We regret to inform you that Paul Di’Anno (Andrews) of Iron Maiden has passed on to the other side at age sixty-six. As the paper of record tells us, he had an illustrious career as a vocalist for one of the top three NWOBHM bands:
Di’Anno was the lead vocalist for the band from 1978 to 1981. They completed two albums titled “Iron Maiden” in 1980 and “Killers” in 1981 before current vocalist Bruce Dickinson replaced him.
A statement announcing his death, per Daily Mail, read: “On behalf of his family, Conquest Music are sad to confirm the death of Paul Andrews, professionally known as Paul Di’Anno. Paul passed away at his home in Salisbury at the age of 66.
Di’Anno will go down in history as one of the contributing forces to arguably the best Iron Maiden album, Killers, which merged punk, prog, and heavy rock into a new form that used the riff (versus vocal, as in rock) vocabulary of Black Sabbath to make a new artform.
After Di’Anno left the band, Iron Maiden streamlined their style and then spent the next ten albums trying to get the mix of influences right, producing some stunning work in the process, but losing the innocence and raw emotionality of the Di’Anno years.
Tags: iron maiden, paul di'anno, RIP
I’ll insist the eponymous Debut is their Best. Killers is more consistent, and it’s the most Pure Heavy Metal of all their records. Seventh Son is concrete too, more a mix of hardrock & metal though. The X-Factor deserves some praise for its consistency & solid atmosphere, but by that time they are out of ideas.
I enjoy the first album, but IMHO the second is the perfect balance without full integration of the parts of metal:
* Proto-punk (Stooges)
* Heavy rock (The Who)
* Prog (King Crimson, Yes, Camel, Genesis, Greenslade)
* Soundtracks (misc wops)
* Proto-metal (Black Sabbath)
That’s the NWOBHM mix there, since they started in the early 1970s before the Ramones, Sex Pistols, etc. streamlined punk rock.
two down, six to go
8. Dennis and Blaze
get it right faggot
yeah sure and bob geldof too.
you like it?
People forget how much utterly excremental rock came out of the 60s-80s only because 90s rock was so banal, especially Nirvana.
1990s music, art, movies, etc defined by avoidance of reality and embrace of happy pluralism, a rotted decade full of feminized passivity.
The Clinton years were all about the rainbow of unity which turned out not to be unity. It was all based on that Pink Floyd cover.
I am NOT looking forward to the influx of posers coming in trying to front that Maiden sold out with Dickinson, shut up you faggots. Maiden was never a punk band and never supposed to be.
Killers is easily a top 3 album tho.
I’m gonna translate this for the people who don’t need to put on a front for the internet:
“I like the Iron Maiden albums with Bruce Dickinson on vocals. If you prefer the first two albums, I disagree”
That effectively makes the exact same statement.
Good point. For me, it comes down to this:
There’s a difference between preference and hurling insults and sell-out accusations. You’re the one that’s putting on a front.
Ironic that you mention hurling insults.
I can’t speak for everyone who doesn’t appreciate Dickinson-era Maiden, but I believe this website explained its rationale for criticizing those albums, rather than simply brand them a sell-out.
The best take on the later albums is that 1990s live CD A Real Dead One. You get all the classic songs with Bruce singing lower and they trimmed out the extra details.
You two quit behaving like /r/metal posters please
Killers, Painkiller, Angel Witch, Don’t Break the Oath, and the live Motorhead 2CD are most of what one needs from that NWOBHM generation and its offshoots.
White Spirit and Holocaust, too
“Sad Wings of Destiny” and “Stained Class” are more essential than “Painkiller”.
Too much disco and Led Zeppelin influence.
Disco? on Sad Wings? You’re on crack.
I used to think Sad Wings was nothing more than a museum exhibit: good ideas hampered by a crappy record company and band inexperience, but the older I get, the more I realize it’s the greatest museum exhibit ever.
Think he meant Sin After Sin with ‘Starbreaker’ and the sped-up cover of ‘Diamonds And Rust’
Who can forget “The Green Manalishi With The Two-Pronged Crown” that got taken from shitty 70s hippie rock and made into a biker anthem.
You’ll disagree but early Venom singles, or just buy the Neat Records Welcome To Hell reissue, the bonus tracks which are almost an entire album in length are burly and savage for their time. The DNA of old Sodom, Bathory etc are all there. They were goofy retards but they really were onto to something for a few years before embarrassing themselves with recorded live footage.
And the DNA of old semen, like in bruce dick in son’ s asshole
I can’t imagine “Killers” without the raw attitude Paul brought to the vocals. As vital as Bruce was to the direction Maiden moved toward – and his skill-set suited that very well – I hope Paul’s contribution never gets overlooked. RIP.
Speaking of their second album, I was glancing at my copy and was surprised to see that all compositions but two are credited entirely to Steve Harris. It doesn’t really matter – simply caught my eye. Maybe they just go by lyrics for credits in the gay UK. Who knows.
Harris always wrote most of the material until the Bruce years, but even so, other band members contributed a lot in the way of shaping the final product.
many of the songs of the old days were written by earlier members of Iron Maiden that were out the band by 1981. many of those songs (including purgatory) were already played live in ’78. songs, with which ‘arry may have had ‘some help’ between 76 and 79: prowler, sanctuary, phantom of the opera, strange world (music and lyrics), drifter, etc. The Ides of March is actually on a Samson record under the title Thunderburst, credits to: Harris and Barry Purkis. The list goes on on NOTB: intro to Run to the Hills was purely Burr.I wanna say, ‘Arry did an amazing job. After 1984 it’s only business though. The one (other) bandmember that never left: Rod Smallwood. about lyrics, ‘arry did lift the final six lines of hallowed be thy name from the Beckett song, life’s shadows (1974). For that ‘Arry paid 100.000 after settling. But it does look fucking cool, all the “Harris” credits on the first two, for me it’s part of the appeal.
haha a moron who actually cares…..sad, really
Screw anyone who tries to make anything better. Everything should stay shitty so I can be an island of myself.
Wow, now there’s a username I hadn’t seen in almost 20 years!
Killers and Somewhere in Time are my favorite Maiden albums, with the debut and Seventh Son rounding out my top 4. I actually preferred Di’anno’s vocals over Dickinsons by a large margin.
I look forward to your destruction
Weird, I was looking forward to Halloween.
Who were the other of the top 3 NWOBHM bands — Judas Priest and Def Leppard?
Was Judas Priest too early to be NWOBHM?
Iron Maiden ‘Killers’ is rad, no doubt, but D’Anno’s vocals don’t come across as powerful enough. He sounds overly self-aware, trying to sound like a sassy Rock bitch a la Def Leppard.
Maiden
Angel Witch/Diamondhead/Venom
Satan
Where is Motorhead?
On the list?!
Guys, Motörhead and Venom are NWOBHM?!
Aight bet ngl I’ve gotta peep Diamond heads.
Their only good songs are the ones Metallica covered, but if you take those and the NWOBHM band Sweet Savage, specifically the song Eye of The Storm, well there’s Metallica before Metallica.
Paul was criminally underrated in his time in Maiden. Just because he was replaced with someone better doesn’t make him bad.
and if you listen closely, he was kind of improving as a vocalist on Killers
I will say this with regards to Paul, one thing he could do that Bruce couldn’t quite, was he could SOUND like Eddie. If Eddie was a singer, that’s what he would sound like.
This is dancing around the issue. They’re both fine vocalists, but in the Bruce era, Iron Maiden turned into this pub singalong pop band. Their third album sounds like music for children compared to the first two. Is that Bruce’s fault? How the fuck do I know… but Dianno era is better.
Yeah because Running Free and Sanctuary were totally for intellectuals.
Also “Raping the Women and wasting the men” yeah totally for kids
Shut up boomer.
I think he was talking about the music, not the lyrics.
Does anyone really listen to the lyrics anyway? It’s rhyming shit that sounds cool.
Iron Maiden was more than the sum of its parts. Di’Anno was the source, together with Burr he lifted the band out of its less-than-stellar roots. Di’Anno was unique, with his short hair and punky voice. It made them stand out even more. Di’Anno was the guy with which Harris went to Neil Kay, who played their Soundhouse tape, after which all the metal fans went berserk – nice scene. All the while nerdy Bruce was hitting the books at some university. Studying secret knowledge later to be imparted in his song lyrics. The influence of dickinson is much more than just the vocal style. It’s also about the boring music he wrote. And the stupid lyrics. Iron Maiden was more than the sum of its parts. But, in the UK they do bring the daughters to the slaughters these days. Thanks Bruce, and janick too!
A lot of bands are cases of talented people coming together at the right time to work together. Eventually some outgrow the process or go off on tangents.
“Iron Maiden turned into this pub singalong pop band.” The Number of the Beast did this for sure but they followed it up with great prog-influenced albums. You wouldn’t have Dream Theater or any of the current crop of prog-death without Maiden. There’s also the influence of that material on Dissection, Sacramentum, Sentenced, and probably a billion other bands.