Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson joined the band back in 1981, making his studio debut on the Iron Maiden album The Number of the Beast. Dickinson remained the Iron Maiden frontman up until 1993, when he then decided to leave the band (though he would return come 1999).
As to why did the Iron Maiden frontman leave the band? Well, Dickinson has revealed some insight regarding that decision.
During a Q&A with the current Iron Maiden frontman during one of his spoken-word shows, Dickinson said the following regarding his exiting on the band in 1993 (as transcribed by Blabbermouth):
“Honestly, I was as surprised as anybody else. I don’t think people really believed that at the time. I just thought that if I stayed with Maiden forever, all I would learn about was what it was like to be in Maiden. And in order to learn what it was like outside Maiden, you have to leave, because, unless you left, nobody would take anything that you did seriously. It would always be, like, ‘Oh, bless him. He’s doing a solo record. Let him have his fun and then he can go back to being in Iron Maiden.’ I hated that. So I thought, ‘Fuck it. I’ll just leave.’ And [people said], ‘What happens if your [solo] career doesn’t work out.’ And I said [it’s] better [to take a chance] now and do something else with your life than sit there somewhere in fantasy world and end up just grumpy.”
A couple years ago, Dickinson said that he had no interest in returning to the band more than 20 years ago if it meant only playing into nostalgia.
“Well, all I needed to know was that we were not gonna come back as some sort of a reunion-type thing,” he explained. “I didn’t want to go back to the past. This was gonna be about putting a band together that was looking ahead to the future — to do a great new album and to really restart the whole impetus and direction of the band. And Steve [Harris, Maiden bassist and leader] said that’s what he wanted to do, and I was, like, ‘Okay. Let’s do it.’ And, of course, the first album we came out with after that was [2000’s] ‘Brave New World’ — I think one of the best Maiden albums that we’ve ever done.”
The Iron Maiden album The Number of the Beast just celebrated its 40th anniversary earlier this week! Check out this write up we did regarding six things you may not know about the album:
Iron Maiden Album ‘The Number of the Beast’ Turns 40 + Six Things You May Not Know About It
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Words by: Michael Pementel
