great success to getting by and having to re-adjust their lives. Now they still tour and do what they love after decades of being in music. Huge respect to all of them. In the end it's all about the music they love to make, and this is why Maiden is one of my favorite bands ever!
Blaze never got to sing wasted years with iron Maiden even though he loves that song but I've seen a video of him singing it with his own band (they might have down tuned the guitars to suit his voice) and he sounded great.
I loved 90s Maiden. X Factor got me through some dark times last year. I love No Prayer For The Dying. Fear Of The Dark is amazing and Virtual XI is great. Honestly, every Maiden era is great. Love the new album
Awesome video! One thing missing from Maiden since Fear of the Dark- Martin Birch. The production on the most recent albums today sound horribly muffled.
Someone on here said Bruce Dickinson ACCIDENT OF BIRTH, and CHEMICAL WEDDING were the best Maiden albums they never recorded, lol. Not enough emphasis on the importance of Adrian Smith, in collaboration with Bruce. SEVENTH SON was the last Great album until BRAVE NEW WORLD. Having all 3 guitarists in the band now is awesome.
Roy Z actually produced & wrote most of the songs with Bruce on those albums, while Adrian added a small amount of writing. The key being that Adrian brought back the signature Maiden sound
What a fantastic video on Iron Maiden, this was a nice surprise thanks for making this video and sharing this. I had the final Bruce concert on dvd in the late 90's when I was a kid before Bruce rejoined. As well as the X Factor on cd and I appreciated what Blaze did. So the 90's era of Iron Maiden with all the changes in the group I resonate with. Great job!!
Saw Maiden live in October 1990 on the "No prayer for the dying" tour. Had been a fan since 1980 with the original line up. Wolfsbane were the support band in 1990 and when Bruce went solo obviously Blaze Bayley had caught the attention of Maiden's bosses when they had supported them. Maiden did not fully recover imao until Bruce came back and they were touring around the world in their own plane in 2008. Are still producing great stuff even now after 40 years or more. Looking forward to listening to the new album. You cannot better "Number of the Beast" though and it will always be hard to do so as that was the golden era of metal.
great little documentary man! really enjoyed this and learned quite a few things too! imagine how cool it must have been in 2000... a new century, the rebirth of maiden and quite the banger of an album.
Yeah Blaze is not the best singer in the world, but he has his own voice. He only was the wrong guy to replace Dickinson, but if you listen to the albums he made after he left Maiden, Silicon Messiah, Tenth Dimension and Blood And Belief, those are great albums and he sings the right stuff for his voice.
@@alessandrociapica5180 Indeed. Dickinson is right up there with the greatest rock singers IMO and replacing him is like trying to replace Halford, Dio or Plant - it's an impossible ask. The only thing you can do is come in, offer your own take on things and do your best, which is what Blaze did. Props to him.
That show in Rio with no encore was my first even Maiden concert (I am a big fan since I was very small) and seeing the band without Dickinson en no encore at the end was a great disappointment. It was indeed a great show, but it felt empty somehow. One year later I went to a concert of the Chemical Wedding tour in the same place and only then I realised what I really missed in the Maiden's concert: that energy of Bruce.
I loved this video. I enjoyed the Blaze era. Also I think the Blaze era itself made the reunion in 2000 so much better!! Not saying Blaze was bad just different and people wanted the Bruce era back. Anyway great job!!
Great video, thanks! I actually read an article fairly recently that stated that Bruce said that he would have only came back to maiden if Adrian Smith came back too.. I breathed a slight bit of relief when I heard your story. Cheers!
I've always considered there to be a major gap between Seventh Son and Brave New World (had thought the good music had died after 7th but BNW surprised me in quality). So much was missing during that period, it was unrecognizable as Maiden. Props to them for trying, but things have a natural ebb and flow I suppose.
I still love the two records Blaze did wtih Maiden. It wasn't Iron Maiden at all, it was just another band, but the albums are class. Not many musicians can do that.
What a beautiful tribute to one of the greatest bands in the history of heavy music Even through hardships internally, comercially and creatively, Maiden never stopped and this video resonated the feeling of joy I got when listening to them
Fantastic documentary :) I had never heard Doogie before but he sounds like he would have been great! I wonder how history would have changed if they’d chosen him :) I’ve always liked X and XI as curiosities - they’re something a bit different.
Doogie has a similar range to Bruce, and he would have been the better option for live performances, he wouldn't have had the same problem that Blaze had singing the songs from Bruce's era.
@@curlyken01 Definitely… I wonder if Steve Harris deliberately wanted to try someone with a different range - I can’t imagine Bruce singing Man on the Edge, for example, I think that’s one of the songs where Blaze is at his best as it was written with him in mind!
Honestly, I think Blaze just had too flat of a high end. His voice wasn't completely terrible, but it wasn't that Iron Maiden sound. I actually liked a couple songs off Virtual XI too. As for Bruce's solo effort, I still listen to the Chemical Wedding album on a fairly regular basis, and love numerous tracks from it. It's heavy and dark, and I've always thought that if Blaze had replaced Bruce on those songs, instead of on Maiden's songs, he'd have done a far better job vocally. All that said - Iron Maiden will never be what it once was as time and health have both run its toll on Bruce. But the energy is still there, and the band will forever be legendary.
I tend to agree. Honestly though, I was pretty surprised at 2 things while researching for this video - one: how much of a class act Blaze is, and two: how good Blaze sounded in Wolfsbane, and later on his solo career. The maiden thing was just a mismatch IMO.
@@RazBenAri I've heard that said a lot about Blaze being fantastic with his own band. It just suits him much better, although as mentioned above I really dug a couple of his Maiden songs
@@RazBenAri Only because Steve Harris refused to tune down was it a mismatch. I think Blaze could have pulled it off otherwise. His solo albums, both studio and live are brilliant. He is producing some of the best Heavy Metal music today.
You could make the comparison to when Rob Halford left Judas Priest. Jugulator and Demolition aren't bad albums, just maybe not great Judas Priest albums. I mean all respects aside, I like Paul Di'Anno's performance of early Maiden better than Dickinson's (and they certainly changed those songs to better fit Dickinson's delivery). C'est la vie.
