“It’s a big, festering, open sewer – it’s nothing to do with music”: Watch Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson eviscerate hair metal in a 1990 interview

Bruce Dickinson in 1990.

The hair metal scene of 1980s Los Angeles gave us a plethora of chart-smashing rock anthems, from Mötley Crüe’s Girls Girls Girls to Warrant’s Heaven. But, let’s be honest: that’s not the only thing people remember that trend for nowadays. Equally as noteworthy as glam’s music was its wildman indulgences, obsessed with sex, drugs and a bit more sex.

It’s an ideology that Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson took vocal issue with as he went solo in 1990. And this is a man with pipes so impressive that he’s been dubbed the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal’s “Air Raid Siren”, so said vocals are pretty hard to ignore.