Excellent piece, brother. I was talking with a friend yesterday about Paul and how impactful he was, but
also the unfortunate fact that Paul just didn't take care of himself. When you see Maiden these days, Steve Harris and Bruce Dickinson are in amazing, athletic shape and out-perform bands who are 40 years younger. Paul seemed to have demons at a young age, which surely led to his substance abuse issues, and I can only imagine the bitterness of seeing a band that was once yours exploding into super stardom while you are relegated to a mere footnote. I remember about 10-15 years ago, I heard he was going to tour again. I googled him and saw all of the stuff about his jail time. I wish he had gained more respect and had gotten a stronger hold of his life, but it seemed like he could never get himself to the other side of all that plagued him. RIP, Paul.
Agreed. While it was pretty clear to all parties concerned that he would not have been a good fit for where Harris wanted Maiden to go, it had to hurt Paul to watch his scrappy old band blow up into one of the biggest metal acts in the world. I’ve seen interviews with him where he boasted that he was still selling millions of his own records every year, but that seems highly unlikely.
Your description of how trailblazing Maiden was in those early years was spot on Dan. And I don't think they would have made the same impact without Paul. That early stuff was revelatory for those of us who heard it in real time. It was his wild voice and the band's youthful abandon that sounded so great at the time.
Perfect words on Mr. Di'Anno. Bought the first Maiden album solely on the cover, it was in the tiny record bin of the local small town music store where I bought my first guitar and amp - yeah, the mainstream mall/dept. store record shops weren't featuring that one - scared the shit out of me, I skipped 'Killers' and came back to it after 'Number of the Beast' - just as you mentioned, it initially didn't make sense to my then narrowly groomed corporate rock palate, later, "Charlotte the Harlott" and the rest enthralled me and still does.
Excellent piece, brother. I was talking with a friend yesterday about Paul and how impactful he was, but
also the unfortunate fact that Paul just didn't take care of himself. When you see Maiden these days, Steve Harris and Bruce Dickinson are in amazing, athletic shape and out-perform bands who are 40 years younger. Paul seemed to have demons at a young age, which surely led to his substance abuse issues, and I can only imagine the bitterness of seeing a band that was once yours exploding into super stardom while you are relegated to a mere footnote. I remember about 10-15 years ago, I heard he was going to tour again. I googled him and saw all of the stuff about his jail time. I wish he had gained more respect and had gotten a stronger hold of his life, but it seemed like he could never get himself to the other side of all that plagued him. RIP, Paul.
Agreed. While it was pretty clear to all parties concerned that he would not have been a good fit for where Harris wanted Maiden to go, it had to hurt Paul to watch his scrappy old band blow up into one of the biggest metal acts in the world. I’ve seen interviews with him where he boasted that he was still selling millions of his own records every year, but that seems highly unlikely.
Um, yeah. I don't think that was true, haha. Particularly since his legal troubles were centered on benefits fraud.
Fantastic eulogy. R.I.P. - Up the Irons!
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Maiden had to "pussify" themselves to appeal to American metal heads. That tells you everything about metal heads right there. Buncha wankers.
Your description of how trailblazing Maiden was in those early years was spot on Dan. And I don't think they would have made the same impact without Paul. That early stuff was revelatory for those of us who heard it in real time. It was his wild voice and the band's youthful abandon that sounded so great at the time.
Perfect words on Mr. Di'Anno. Bought the first Maiden album solely on the cover, it was in the tiny record bin of the local small town music store where I bought my first guitar and amp - yeah, the mainstream mall/dept. store record shops weren't featuring that one - scared the shit out of me, I skipped 'Killers' and came back to it after 'Number of the Beast' - just as you mentioned, it initially didn't make sense to my then narrowly groomed corporate rock palate, later, "Charlotte the Harlott" and the rest enthralled me and still does.
This is killer (pun intended, 'natch).
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Rest in Peace Paul! And thank you for helping to create one of my all time favorite albums!
RIPower Chords