In a new interview for the YouTube channel Crash TV (via Blabbermouth Iron Maiden vocalist commented on the inspiration for the song "Virus," a track featured on the Iron Maiden , Best Of The Beast , released in 1996.
Bayley says the track is about “the hatred and cynicism” of British journalists who, according to him, wanted Iron Maiden to fail after the vocalist joined. “They wanted Iron Maiden to fail when Bruce [ Dickinson , vocals] left the band,” said Blaze. “They really wanted Iron Maiden to fail.”
“However, the fans didn’t want that. The journalists were tired of not having the power to kill Maiden, since it’s a band of the fans. The lyrics are about the hatred and cynicism of the journalists and their poisonous attitudes.”
He goes on to say that the “evil virus” they sing about in the song is journalists. “Mentally, they keep feeding on these horrible things, and people start to believe that something is really bad just because someone said it’s bad. Then people say, ‘Oh, it must be bad then,’ instead of looking for themselves.”
“I kept 'Virus' in my repertoire, so at a Blaze Bayley show, one of my old Maiden songs is 'Virus'. It's a slightly different version from what we did in Iron Maiden, it's the Blaze Bayley version. The fans like it because we never played it live with Iron Maiden. So, in a way, I consider it my own song.”
The full interview (in English) with Blaze Bayley can be found below:
