“I was in a dark place with Bruce leaving and me going through a divorce”: Steve Harris on why this underrated Iron Maiden album was so “powerful”
Personal upheaval may have been painful for Steve Harris, but it also gave rise to what he believes are Iron Maiden’s most “powerful” unsung albums.
Looking back on the band’ discography, the Maiden leader highlights 1995’s The X Factor and 1998’s Virtual XI – both made during the hiatus of their lead singer, Bruce Dickinson – as two records that fans are only now beginning to ‘realise they’re good’.
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“I said it at the time and I still believe it – those two are really strong, powerful albums and people will appreciate them later,” he tells Metal Hammer. “And people are going back and discovering them and realising they’re good.”
“The X Factor in particular is really good,” says Harris, “but it’s a dark album.”
“Probably ‘cos I was in a bit of a dark place with Bruce leaving and me going through a divorce at the time, all this stuff going on. But what came out of that was a powerful album. You take negative stuff and you turn it into a positive and those emotions come out, and that’s what you can do with music. Music’s such a powerful thing.”
Even with multiple multimillion-selling records, Harris admits the band has never produced a “perfect album.”
“I don’t think we’ve ever made the perfect album. Number Of The Beast, people think that’s the perfect album, but there are two songs on there that are not as good as the others,” he says, referring to Invaders and Gangland. “Not everything’s going to be good, is it?”
Asked if he’d ever considered calling it quits, Harris laughs, “Only for a couple of hours. It’s like when West Ham lose – I sulk for two hours, but you have to pick yourself up, brush yourself down and get on with it. It’s the only way it’s going to work.”
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