As I was posting the Rocksnobs Five Sexiest Artists list, I braced myself for the hate mail I was sure to receive from Queen fans. I was fully prepared for angry outbursts from people who were mad about Roger Taylor being absent from the list. I was dreading the idea of having to address the bitter masses, but I couldn't just change the list!
Only one Queen fan ended up protesting, and it was in the nicest of ways. She sent in a revised top five list featuring the members of Queen, plus David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust. I can't really argue with the Bowie choice. She said that Bruce could maybe be number six, if he was lucky. The list also included a controversial statement that Roger looks better in leather trousers than Bruce. Loyalty to my ten-plus years of being a Roger girl should keep me from commenting, but, you know.
You know.
Fine.
I'll say it.
Bruce Dickinson looks better.
In leather pants.
Than Roger Taylor.
I will duck the rotten vegetables that Queen fans are now hurling, and I will also continue with my story. The other email I got was from the Cowboy, who is in the middle of usurping CEB's position as my number one reader. This is what I received:
So, most folks who do "top-whatever-lists" in November are usually summing up their year. I'd say you've done that nicely. "The Year Of Dickinson!"
When I left on my big adventure to see Iron Maiden this summer, I didn't expect to go insane. After all, I had seen them on two other occasions without losing all common sense. I had no reason to think that this time would be any different. But I was wrong. So very, very wrong.
This time, there was a road trip factor involved. It wasn't just a regular concert, it was a rock and roll expedition! Also, I had LCG. Over the past year LCG had started to cultivate an Iron Maiden phase, and I was doing what I could to help out. That included agreeing to attend the show (on that fine day he called me at work and told me that he had gone ahead and made the Iron Maiden ticket purchase). I was still hemming and hawing since I had seen them before, but that phone call made the choice for me.
We listened to some Maiden in preparation for the show, and just about wore out the Visions Of The Beast DVD collection, but we didn't really get into all of the albums. That changed after the concert. We went on a giddy, Maiden-buying spree that started in August and is still going on right now. I had never really owned much of the Iron Maiden catalog, because Eddie is scary.
Let me rephrase that. When I was growing up, Iron Maiden was very big, and I thought Eddie was scary. I was in sixth grade, give me a break. You look at robo-muscular Eddie on the cover of Somewhere In Time and tell me he wouldn't scare an eleven year old. Had I known that the song titles were things like Alexander The Great and The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner, I probably would have made my Iron Maiden purchases sooner. But it took a long time for me to shake my Iron Maiden cover art phobia.
Also, when I was younger I didn't realize that Iron Maiden weren't a bunch of creepy mystical guys, they were just writing about creepy mystical guys. I didn't know! Then I grew up and went to see them in Chicago and lost my mind. And best of all, LCG and me are having fun. We love snapping up Iron Maiden videos, old posters, new albums, whatever. Our phases are feeding off of each other, and it is a hoot. Iron Maiden came along right when both of us had given up on wrestling, so it was nice to have something else that grabbed our enthusiasm.
We are both loving the music, but I am happy for another reason. I was very excited about being able to follow the current activities of a group. Queen became my favorite band right before Freddie died, so there were no tour schedules to watch. There was nothing to do but be sad. It has been a long, long time since I followed a group that is actively touring and recording, and it is a good time.
So while I experienced an unplanned detour and ended up living in The Year Of Dickinson, I'm okay with it. The Queen fans are not, because they think that Queen deserves the most room on the site since they are obviously the best band ever. I can't argue with that. Queen really is the best band ever, and one of these days I will stop listening to Iron Maiden long enough to play Sheer Heart Attack and write up a little something. But right now, I have to go listen to Somewhere In Time.