Bruce Dickinson on if he relived his life, he'd still quit Iron Maiden

Bruce Dickinson talked in a recent interview with Ultimate Classic Rock about whether, if he had the chance to redo some things from his past, he'd still quit Iron Maiden, although with a newer hindsight on it.

He joined the band in 1982, but left in 1993, making nine albums with Iron Maiden. He left for a solo career to blow off the frustration of writing just as many songs as bassist / founding member Steve Harris, but his songs getting tossed aside. He rejoined Iron Maiden in 1999 and has been with the band ever since. In a recent interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, Bruce said "I would have done, yes. I wouldn't have changed that, but I would have done it better. I would have had more of a plan."

During the interview, he said it was a "spur of the moment decision. I realized Iron Maiden [was] doing it's thing and there was nothing anybody could do to change its trajectory. At the time, I was sitting there making what ended up being [second solo album] Balls to Picasso, and I realized that I didn't have much clue what to do outside of Iron Maiden." He mentioned it was a "shock" to find out he felt he was institutionalized in the band that earned him fame. "I thought 'What do I do about that?' I made the decision that either I stay...for the rest of my life, or I have to leave." Bruce mentions that he would not have been happy juggling a solo career and fronting Iron Maiden. "I was in this state of limbo then. I thought 'I have to leave, because otherwise...nobody's going to take it seriously. They'll just go: 'Oh, bless his pointy little head, it's his little side project.'"

Bruce even said that it takes something to sing the songs Steve Harris writes. He said "I [take great] pride in being able to voice Steve's riffs. There's not many people that can do it. I could never figure out why he wrote such bloody difficult words, though. Then we were chatting one day and it came out - the words follow the bass and drum. I tried to explain to him early on: 'Look, Steve, I'm going to lose my front teeth trying to sing this.' I never thought I'd be able to sing "Alexander the Great" when I first heard it, but that worked out fine."