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interesting neil comments on saxon, iron maiden and AC/DC


bathory
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""It's all an artificial lowest common denominator. If you think that we have to please the fans that like Iron Maiden and Saxon and AC/DC - I know I have nothing in common with those people, so I can't possibly hope to be able to relate to them on their level unless I play down or unless I talk down or think down, basically. So you just have to do what you feel is right and hope people respond to it, which has been the guiding philosophy for us all along."

 

yes, maiden, such stupid music! certainly no ultravox, no sting, no madonna

 

http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19830617kerrang.htm

 

here's the whole interview

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I've been a fan of Iron Maiden almost as long as I've been a fan of Rush (although I am a bigger Rush fan than a Maiden fan). And, for the record, I am also an Ultravox fan, having gotten into them after reading a Signals-era interview in which Rush mentioned them as an influence. I think the quote above was spoken out of youthful naivete; a better quote comes two paragraphs before: "How can you know two million people?! We have two million fans, two million individual people with individual lives who have grown up in different places in the world in different ways."
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yeah, ultravox and the police and their signals-era influences are all good bands, I just thought his lumping in maiden with saxon or ACDC was a bit silly considering that maiden's lyrics are as literary as peart's at times
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right now, I'm listening to ABC's tune "Be Near Me". Great tune in my opinion. produced by Trevor Horn I think. Oh well...
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He was definitely right on AC/DC. Perhaps with Maiden he was thinking more of the sound than the music...Peart was a big reason Rush moved away from heavy metal and he was into new wave at the time of the interview.
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Um, this interview was from 30 years ago who cares? His opinion of those bands may have very well changed since then. Especially Iron Maiden who was just entering the peak of their musical output at that time.

 

do I look like geminirising79 to you? I'm not trying to talk shit about neil with this thread, I just thought his comments were interesting

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Um, this interview was from 30 years ago who cares? His opinion of those bands may have very well changed since then. Especially Iron Maiden who was just entering the peak of their musical output at that time.

 

do I look like geminirising79 to you? I'm not trying to talk shit about neil with this thread, I just thought his comments were interesting

 

I never said you were trying to talk shit about him. Yeah, the comments are interesting but like I said, it was a long time ago and he may have changed his thoughts on those bands over the years.

Edited by J2112YYZ
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I am a huuuuge AC/DC and Maiden fan, and I have no issue with what he said. :)

 

When I want raw, face-melting rock, I go for AC/DC. When I want heavy metal to blast through my speakers, it's Iron Maiden.

And when I want flawless musical composition and amazing lyrics, it's Rush.

 

Many different styles of music pleases me, and there's nothing wrong with it lol :)

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Have not ever been an AC/DC fan, but did pick up a free copy of Back in Black in 1982. Didn't like Dirty Deeds and though For Those About to Rock was silly. However, they were a bigger crowd pleaser at the Toronto SARS benefit than Rush. I think Neil's opinion about rock artists mellowed in the 90s? I always thought of Madonna while listening to Superconductor and was surprised to read that Neil liked her many years later.
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Yeah, unfortunately it's these type of interviews that painted Rush a trio of elitist uptight pricks.. I'm sure Neil would appreciate Maiden.. He obviously was ignorant of their music at the time
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Yeah, unfortunately it's these type of interviews that painted Rush a trio of elitist uptight pricks.. I'm sure Neil would appreciate Maiden.. He obviously was ignorant of their music at the time

 

yeah he seemed to just rattle off the first few metal bands he could name. probably judged maiden by their cover art

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Didn't like Dirty Deeds and though For Those About to Rock was silly.

 

Silly? What?? Explanation needed when it's clearly the best BJ album.

 

 

I didn't wanna say anything as I don't wanna start arguments, but now that the cat is out of the bag......I just cannot understand it when people say FTATR is a bad album.....I just can't.

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So you just have to do what you feel is right and hope people respond to it, which has been the guiding philosophy for us all along."

 

 

 

Too bad that philosophy has stopped working since 2002

 

?

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I think Rush were a little conceited and full of themselves back then. Geddy made similar comments about AC/DC. Obviously they have matured since then. Neil really inserted foot if he was trying to dog Maiden though. Some fabulous musicians in that band and Nicko(drums) can probably play some stuff that would be challenging for Neil even.
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The title track (For Those About to Rock) seemed designed as a way to insert pyro into the show, and I don't care for the lyrics, but I never went beyond the title track. My impression is they play fun heavy rock and are not untalented musicians, and they know how to entertain a crowd but I don't find them interesting. Never been a kiss fan but with Kiss or AC/DC if I were given tickets to a show I-d probably enjoy the spectacle. I bought The Number of the Beast and enjoyed that album, but never bought any others from Maiden. In interviews they seemed quite intelligent.
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"Rush are reputedly notoriously awkward people to interview, the pitfalls are numerous and potentially disastrous; apparently they think nothing of simply getting up and quitting an interview if they should happen to take offence. The watchword here was 'caution'."

 

:huh:

 

 

Have they ever walked out of an interview? I can't imagine any of them doing that; even though Neil seems awfully arrogant in some of the early interviews, I just can't picture him storming off in a snit.

 

:LOL:

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This is Peart's infamous Signals-era interview with Kerrang in 1982. I'm pretty sure he cringes now if he ever thinks about it. He must have been having a bad day.

Neil and Ged had a habit of coming across as pretentious pricks in interviews those days. I'm sure they laugh about it now.

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I was fortunate to see AC/DC back in their prime, well their prime with Brian Johnson. These guys know how to rock. People criticizing "For Those About To Rock" obviously have not seen it live. Angus is a bad azz guitar player who matches it with stage spectacle. No these guys are not the Hamlet of Rock but they do what they do very well. I knew a guitar player years ago who could play any style of music and he told me............

 

"A good song is a good song"

 

He didn't care if it was Mozart or Fiinstone. The importance is the art of what's created.

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