Bruce Dickinson says Iron Maiden exit in 1993 was due to “self doubt”
Bruce Dickinson is still flying high as the lead singer of Iron Maiden, but in 1993, the vocalist took a time out for six long years.
Over 30 years on from his decision to walk away, the rock singer has newly lifted the lid on his thought process at that time.
In a new interview with The Guardian, Dickinson looked back at Iron Maiden’s long, illustrious but treacherous road through the industry. Eventually, Dickinson landed on his decision to leave in 1993, after which the band replaced him with Blaze Bayley.
During the mid 1990s, Dickinson found himself enthralled by music outside of Iron Maiden, such as the “edgy and musical and emotional” Soundgarden.
Therefore, he explained, “There’s this huge chunk of talent, and I was looking at it going: are we still on the zeitgeist, or is the Iron Maiden furniture looking a bit faded at this point? And nobody seemed bothered about it.”
Creatively frustrated, he decided to leave the band to pursue a solo career. He left at the same time as guitarist Adam Smith. Dickinson mused, “It was a period of reflection and self-doubt.”
The singer realised that he had “been in an institution since my early 20s and that I didn’t know how to do anything else outside that institution – I found that absolutely terrifying.”
However, this wasn’t the first time that Dickinson had experienced these kinds of doubts. After the odiously named World Slavery Tour in support of 1984’s Powerslave, Dickinson admitted to having “a wobble”.
He explained, “I had no life. It started to feel like a golden cage. And that can’t be right. I started to think: is it worth it? Because I’m young enough to do something else.”
While other musicians might’ve dreamed of a solo career (which was, of course, later on the cards for Dickinson), he had a different career in mind: “I was thinking of packing it in to become a fencing teacher.”
He added reflectively, “I wanted to walk away, because that’s preferable to losing your soul and everything else that goes with it.”
Dickinson and Smith rejoined the band in 1999; this year, they will finally be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and will kick off their Run For Your Lives North American tour this August.
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