Bruce Dickinson famously quit Iron Maiden back in 1993 to pursue a solo career. The band continued with new vocalist Blaze Bayley, but his albums at the time weren’t as well received as those of his predecessor.
Dickinson and Maiden would reunite in 1999, but not until bassist Steve Harris was convinced that the singer was coming back for the right reasons. “Steve was very suspicious,” Dickinson explained to Classic Rock. “He said: ‘Why do you wanna come back?’ I actually said, ‘I want to come back, Steve, because, in the words of my mates, “The world needs Iron Maiden” – and secondly I think we can make amazing music.’”
Dickinson was asked if he felt Maiden needed him, too. “Probably,” he said. “But there was no point in saying that, because it would have sounded like sour grapes. What I said was, ‘We will sweep away the past by doing an amazing future.’”
The singer would go on to make a bold statement. ”The first words out of my gobby mouth were, ‘Of course we are better than Metallica!’ People said: ‘You can’t say that.’ I said, ‘I just did!’ Then they started going, ‘Maybe he’s right.’ You’ve got to have that attitude, though. It’s like Mick Jagger didn’t get to be Mick Jagger by sitting there going, ‘Oh, we’re quite good, you know – we’re almost as good as the Beatles.’”
The band’s first album post-reunion turned out to be one of their classics. “I also told them… ‘We are not to just do greatest hits albums – we are going to do a new album and it will be f*cking great,’” Dickinson said. “And it was. ‘Brave New World’ really delivered. So suddenly we’re off to the races again.”
Dickinson’s forthcoming solo album, “The Mandrake Project,” is due March 1. The lead single/video, “Afterglow Of Ragnarok” can be viewed below.
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