Bruce Dickinson thinks some rock stars need to retire: “They’re not legends”
Bruce Dickinson has shared a pretty brutal take on the life of a rockstar, insisting that if the vocals are fried, a performer no longer deserves the legend title.
Dickinson, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year with Iron Maiden, believes that many old rockers who are struggling to reach the height of their former glory days should take it upon themselves to bow out of the profession sooner rather than later.
On this topic, during a recent interview with Kerrang!, the musician discussed drummer Nicko McBrain’s 2024 departure from the band due to the physical demands of life on tour.
Dickinson shared his respect for his bandmate and suggested that other musicians in his field might take inspiration from the move.
However, Dickinson admitted that not everybody feels the same, revealing that he recently had an “argument with a journalist” who suggested rock stars should keep going up to, through, and beyond their best years.
Dickinson began, “I said, ‘Look, there are loads of singers whose 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.”
He quipped, “When they were singing, they were legends. When they can’t sing anymore, they’re not legends anymore.”
The 67-year-old added, “That’s the end of that, the brutal truth. I couldn’t go onstage 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.”
Pondering when his own sell-by date may be, Dickinson mused confidently, “It’s just a fact of life that one day it may or may not happen.”
He elaborated, “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.”
Despite his comments, the singer is charging full steam ahead on Iron Maiden’s Run for Your Lives Tour, with the North American leg kicking off late August. Megadeth and Anthrax will warm up the crowd with some raucous rage of their own.
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