“I had no idea it would be such a catastrophic event in people’s lives!" How leaving Iron Maiden, A Nightmare On Elm Street and the acoustic album that never was led Bruce Dickinson to write Tears Of The Dragon

Bruce Dickinson in the video for Tears Of The Dragon.

Bruce Dickinson hadn’t planned on going solo. Frontman for Iron Maiden since late 1981, it certainly wasn’t like his day job wasn’t fulfilling – or demanding – enough. But during a rare Maiden break in 1989, he was approached by publishing company Zomba to provide a song for the soundtrack to the fifth Nightmare On Elm Street movie. The song, Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter would ultimately be re-recorded by Iron Maiden in 1990 and became the first metal song to top the UK singles charts.

“It was all by accident!” Bruce attests with the amiable dismissiveness of someone used to tripping and landing in gold mines. “A guy from Colombia records heard it and was like, ‘Oh my god, I love that song! Do you have more like it?’ So I lied and went ‘Oh yeah, loads.’ Suddenly, I had an American record deal for an album we hadn’t even written!”