Fine argument but you have far more of the "world's greatest Priest fans" such as myself saying that we like Priest and even the majority of Halford's solo material. While I do take issue with some of Priest's / Halford's decisions, as a whole I appreciate how they are willing to go out on a limb musically.
Exactly the reason why most "diehard Priest fans" ultimately gave up on Maiden ... the exact point you mention: predictable to the point of annoyance and tedium.
[Show/Hide Quoted Message] (Quoting Message by jimmyjames from Saturday, October 09, 2010 3:14:04 PM)| |  | jimmyjames wrote: | | Some of it's not as good but Maiden have never completely abandoned their style in an attempt to make money ( Point Of Entry, Turbo ) or to try and gain some kind of credibility ( Nostradamus ). If you look at Priests successful albums they are all pretty much straight ahead metal. However Priest have sabotaged their own momentum in some cases. To go from Stained Class, HBFL, Unleashed and BS to Point Of Entry is like shooting yourself in the foot. Grinder to You Say Yes, Steeler to Don't Go, thats going to halt your momentum. It's basically a band saying we've got the Metal audience, now lets try and grab the mainstream audience. After that failed experiment they went back to what they are good at, metal. SFV and DOTF got their momentum back but then they released Turbo, which was really successful but again alienated all their old fans. Back to the drawing board. Finally Painkiller, their master piece and Rob Halford leaves the band because he wants to do what Pantera are doing because they are making the money. The band stutter along for a decade before Halford comes back after what you would call a relatively unsuccessful period as a "solo" artist and Priest release AOR, a solid metal album. Everyone is happy and then they unleash Nostradamus and completely wreck it again. "We're about getting out of our comfort zone and stretching the boundaries blah blah blah" is the excuse. But really the bottom line is they are exceptional yet inconsistant and they have really no-one else to blame for the fact that they are not up there with Maiden. You have to give Maiden one thing, their consistancy is their strength,they don't try to be something they're not. Even when Blaze Bailey was in the band they still put out albums you could immediately identify as Maiden. Look at this website for example, You've got two of the worlds biggest Priest fans, Hellrider and JD, and Hellriders going "I hope they are finally going to unleash a metal monster" and JDs going "I'll believe it when I see it, if I see it, I've been let down too many times before" Same reason goes for the success of AC/DC, consistancy. Funny thing is it doesn't explain Metallica, they've been the most inconsistant of all but are bigger than they've ever been. They are always out there playing though and always put on a great show. (Quoting Message by Becks from Saturday, October 09, 2010 10:56:14 AM)
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Becks wrote: |
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Maiden has put out their fair share of shit as well though, pretty much everything since Powerslave has been, as a whole, meh.
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jimmyjames wrote: |
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I think maybe the fact that Maiden give their fans what they want whilst Priest always fuck around with crap like Point Of Entry, Turbo, The whole Ripper era and Nostradamus might have something to do with the fact that they are not in that top echelon of earners. So rather than poor marketing I would say it's a tendency to put out shit that has hampered them.
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ron h wrote: |
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I think their Marketing has always been key to their success, in the same fashion that poor Marketing can drag a band down (ie Priest)
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Head banger wrote: |
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maybe. they are definatly well marketed.
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J.D. DIAMOND wrote: |
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I really think what the final ingridiant is that makes Iron Maiden as popular as they are in today's scene,is "Eddie". The artwork says a lot and is very attractive,Eddie is not why they are as popular but with him it just works together. I really do not like the latest Eddie on the Final Frontier album,I know they wanted to change him up a bit but I think Harris let the artist go too far this time.
I really would like to see the next LP with the old Eddie back,even if they don't write another Piece Of Mind type of an album,it still would be cool to see the old school Eddie. I really dig the album cover on A Matter Of Life And Death.
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Head banger wrote: |
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your probably right, but just touring doesnt explain it, nor do the albums. if those make sense, explain kiss
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jimmyjames wrote: |
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Along with Metallica and AC/DC, Maiden are the biggest band in hardrock / heavy metal. Priest is more of a cult band than Maiden. Final Frontier sold 800 000 copies in it's first week of release. Some might say that it's just bandwagon jumpers buying the album but I doubt it. People just like Maiden. The reason they are so popular is because they get out there and play for their fans rather than just playing the US. Maiden have toured all sorts of crazy places in recent years like India, South America and even NZ. I read an interview with them recently and one of the things that keeps them going is playing in countries they haven't been to before. Some complain that the albums aren't as good these days which is probably true but as a band they are at a point where they can experiment and do what they want and at least they are bringing out new stuff as often as they can between the true world tours that they do.
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Vaillant 3.0 wrote: |
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*sniff sniff* That is NOT Eddie! That is an imposter! It ate the real Eddie up! 
I always thought a "cult following" is associated with tiny groups of people are huge fans of a movie, band, etc. If Iron Maiden has a "cult following", then it sure is a huge one. 
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Jeanine wrote: |
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Hey Vail, you know I love ya, but that Alien thing in which you speak is Eddie  . Being one who loves both bands I will say this, it is my firm belief that Iron Maiden has a cult following much like Deadheads (Grateful Dead) or even the Dave Matthews Band.
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Vaillant 3.0 wrote: |
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It was that bad when I was in Berlin in August. The day the album was released I walked into a bookstore to look for a map of the city. Then I stumbled upon all the magazines that you mentioned: Metal Hammer, Metal Shock, Rock Hard... all with Iron Maiden and that alien thing on the cover. A little too much, like you said. AND there was an Iron Maiden poster up on one of the display windows. I bought and listened to the album the next day and did not like it at all. Then later that month there were IM posters up all over one corner of a street near my apartment, so seeing that alien thing up everyday while walking to the U-Bahn was irritating.
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metallo wrote: |
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Maybe you're right, it's too much, but I can assure you that to hear many people talking about Heavy Metal and talking only about Iron Miden (itìs not a mistake), to go to the newspaper kiosk and see Metal Hammer with Iron Maiden in the cover, then Metal Shock with Iron Maiden in the cover, the Hard & Heavy (or something like this) with Iron MAiden poster, and all in the same period is too much. Yes maybe it's for the new album but it happens also in other occasions. When I saw on TV to present all Iron MAiden CD to be sold on newspaepr kiosks, was the maximum. Now if you go on ?Beyon the realms of priest' on the topics relevant best live album, there is a page dedicated to Rock in Rio !!! It's too much. KILL 'EM ALL !!!!
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Brian_Evans wrote: |
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Lady Gaga??? Now thats a low blow. Shame on you. ha!
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metallo wrote: |
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So this is just to demonstrate that they are Pop metal band. Pure shit. They don't need it. They could be part of the music history without all of this stupid merchandising. next tour with Lady Gaga as supporting band ?
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paorcamp wrote: |
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HA!...that happens everywhere...here in Costa Rica nobody mentioned maiden before they first came on 2008, only real metalheads knew who Iron Maiden was, and after that concert you would find people wearing black maiden shirts, all kind of idiot would wear one, and if you ask what they listen to they would answer metal...which bands?? maiden...-any other??? eh...no...so!?!?!?! even those who wear big chains and caps and craps like 50 cents' stuff would wear an Iron maiden shirt...thats offensive and of course shows how common it is to find any sort of item even in a "newspaper kiosk" as you mention...now nobody who dares to consider himself a metalhead pays attention to maiden around here...I don't blame them...I don't blame you... (Quoting Message by metallo from Monday, September 20, 2010 12:58:31 PM)
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metallo wrote: |
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You're right, I don't want to say that bruce is a bad singer, not at all, I just want to say that I don't like his way of singing also knowing he is a great singer and Iron Maiden is a great Metal group, in general, but is something stronger than me, I never went to see a concert of them, and the last album I bought was killers. I really don't like 'the number of the beast'. Maybe something good in Powerslave. It's only my opinion, but I grew up, here in Italy, where you can see 100 metal kids, and 95 have maidens t-shirt, three have Metallica, and two carcass, then me with Judas Priest. Here in Italy if some one talk about HM, only one group is mentioned: Iron Maiden. People which usually do not listen metal, knows Maidens. If you go to a newspaper kiosk you can buy all Maiden's discography. STOP !!!! Maybe it's not for them, but for the other. All of them made me hate Iron Maiden.
Too Pop fo me
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Brian_Evans wrote: |
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Seems kind of weird that you don't like Maiden after Bruce joined. I just don't see them where their at now with Paul Di'Anno. It's hard to imagine Paul singing songs from Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind, Powerslave, ect. Bruce can sing the Paul Di'Anno era but I can't see Paul singing much from The Bruce Dickinson era.
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metallo wrote: |
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It's really quite boring this discussion about JP and IM. I'm 100% for priest, I don't like IM, sice Bruce Dickinson joined the band, or better, sice Paul Di Anno 'has' left the band, but at last they sold millions of albums world wide, every concert if full of fans, maybe somthing good came also from them, also if I have great difficulty to find it, but we have to give to everybody the chance to grow up. Starting from the music of Iron Maiden it should be good for reach perfection with Judas Priest!!!! Only few elected people had the chance to start immediately with Judas priest, just because we have already reached perfection, someone esle has to walk and walk and walk, so let them listen IM, it is the first step and evry wlaking start from the first step.  |
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Edited at: Saturday, September 25, 2010 8:01:58 PM |
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Edited at: Saturday, October 09, 2010 3:17:49 PM
Edited at: Saturday, October 09, 2010 3:20:08 PM |
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