“I haven’t written anything on the new album. I started to write ‘very heavy metal’ things, but I ended up writing for bagpipes, folk things like Jethro Tull. Oh well – bang go my royalties!”: When Bruce Dickinson was Iron Maiden’s odd man out

Iron Maiden in 1986.

On 5 July 1985, when Iron Maiden walked off stage at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in California, singer Bruce Dickinson wanted to quit the band – and the music business – for good.

Irvine Meadows was the final stop on Maiden’s aptly named World Slavery tour, the 189th gig in a 13-month marathon. This had been a test of physical and psychological endurance that took a heavy toll on every member of the band – but Dickinson most of all.