Iron Maiden: Bruce vs Paul
 

I don't usually do these things, but there's been a lot of talk about Maiden recently, much of it slanted against the current vocalist, so let's see how people feel. Who do you prefer, and why?

I always find this a really difficult question to answer.
Even though personally I prefer the Di Anno era they let him leave at the right time and they never would have been the band they became had Dickinson not joined.

Not just from the standpoint of the vocals but also the songwriting, I think a lot of Iron Maiden's best songs in that 82-86 period were the ones written by Dickinson & Smith rather than Steve Harris.

Didn't we have this discussion in 1987?

Would IM have become what they are now had Di Anno stayed with the band? No, certainly not. But, I do feel the songwriting would have become stronger coming from the foundation of what they built with Di Anno, and that in itself could have been an amazing thing. On the other hand, Bruce took them to arena status being one of the most powerful vocal voices of metal on the planet. They did veer off into mediocrity after they hit stride though, and Bruce's vocals started to become a bit like nails on a chalkboard, and seemingly forced and strained, but that will come with age for most people. When I weigh in all the facts, I have to go with Bruce, just because the scales tip in his favor just slightly with longevity being the extra weight, and speculation holds no weight at all.

Bruce, because the operatic vocals help the band a lot. Yes, Bruce does have operatic vocals, TH. I know you disagree.

Well Maiden with Di'Anno and Maiden with Dickinson are essentially two different bands. Di'Anno gets a lot of stick and if it were all exclusively for being a **** then I'd be fine with it but 'Iron Maiden' and 'Killers' are great records and I think they wrote a lot of their best songs with Di'Anno in the band.

That being said, I just think Bruce is the better singer, the better frontman, the better person and generally speaking there is no comparison. Bruce 100%.

Damn you Mojo I just drew Di Anno even with that lil prissy pilot. :soapbox:

I love both bands, but they'd gone as far as they could with Paul. They were really able to spread their wings under Bruce in a way that a more limited vocalist like Di'Anno simply wouldn't have allowed. Paul could never in a million years have sung "Aces High", "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner", or "Hallowed By thy Name".

I can imagine Di anno singing some of the Number Of The Beast album.

Maybe not Hallowed Be Thy Name, Children of the Damned or Run To The Hills but definitely stuff like Number Of The Beast, The Prisoner, 22 Acacia Avenue and the rest of the album.

Bruce is a better vocalist (we're on a first name basis, btw), he's got a lot more range and he brought a lot of influence to metal vocals, even if a lot of his copycats/devotees annoy the fuck out of me. Plus I prefer the Bruce Maiden to the original outfit. I do think that Phantom of the Opera and Iron Maiden are some of their best tracks though.