How Did Iron Maiden Find Bruce Dickinson To Replace Paul Di’Anno?

How did Iron Maiden discover Bruce Dickinson when making a lineup change, seeking to substitute Paul Di’Anno in 1981?

It’s some of the important strikes within the historical past of metallic, bringing in Dickinson whose extra dynamic voice propelled the promising group to the legendary standing they get pleasure from right now as one of many style’s most dominant reside acts and largest influences.

Why Were Iron Maiden Looking to Replace Paul Di’Anno?

The precise reasoning behind Paul Di’Anno’s exit from Iron Maiden is cloudy, with completely different recollections of the occasions. That’s often how rock ‘n’ roll is, proper? Distortions flip to fable and the reality stays ceaselessly obscured.

However, it nonetheless appears fairly clear {that a} vary of things result in the singer being changed after recording the band’s first two data — 1980’s Iron Maiden and 1981’s Killers, each extremely influential on the event of heavy metallic all through the last decade and past.

Bassist and founder Steve Harris stated in a 1981 interview (by way of UCR), “The first two albums were the songs that were written over the four-year period before we were signed. I think it’s probably more down to the songs than Paul’s voice, really. I thought Paul had a really good voice, but there’s no way we could have carried on with Paul because he didn’t want to do touring and that anyway.”

What Harris implies there may be that Di’Anno’s gruff, street-ready vocal fashion wasn’t very best for the path Iron Maiden had been headed musically. Subpar reside performances are additionally stated to have been an element.

“We had to make a change. If we didn’t make a change, I think maybe the band would have split up or something. I don’t think that Maiden would still be here if we’d have stayed with Paul,” Harris assessed in ’81.

Di’Anno’s personal story has modified, primarily in terms of the problem of substance abuse, together with his cocaine behavior starting from being not “as bad as what most people say it is” (by way of Eon Music, 2019) to “non-stop” (by way of Metal Hammer, 2022)

“I don’t blame them for getting rid of me. Obviously, the band was Steve’s [Harris, bassist] baby, but I wish I’d been able to contribute more. After a while that got me down. In the end I couldn’t give 100 percent to Maiden anymore and it wasn’t fair to the band, the fans or to myself.”

The singer additionally acknowledged that Killers, which began to desert Maiden’s punk vitality in favor of heavy metallic, “didn’t have as much impact on me as the first album.”

Chalk it as much as the traditional case of musical path and drug abuse.

What Band Was Bruce Dickinson in Before Iron Maiden?

From 1979 and thru most of 1981, Dickinson fronted Samson, a London-based New Wave of British Heavy Metal band with a tough rock/proto-metal fashion that was typical of that thrilling scene. He sang on 1980’s Head On and 1981’s Shock Tactics. Oddly sufficient, drummer Barry ‘Thunderstick’ Purkis performed on each of those albums and was a short-lived drummer for Iron Maiden in 1977.

At that point, Dickinson was performing as “Bruce Bruce,” a nickname, which, even in a very subjective world, is fairly abysmal. Getting him to ditch it was simply one of many many, many clever concepts supervisor Rod Smallwood has had over the a long time.

Samson, “Riding With the Angels”

READ MORE: Why Did Bruce Dickinson Leave Iron Maiden within the ’90s?

Who Approached Bruce Dickinson About Joining Iron Maiden?

The singer had witnessed Iron Maiden again in 1980 when the band opened up for Samson, leaving him slightly impressed. Apparently, Maiden harbored related sentiments as they finally poached Dickinson.

One yr later, the 2 teams performed on the Reading Festival, which was the place Smallwood swooped in.

“In the middle of a clearing, surrounded by hospitality chalets and beer tents, was a single large pole, with bright white lights on top. I was in a corner of a beer tent when Rod Smallwood approached me saying, ‘Let’s go somewhere quiet where we can talk.’ We walked out and stood, illuminated for all the world to see, under the pole in the middle of the backstage area. I felt sure he was working up to something,” writes Dickinson in What Does This Button Do?, his 2017 autobiography.

The two went again to Smallwood’s lodge room shortly after, the place the supervisor provided him an opportunity to audition for Iron Maiden. After some chest-beating bravado, Dickinson accepted.

Bruce Dickinson Audition Tape With Iron Maiden

When Was Bruce Dickinson’s First Show With Iron Maiden?

On Sept, 26, 1981, Bruce Dickinson formally joined Iron Maiden. In Bologna, Italy one month later (Oct. 26) he made his onstage debut with the metallic group.

That night time, Maiden performed a 17-song set that included three encores, closing it out with a canopy of Montrose’s “I Got the Fire.”

Bruce Dickinson’s First Show With Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden Setlist, Oct. 26, 1981 (Bruce Dickinson’s First Show)

by way of setlist.fm

01. “Sanctuary”
02. “Purgatory”
03. “Wrathchild”
04. “Twilight Zone”
05. “Remember Tomorrow”
06. “Genghis Khan”
07. “Killers”
08. “Another Life”
09. “Innocent Exile”
10. “Running Free”
11. “Murders in the Rue Morgue”
12. “Phantom of the Opera”
13. “Iron Maiden”
Encore:
14. “Transylvania”
15. “Drifter”
Encore 2:
16. “Prowler”
Encore 3:
17. “I Got the Fire” (Montrose cowl)