Despite his brief tenure with Iron Maiden, Paul Di'Anno had a pretty significant impact on metal. Di'Anno's vocals can be found on both Iron Maiden's 1980 self-titled debut album and 1981 record Killers, the latter of which was his final year in the band. Now in a new interview with Classic Rock, Di'Anno reflects on being let go from the band and said it was the right call.
"I don’t blame them for getting rid of me," he said. "The band was [bassist Steve Harris'] baby, but I wish I’d been able to contribute more. After a while that got me down. In the end I couldn’t give a hundred per cent to Maiden any more, and it wasn’t fair to the band, the fans or myself."
"The two albums I made with the band were pivotal [to the genre]. Later on in my life when I met Metallica, Pantera and Sepultura and they told me that those albums were what got them into music, it made me incredibly proud."
Di'Anno also lamented the production of the first few albums in the same interview, saying they detracted from the songs. Though clearly it didn't mar the songs that much, given the status of both albums now.
"What I do know, is that all the songs on that first album are fucking great. It’s such a shame that the production is complete dogshit."
