Bruce Dickinson has opened up on his thoughts as to why Iron Maiden failed to see the same major success as fellow rockers Metallica.
In a new with Classic Rock, Dickinson discussed the monumental success of Metallica’s 1991 self-titled record, also known as the Black Album, where he claimed that no other metal bands of the time “had the balls” to do what Metallica did.
“Ourselves, Judas Priest, and Pantera all reached a crossroads where we had the chance to really step up to the next level. But none of us had the balls to do it.
“Metallica did, though. You have to give them huge credit for grabbing the opportunity when it came up, taking the risk, and deservedly reaping the enormous rewards. You cannot underestimate their achievement with this album.”
Dickinson continued: “It’s one of those seminal albums, that just gets it right. It’s extremely well-produced, and every note on that album is totally under control.
“I admire how they did it, and what they did with the songs, and it was very effective: it undoubtedly did help push metal into the mainstream.
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“I know it wasn’t Mutt Lange who produced it, but Bob Rock had that similar thing where the producer was very much in control.
“We could never do an album like that because we’re not that under control, and we don’t want to be. With us, the wheels would fall off the bus and we’d end up firing the producer!”
The comments come following Metallica’s Kirk Hammett saying he had been listening to Seattle grunge rockers Soundgarden “all day” when he came up with the infamous riff on their breakthrough hit ‘Enter Sandman’.
“The ‘Enter Sandman’ riff was a riff that just fucking appeared. It was three o’clock in the morning, I was sitting in my bedroom,” Hammett said.
“People say, ‘What were you doing up at three o’clock in the morning?’ Well, I was still in tour mode. I was playing my guitar, I had nothing else to do.
“I’d been listening to Soundgarden all day. They were a band that me and James [Hetfield] loved. I was just trying to capture that feel. That riff came out of nowhere.
“The best parts of that album kind of just wrote themselves. Solos and music and songs felt like they just appeared out of nowhere. It was like the universe handed it to us on a platter. Not like the first four albums.”
You can read more about this topic on the Metal Observer.
Check out ‘Enter Sandman’ by Metallica:
