One of the most important voices in Heavy Metal music, Bruce Dickinson first achieved fame as the vocalist of Samson and then, of course, entered music history as the frontman of Iron Maiden.
His vocal range gave the band exactly what they needed to become one of the best-selling and most influential heavy rock bands of all time. Over the decades, he has spoken about many of his favorite metal bands and once revealed which two he likes the most.
The 2 Heavy Metal bands Bruce Dickinson said are his favorites
Deep Purple
Although it is arguable that Deep Purple is a Heavy Metal band, they were one of the groups that Bruce Dickinson told Eric Blair in an interview that they were one of his favorites. “Purple were probably my favorite Metal band,” he told the journalist in 1999.
The Iron Maiden vocalist has been a huge fan of the British band since he was a young kid. Ian Gillan is his biggest hero when it comes to singing. The first time the two met was when Bruce Dickinson was making an album with Samson in the late ’70s at Gillan’s studios. Bruce wasn’t feeling well that day and Gillan arrived, listened to a track, and praised the vocals, asking who the singer was. Bruce thanked him, then went to the toilet and vomited. Sometime later, Gillan himself went in with a towel and called a cab to take Dickinson home.
(Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) “We’ve done an album in Ian Gillan’s studio. So we’ve all been up the pub and had a few pints. Then In walks my god, Ian Gillan. (He) goes, ‘Hey, what a great vocalist. Who’s the singer?’ (Then) at that moment, I felt the sudden urge to vomit.”
Bruce Dickinson continued:
“I ran out of the room [and] puked up for about 45 minutes in the toilet. So in comes my idol, kicks the door and goes: ‘Come on, mate. Out you come. Let’s get you wiped down with a towel.’ He put me in a taxi and sent me home. So I’ve never forgotten that. He’s never let me forget it either,” Bruce Dickinson told BBC Radio in 2021.
He had the chance to pay tribute to Purple multiple times over the years, performing with the members of the band. Recently he even toured with an orchestra paying tribute to the late keyboardist Jon Lord, playing only classic Deep Purple songs.
His favorite Deep Purple albums and songs
Some of his favorite albums of the band are “Deep Purple In Rock” (1970) and “Made in Japan” (1972). But he also likes songs from other records like “Fireball”, for example. He listed the title-track of that album as one of his favorites when he talked with My Planet Rocks back in 2020.
(Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) “It’s just one of those tracks that is not played very often. But it’s got some phenomenal bits in it. And of course, it’s also got – I mean, having been a drummer or at least aspired to being a drummer, I have huge respect for drummers. Ian Paice is simply one of the finest drummers in the world, he really is. And I suppose if you’re going to be a drumming nit-noid type guy, it’s his foot. It’s all down to his foot,” Bruce Dickinson said.
Black Sabbath
The second band that he told Eric Blair that was one of his favorite ones in Heavy Metal was Black Sabbath, the band that created the genre. (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) “The rain in the beginning (Of their self-titled song) and stuff, and it was (released on) Vertigo (Records) as well. Because it was on a record you looked to the middle of the (LP) and you would go ‘Wow’.”
“I used to play it when my parents were out because I used to blow up their… In the old days they used to have these pieces of furniture called a stereogram. It was like a fucking couch, it was six-feet long and it had two pathetic speakers. They used to have drink cabinets in it and it had the record player hidden somewhere. So you would go there and was like ‘Ok, they’re gone’, put the record and cranked the thing up the speakers would (not work properly anymore),” Bruce Dickinson said in an interview with Gastão Moreira on the Brazilian MTV show “Fúria” in 1998.
Bruce told Qobuz in 2024 that “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” (1973) is one of his favorite albums by the band. Also said that in his opinion, the guitarist Tony Iommi and the bassist/lyricist Geezer Butler were the driving forces of the group. (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) “Oh yeah, I was a kid when I got this album. I was still a virgin, which made me open it up and go: ‘Oh my God! Look at those women!’ But what a great record, what a great album. What a great comeback album. The first two (Sabbath) records are amazing. Well no, ‘Vol. 4’ was incredible as well, you know.”
He continued:
“What a consistent band and it’s Geezer (Butler – Bass) and Tony (Iommi – guitar). If you look at all the people, all the different vocalists, not just Ozzy, but they’ve all been… ‘Born Again’ (With Ian Gillan on vocals), what a great album. Everybody goes ‘Oh, forget that album’. No, it’s a great album,” Bruce Dickinson said.
The Iron Maiden frontman had the chance to cover the title track of that record on the tribute album “Nativity In Black” with the group Godspeed. But he is not a fan of that version, having criticized it. He said that he only did it because they offered him good money.
Bruce Dickinson feud with Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne
Although Bruce Dickinson praised the band multiple times over the years there is a feud between him, Ozzy Osbourne and his wife/manager Sharon. It all happened back in 2005 during Maiden’s shows at Ozzfest, the festival created by the Black Sabbath frontman. For a reason never revealed by Bruce, made fun of Ozzy and said a few bad things about him on stage which made Sharon angry.
As an answer to that, Sharon hired people to throw eggs at the Metal group while they were on stage during their next appearance. A response criticized by their manager Rod Smallwood. He said it was the most disgusting and unprofessional thing he had ever seen. The band’s leader and bassist Steve Harris apologized to Ozzy later on. Sharon said that the Iron Maiden members are all nice guys, but she dislikes Bruce, saying he has “a chip on his shoulder”.
The Maiden founder, leader and bassist Steve Harris went on to apologize to Ozzy every night. But later on Sharon said that she respected the members of the band because they are really nice guys. However, she said that she dislikes Dickinson, who in her opinion has “a chip on his shoulder”.
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