Former Iron Maiden frontman Blaze Bayley, recently opened up to Metal Hammer about his tenure with the band and his mental struggles after departing in 1999. The singer recalled how it felt to leave his role to the returning singer Bruce Dickinson; he explained:
“Let’s face it, Bruce Dickinson is the absolute benchmark of what it is to be a heavy metal frontman. He’s one of the greatest singers and performers in any genre of music, and he’s just left your favorite band and they’ve got this idiot from Tamworth in?”
The singer shared that Iron Maiden fans weren’t on his side purely because he wasn’t Bruce. He added:
“A lot of fans hated me on principle. There is a percentage of fans that still hate me. There are some people who have never even heard me, but still hate me because I’m not Bruce.”
Blaze was a part of two Iron Maiden albums, ‘The X Factor’ and ‘Virtual XI,’ before he left the band. The album’s sold far less than the band’s other releases and were only popular in certain countries like Brazil, Greece and Sweden. Here’s what Bayley said about those years to Stavros Vlahos, editor of the Soundcheck Network music magazine:
“Fans didn’t like the change. Many people from that era still hate Blaze Bayley; they hate what I did, and they have those two albums I was on. That’s fine by me. I like that I’ve done something strong enough for someone to have such a big, forceful emotional reaction to it.”
In hindsight, Bayley is proud of the work he has done with the band, however the singer admitted that he was devastated after his dismissal from Maiden. Blaze recalled:
“It was horrific. I’d be making all these plans for my solo career: ‘I’m going to come back with a new project, I’m going to use everything I learned from Maiden and from songwriting with those guys, it’ll be incredible.’ And then a couple of hours later, I’d be sobbing. I couldn’t say so at the time, but I was destroyed.”
You can read Blaze Bayley’s interview with Metal Hammer here and listen to ‘The X Factor’ and ‘Virtual XI,’ below.
