Bruce

[Moon Childagain]

I have a couple of questions about Mr Dickinson....

He was born Paul and changed his name to Bruce? One has to ask the question why??? Does anyone still call him Paul, like his mum?

What is/was the friction between Bruce and Steve Harris?

 

[phlogiston]

Bruce's name is Paul Bruce Dickinson. I don't know about earlier, but I think Bruce kind of got stuck when the guys in Samson started calling him Bruce Bruce after a Monty Python sketch. I'm also pretty sure that he was bought up by his Grandparents, and not too sure what happened to his folks.

Bruce and Steve had a difference of opinion on where Maiden should have headed after Powerslave, which is why there are no songs by Bruce on SIT. Bruce wanted a more acoustic and folky sound, I believe. In fact a lot of the B-Sides that are floating around are from Bruce's "Lost" album where he was going to do it when he was solo.

 

[Wrathchild]

That's the Keith Olsen one that was ultimately ditched in favour of Balls To Picasso, yes? I still don't own BTP. I'll buy the 2 disc edition sometime and remedy that sad state of affairs.

W

 

[TinMan666]

The irony with that whole Steve / Bruce issue is that, when it came to light after Bruce quit Maiden... a shitload of the fans kinda sided with Bruce and started saying "oh that Steve is a fucking control freak" etc etc.

All I can say is THANK THE GODS Steve put his foot down, or who knows what we would have gotten instead of SiT and SsoasS - arguably two of the greatest metal albums of all time.

 

[Icarus]

Amen to that. SIT is genius. Mostly thanks to Adrian though. Adrian!

 

[Southy]

Adrian

 

[Mark]

Bruce's parents were quite young and not quite ready for a kid. That's where the title 'Accident of Birth' came from, apparently

Adrian

 

[Moon Childagain]

I agree, thankfully Steve Harris stood his ground. All hail SIT and SSOASS! If he was being a control freak, good for him.

I'm fascinated about Bruce's parents. I wonder if he spent much time with them at all while he was growing up.

I also read somewhere he was entertaining the idea of being a drummer before he became a lead vocalist.

 

[Mark]

I believe he saw them regularly, and then lived with them once they were older. And yeah, he wanted to be Ian Paice's right foot

 

[Winmar]

Just imagine if they'd waited five more years before having a kid. Then there would have been no Brucey.

Thank fuck for England being the teenaged mum capital of the world!

 

[Mark]

 

[Southy]

 

[Moon Childagain]

Mark, Bev, are you going to Maiden's Hammersmith Show for Clive Burr?

 

[Mark]

Depends. Tickets are on sale to fanclub members first, so if there are any left over when they go public then we'll be trying to get a pair

 

[Goreripper]

Apparently Bruce did play drums for a while, but he was hopeless. So he started singing instead. Good move.

 

[Spiff]

I would be very interested in hearing the album that Bruce wanted Somewhere in Time to be. Who knows, it could have been the greatest album ever in the history of everything, and we had to settle with SiT and SSOASS. YOU FOOL, STEVE!!!

By the way, I'm now of the opinion that Chemical Wedding is better than every Maiden album. Not sure how long this opinion will last for, perhaps shortly after I hit the 'reply' button.

 

[Moon Childagain]

Well, speaking of album quality, yesterday I was sorting through all my CDs and cleaning and ordering everything in lounge room cupboards. I came across Dance of Death which reminded me I have never listened to it start to finish. So as I continued with my menial tasks, I gave it a spin and it's not as bad as I first thought. But that song Dance of Death is a bit silly isn't it?

I think I need to buy Chemical Wedding.

 

[Shannow]

I still laugh at their "Stone'enge" moment.

 

[Mark]

That whole album is a Stonehenge moment, with Harris' talent stuck in the pod.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Dance Of Death is terrific.

The Chemical Wedding, and even more so, Accident Of Birth, certainly rival the best of Maiden's material. Both are essential listening.