Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson said :
"I consider the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to be a complete and utter load of rubbish. It's run by hypocritical Americans who wouldn't know what rock is even if you punched them in the face. They need to stop taking Prozac and start drinking some damn beer."
This week, for the first time in history, Iron Maiden was nominated for possible induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame .
Of the 10 members who have been part of the band's official studio album lineups throughout Iron Maiden's 40-year history, only 1 member has been left out.
The surprising thing was that even guitarist Dennis Stratton , who only appeared on Iron Maiden's debut album in 1980, was nominated.
“To be honest, at first I thought, ‘They’re not going to include me.’ But surprisingly, I received a message in our band Lionheart that said, ‘Did you see? You’ve been nominated as a band member,’” Stratton declared, surprised.
"I was really shocked, because they included me along with the other two from that time, Clive Burr and Paul Di'Anno . It was a very nice gesture."
In addition to the 3 former members mentioned, the 6 current members – Steve Harris , Bruce Dickinson, Dave Murray , Adrian Smith , Janick Geers , and Nicko McBrain – were also nominated, completing the 9 nominees.
However, vocalist Blaze Bailey , who replaced Bruce Dickinson from 1994 to 1999 and recorded the albums The X Factor and Virtual XI , was left out.
It remains to be seen how much Bruce's speech will influence the Hall of Fame's decision on whether or not Iron Maiden should be inducted. On a second occasion, also in 2018, Dickinson stated:
“I’m genuinely happy that we’re not in the Hall of Fame and I hope we never are. If we’re ever selected, I’ll refuse—they’re not going to have my fucking corpse in there. Rock ‘n’ roll doesn’t belong in a mausoleum in Cleveland. It’s a living, breathing thing, and if you put it in a museum, it means it’s dead. It’s worse than horrible, it’s vulgar.”
READ ALSO : Judas Priest, Motörhead and Soundgarden out. And Whitney Houston enters the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
