When Bruce Dickinson Heard About His Replacement in Iron Maiden

Everyone knows the story of how former Wolfsbane vocalist Blaze Bayley replaced iconic front man Bruce Dickinson in Iron Maiden.

The early to mid 1990s was a tough time for Iron Maiden. Vocalist Bruce Dickinson and guitarist Adrian Smith had left the band to pursue solo careers. Which left Maiden without a singer and guitarist. Luckily, they had covered the guitarist space with former Gillan/White Spirit guitarist Janick Gers. And also, luckily, they were able to find a replacement for Bruce. Maiden's former vocalist had quit the band in 1993, after completing the Raising Hell special on TV, with magician Simon Drake. The magician had shoved the singer into an iron maiden torture device before Eddie came up and removed Bruce's bloody head from his equally bloody body

The band's next move was to find a replacement. At that time, bassist Steve Harris was going through a divorce and suddenly found himself wondering how to care for his four kids Lauren, Kerry, Faye and George. Luckily, the singer stress was relieved when the band found a perfect singer in Wolfsbane front man Blaze Bayley. In the eyes of the press, it was a controversial decision because they couldn't imagine Iron Maiden without Bruce Dickinson. Still, Blaze Bayley had one person cheering for him: Bruce Dickinson himself.

In a 2007 Classic Rock Magazine interview, Bruce said "When Blaze got the job, I was, like 'Wow, I hope this works out.' I thought it would probably be more difficult than he could imagine, even though he was having a great time. And look, if Iron Maiden offered you the job, you're not going to turn it down, are you?" Meanwhile, the press was having a field day with the tensions flying back and forth between Iron Maiden and their former vocalist. Bassist Steve Harris and tour manager Dickie Bell accused Bruce of being "f---ing awful" at some of their last shows together. There could have been awkwardness between Bruce and Blaze, but instead Bruce sent Blaze a most unusual gift. He had sent Blaze a pair of house bricks painted yellow

"I saw an interview with him, and there was a line at the end where he said 'I feel like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz'", replied Bruce. "I thought 'That's really sweet - I know exactly how you feel.' So I painted up two bricks and sent them to him." Dickinson stated he admired Bayley for taking what was going to be a near impossible job. "Absolutely. Hats off. Full respect to him for that. His voice is very different to mine. And there was a point where he got the job where I thought 'How the hell is he going to manage to do those songs? Maybe they just won't do them. It's gonna be hard.' I said to someone at the time 'Why don't they really do something off the wall and really outrageous. Get a woman! There's some of these female Finnish vocalists kicking around, and they have the most outrageous voices! Do something to really, really knock people's socks off.' But I'd have been f---ed then. I'd have never come back.'"

He did come back, in 1999, along with Adrian Smith. Nowadays, the Blaze era of Maiden is said to be very divisive among the Maiden fans. Some love everything about the Blaze era. Some hate the fact that Bruce was replaced by this virtual unknown. A lot of critics are quick to judge the two albums made with Blaze - 1995's The X Factor and 1998's Virtual XI - as the band's weakest albums. Mostly because of the adult-oriented lyrics replacing the space travel, sci-fi, horror-type lyrics Maiden once wrote about. Those who have read the excellent book Run to the Hills: Iron Maiden, The Authorized Biography by Mick Wall will know that, at the time those albums were written, Steve Harris was going through a lot of personal problems at the time. Bruce Dickinson had just left the band. Steve Harris was going through a divorce and wondering how he would care for his four kids Lauren, Kerry, Faye and George. He was very down at the time and it was guitarist Dave Murray who gave him the strength to carry on. He simply said that the band should carry on with a new vocalist. And that they did. When Bruce was asked if he had heard those records, here is his response.

Bruce said "No. It was all a little bit fraught. The only time I've actually listened to the albums was when Steve said 'We need to go and record one of these songs.' I thought 'Oh, how does it go then? I'd better go and have a listen to it.'"