Classic Rock just did an anniversary feature to celebrate 50 years (holy shit) of Iron Maiden where they interviewed the current lineup – bassist Steve Harris, singer Bruce Dickinson, guitarists Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, and Janick Gers, and drummer Nicko McBrain – to talk about the entirety of Iron Maiden‘s career, no matter how difficult the subject. Which then led to the discussion of one Steve Harris‘ most difficult decisions – firing Blaze Bayley, the vocalist that replaced Bruce Dickinson in 1993 after his departure.
Blaze Bayley was most commonly known as the vocalist for Iron Maiden records The X Factor (1995) and Virtual XI (1998). And Steve Harris had nothing but glowing things to say about those records. Telling Classic Rock that, “Honestly, I thought some of the songs on those albums were among the best I’ve ever written. But those songs were quite dark, probably because of where I was mentally at the time, without even realising it.
After the release of those two records, the possibility of both Dickinson and Smith being reinstated into the group started to loom in 1999, and Blaze Bayley‘s time with Iron Maiden had decidedly come to an end. And Harris wasn’t entirely comfortable with the conversation: “That’s the worst thing about being in a band,” he says. “It’s not something I feel comfortable with. Never have done. Never will. But you’ve got to do what’s right for the band.”
And with the band fighting against the upcoming alternative rock movement in the industry during the late 90s and early 2000s, bringing back the original line-up made sense. Yet, it was also a test to see if Dickinson was genuine, and for a while, Harris “wanted to make sure they were coming back for the right reasons.”
Those right reasons ended up culminating in the band’s 2000 record, Brave New World. From there, Harris “knew then that we could just carry on as long as we want.”
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