So last week Any Questions had an... unusual panellist. In among the usual bunch of journos and politicians was fencer, pilot, historian, novelist, poet, 6 Music DJ and occasional lead singer of Iron Maiden
Bruce Dickinson. I thought he performed reasonably well for someone who isn't a professional politico or politics commentator, although he's quite a long way to the right of me politically. More amusing were the other panellists reactions to him. I definitely think there was a closet Lib Dem Friend Of Metal on that panel...
But anyway, Bruce appearing on AQ reminded me that I hadn't listened to any of his stuff for AGES, and that really wasn't on; so I have been mainlining both Maiden and his solo stuff for a few days now, and it's inspired me to blog a few points:
- Anyone who claims to be any sort of horror film geek needs to listen to Fear of the Dark - the title track of the album by the same name - and then head straight over to the album Brave New World and listen to The Wicker Man. And then go retro and pick up The Phantom of the Opera from the first Maiden album (although it's not Bruce singing on that - anyone else recall the lucozade advert with Daley Thompson?)
- Similarly, there's a rich vein of sci-fi geekery in Bruce/Maiden's work - stuff that springs to mind is Out of the Silent Planet (from Brave New World), The Prisoner (from Number of the Beast), and the entirety of The Final Frontier album. Also you can play Spot The Tardis on the cover of Somewhere in Time.
- Bruce's influences are really very eclectic. I mean, just on the Chemical Wedding album, you've got a race through a tarot deck, William Blake, a song that sounds like a lost Marilyn Manson track... I like eclecticism. A lot of the Maiden stuff is somewhat samey, and I reckon if you've heard one Maiden album you pretty much know whether you're going to like most of the others, but Bruce's solo stuff is not like that at all.
- I really miss Bruce's 6 Music rock show. He introduced me to lots of really cool stuff, and was not afraid of playing LAdyMetal like McQueen and Wicked Wisdom, both of whom are bands whose CDs I bought after hearing them on his show.
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