Bruce Dickinson

By now most of us are familiar with a popular heavy metal band, Iron Maiden.  They began in London in the late 70’s with original singer, Paul D’ianno, replaced him with Bruce Dickinson in 1982, briefly replaced Dickinson with Blaze Bayley from 1993 to 2000, and have continued with Bruce back on vocals from 2000 to the present.

Samson.  This was another New Wave of British Heavy Metal band, led by guitarist Paul Samson.  Their first album was as a three-piece, Samson singing as well as playing lead guitar.  Dickinson joined, then known by his stage name Bruce Bruce, and having a mustache.  He’s on Head On and Shock Tactics, two fairly decent albums.  Ironically, Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr had been in this band earlier, before Dickinson joined.  Also, they have an instrumental track credited to Steve Harris (“Thunderburst”, from Head On), which is essentially “The Ides of March”, which appears on Killers.

Quality-wise I’d say this is competitive with early Iron Maiden.  His voice is already well-developed and easily recognizable.  If you like his material, by all means add these two to your collection.  I’m glad I did. 

Iron Maiden.   He joined Maiden in 1982 and features on what I consider their best album, Number of the Beast.  From there it’s:  Piece of Mind, Powerslave, Somewhere In Time, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (concept album), No Prayer For the Dying, and Fear of the Dark.   This era is best illustrated with the Live After Death live album and video recorded on different nights at L.A. during the Powerslave tour.   It’s capped off by Raising Hell, filmed on the tail end of the Fear of the Dark tour.  The bass is nonexistent and the crappy magician screws things up, but for a guy who’s already quit the band by that point, Dickinson does a fairly good job.

From 1993 to 1999 he pursued a solo career (see below), returning in 1999 to record Brave New World, Dance of Death, A Matter of Life and Death, The Final Frontier, and Book of Souls, a double studio CD. 

Solo.  As noted, he went solo.  My brother saw him on one of the earlier tours (in 1990, meaning Tattooed Millionaire), while I saw him in New Jersey in 1997 on what would have been the Accident tour.  Albums:  Tattooed Millionaire, Balls to Picasso, Skunkworks, Accident of Birth, The Chemical Wedding, and Tyranny of Souls.   To me these all sound the same and also sound – surprise, surprise – very similar to Iron Maiden.  But none are crappy, the standard being consistently high.  Leaving aside whichever bizarre idiots out there prefer Paul D’ianno or Blaze Bayley, if you’re an Iron Maiden fan, do yourself a favor and add 6 albums to your collection.  You’re welcome. 

Style.  BD has a strong voice with impressive vibrato.  I haven’t noticed any deterioration over the years.  Live, he has a tendency to chat with us between songs, but I’d say he has a good sense of measure to keep it reasonably brief.  Perhaps a spoken word tour would be nice.  [Although I never had the pleasure of seeing Frank Zappa, as opposed to his son Dweezil, play music live, I did catch him give a spoken word lecture at University of Maryland.  Unfortunately I can’t remember the substance of his speech, but suffice to say everyone was highly entertained.]  At the solo show my brother saw, he reminded the French audience chanting “EE-RON MAI-DEN” that “ce n’est pas Iron Maiden, c’est Bruce Dickinson!”   At our show at the Birch Hill he pissed off my friend Ken by accusing Soundgarden of ripping off Black Sabbath without giving due credit – whereas Ken and I were well aware that Kim Thayil was open in acknowledging Iommi’s influence.   Contemporary interviewer to Thayil: “Maybe you should be paying royalties to Tony Iommi.”  Thayil: “Maybe”.

Cancer.   Recently he caught cancer, but it was diagnosed fairly early.  With characteristic aplomb, he went ballistic and conquered it.  Neil Peart’s wife should have consulted him, were it not that her cancer took her 20 years earlier (at which point BD was going solo).

Hobbies.  BD loves to fence – fight with swords, not sell stolen merchandise.  He reached a point almost good enough to compete in the Olympics.  On tours he’d bring his epees and practice whenever possible.  His flight hobby reached the point of being able to fly commercial jumbo jets, and when Maiden acquired their own jets, he flew them himself.  In addition to the logistics of keeping everyone, band, crew and equipment, on the same plane, it also allowed the band to tour many places like Brazil, India, Antarctica, Mars, Middle Earth, Melnibone, etc. which most bands tend to ignore because they don’t actually exist. 

Autobiography.  Bruce Dickinson, What Does This Button Do?   From his childhood in England, born in 1958, raised partly in Sheffield, he also worked with Ian Gillan – his idol – early in his career.  From early bands, to Samson, to Iron Maiden, his solo career, and back with Maiden again, it’s here.  Don’t ask who he’s married to, though:  he kept his social life off-limits (Rob Halford).  I found it a bit long on his fencing and flying, but the anecdotes and honesty were more than entertaining enough to make this an enjoyable read.   

Hair.  Yes, oddly enough, I have a comment about this.  As a fan of heavy metal, my inclination and preference is to have long hair.  Unfortunately, my lifestyle as an attorney has largely prevented this.  Moreover, my hair has a tendency to curl up when it gets longer, and I don’t have the time to allow it to grow longer and curl down.  HOWEVER, for my senior year in high school in Paris, I did achieve the unlikely and sadly brief distinction of having long hair, which was cut during summer 1986 before going to college.  My high school graduation picture and UMCP student ID photo are the last surviving evidence of this. 

Anyhow.  When it came to getting it trimmed, I would take a picture of Bruce Dickinson to the stylist to assist them in knowing what look I was going for: IRON MAIDEN.  This was ages before the man himself cut his hair, prior to his return to Maiden in 2000.  After copying him, now he’s copying me.