Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has recently taken to address his past in interviews. Dickinson recently said his feud with the Osbournes in 2005 wasn't really that big of a deal, and now he's addressing his 2011 comment about Metallica. Specifically, Dickinson said that iron Maiden was better than Metallica, and followed it up with a quote to Metal Hammer saying "I got into trouble for saying that we're better than Metallica… and, it's true!"
So why'd he do it? Well aside from whatever your personal opinion is, Dickinson says in an interview with Rolling Stone that he made the remark to rile people up about Iron Maiden, and of course to piss some people off for the sake of pissing them off.
Look, I'm acutely conscious that when you say things in print, people are going to pick up on things. The stuff about Metallica, quite frankly, was a really good windup. We have a great relationship with Metallica. It wasn't aimed at Metallica. It was aimed at the rest of the world to say, "We're back and we mean it. We mean it so much that we're going to say something pretty outrageous, so why don't you come to the show and find out. We dare you." It's throwing down the gauntlet, and I'm the lead singer. It's my job. It's what I do.
So is it arrogant? Uh, yeah. You're the lead singer of Iron Maiden, and you're going to be arrogant every now and again, because it kind of goes with the territory, yeah. Mick Jagger, is he arrogant? Yeah, probably – it's Mick Jagger, for fuck's sake. Do I make a distinction between me walking down the street and me onstage with Iron Maiden? Yeah.
Later in the interview, Dickinson clarifies a little bit, saying "I said it because I knew it would piss everyone off. I knew it wouldn't piss Metallica off, because they're Metallica. What do they care?" He's right though! Who gives a shit? Whether or not Dickinson thinks Iron Maiden is better than Metallica, or Black Sabbath, or everyone ever under the sun, it's all a matter of preference anyway.
Bruce Dickinson's biography What Does This Button Do? is out now, and you can get yourself a copy here.
