Metal Anarchy

During a recent interview with Kerrang!, Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson shared his thoughts on vocalists who outstay their welcome. According to him, “there are loads of singers who voices are shot and everybody knows it.”

Dickinson said he recently had an “argument with a journalist” about musicians performing past their prime and that he would retire if he couldn’t sing anymore. However, the journalist protested, saying “you can’t do that, you’ve got to go on.”

Dickinson further discussed that exchange:

“Look, there are loads of singers who voices are shot and everybody knows it.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, but they’re legends.’ They’re not fucking legends, They’re people who can’t sing anymore. When they were singing, they were legends. When they can’t sing anymore, they’re not legends anymore. That’s the end of that, the brutal truth. I couldn’t go on stage if I didn’t think I could do it. I don’t know how people get onstage when they can’t do it anymore. Obviously, it’s their life, but it’s not my way.”

He continued when asked if it worries him:

“No. It’s just a fact of life that one day it may or may not happen. You take each day as it comes, and you try to give the best performance of your life every night. That’s the rules of the game.”