38 years ago today

10th September 1981 Iron Maiden played at the Odd Fellow's Mansion in Copenhagen and it was Paul Di'Anno's last ever show as a member of the band.

When they got back to England, Bruce Dickinson was hired and he mopped up the final 5 remaining shows left on the tour.

No offense to Di'Anno, but that was the one of the best moves Iron Maiden ever made.

007 wrote:

No offense to Di'Anno, but that was the one of the best moves Iron Maiden ever made.

In hindsight, yes, but those two albums they did were both great. 

Di'Anno said he wasn't really "fired" fired. More like he felt like it wasn't happening anymore, and the band felt it wasn't working, and he may have had different priorities at the time (alcohol). He got money out of the split, so everybody was happy. Sold off his royalties to Rod Smallwood. Probably didn't know how big a metal band from East London could get.

But anyway, those first two albums were magical. I'm playing Killers now and it's always a great listen. Another Life is brilliance. And Purgatory. I would have loved to see Maiden back in 1981. The original Beast.

I love the albums DiAnno was on, but I think they were very limited with him. Bruce is the total package. A powerhouse voice and energetic stage presence (still to this day).

They definitely made the right choice!

The fact that it's been 38 years shows that really Paul was a small player in the IM story but I love the albums he made with them.

Lari wrote:

007 wrote:

No offense to Di'Anno, but that was the one of the best moves Iron Maiden ever made.

In hindsight, yes, but those two albums they did were both great. 

Di'Anno said he wasn't really "fired" fired. More like he felt like it wasn't happening anymore, and the band felt it wasn't working, and he may have had different priorities at the time (alcohol). He got money out of the split, so everybody was happy. Sold off his royalties to Rod Smallwood. Probably didn't know how big a metal band from East London could get.

But anyway, those first two albums were magical. I'm playing Killers now and it's always a great listen. Another Life is brilliance. And Purgatory. I would have loved to see Maiden back in 1981. The original Beast.

I just listened to Killers today. Great listen (as well as the debut too). But once Dickinson was brought on board, the band went to the top.

Troublezone wrote:

I love the albums DiAnno was on, but I think they were very limited with him. Bruce is the total package. A powerhouse voice and energetic stage presence (still to this day).

They definitely made the right choice!

I agree with you 100%!

Pretty much agree with what's been said. Paul was good but compared to Bruce kind of limited and his drinking probably was hurting the business model Steve had in mind.

Like everyone else, I believe Bruce was the best for them. I like the Paul albums (Killers is one of my top 5 Maiden albums) but Bruce is one of my all time favorite vocalists (the rest of my top 5 are all Bruce albums) and a big inspiration for my love of singing.