Iron Maiden frontman slams band's free MP3

Bruce is turning into a right grumpy old man.
However he's right about one thing. It's a shite song.

lets go back to vinyl 78's eh Bruce coz they were SOOOOO much better ZZZZZz

Sorry bruce maybe ears plugs are best for your music cuz your new song is shit.

Has he ever considered that maybe they're shit, not the MP3?
It's 2010, not the 80s.
And those "cotton buds" add a hell of a lot more balls to a song than a shitty cassette player.

the songs ok, but i agree with bruce with the mp3, it annoys me when a band only release songs as mp3 and some people cant get them cause you have to download it, simple solution is BRING THE PRICE OF CDS DOWN

i agree with bruce and it was even proved on the gadget show mp3s are worse quality, plus how can everyone enjoy music if its stuck in headfones!
dont everyone miss going to hmv and buying a new cd and looking through the book at the pics, lyrics and thankyous coz i love all tht.
plus mp3s are making music disposable they can get deleted and then you completely forget about the song forever if u have a cd or vinyl you have it until you sell it or w.e you do with it, its soo much more fun you collect like a whole collection, plus its a better investment, some vinyls may be worth loads in the future so id buy them

Agreed, CDs are just so much more satisfying to have than a bunch of files on a PC that make up an album

Excuses, excuses... It's a song they could've churned out in the their sleep. But I do prefer buying CDs, it's more satisfying =]

Maiden are done, the new material is terrible.

Okay, what?

I wish old bands like this wouldn't try desperately to keep the old days in modern times. CD's are still available, and even if they aren't in shops, there's this wonderful thing called BURNING YOUR OWN DISCS.

Besides, MP3's can actually give a clearer, more focused sound than the physical distortion of a CD or vinyl, it all depends on the quality of the original recording.

Sorry, but all these old bands just seem to be turning into grumpy old men these days because the music scene has changed.

Am I the only person here that thinks Maiden's new song rocks? It's amazing - wild riffs, sweet harmonies and Bruce's awesome vocals, with the best bassist and best drummer ever in the background - It's everything you could possibly want from a Maiden song!

I do disagree with Bruce on MP3s though, cause they're a quick, easy way to listen to music whenever you want, and they don't sound that bad. You can't just carry CDs arund!

I'm hardly a fan of MP3s but to completely slam them? That's ridiculous. It's just technology moving forward, live with it old man, the rest of us do

All of the young ones who listen to bands with hair dye and stupid fringes please fuck off as all the music you listen to is shite, hence your comments are not valid. MP3's are easy to listento when walking around, however i think bruce was saying that listening to an album in your house on CD would produce better results than the tinny sound MP3's give off. New song is awesome, Fuck the haters after all they are just out of nappies, sad bastards.

Kerry, what the hell are you talking about?
Not to side with this old fart, but do you even know what an MP3 is?

About fucking time, mp3's and downloading fucking suck, everyone who thinks otherwise is not a proper music fan, well done Bruce.

well said Bruce, mp3's and downloading fucking suck and sound shit and if you are a proper music fan then you would agree, if not you can fuck off and listen to chart shit.

@ Kerry - "MP3's can actually give a clearer, more focused sound than the physical distortion of a CD or vinyl,"

Franky you are talking out of your arse. MP3's are SIGNIFICANTLY poorer quality compared to a cd as they are a COMPRESSED, LOSSY FORMAT!

A red book standard cd track is 16 bit 44.1KHz, which comes to about 31MB for a 3 minute song.

A 320kbps MP3 file is about 7MB for the same length of song.

Thats nearly 5 times smaller than a cd quality file. You're losing dynamic range, high frequency content, and getting MORE DISTORTION compared to cd quality.

I assume the "physical distortion" you're talking about is a reference to the loss in quality you get from playing a vinyl many times? This isn't something you get with cd's dear, as CD's are actually DIGITAL!

Also burning an mp3 to cd doesn't make a difference in quality, it'll still be the same shit quality but just on a nice shiny cdr.

So please in future refrain from talking about something you clearly know nothing about.

How, in your opinion, SHOULD we be listening to it then Bruce?
It's not really as though it was available to buy in Betamax or 8 Track.
Although i dont 'get' the figures, i would agree that MP3 is worse quality, it would make sense in a way.

i like the new song has that piece of mind feel to it i just think nicko drumming is poor needs more open hi hats less cymbals listening to it on mp3 player i dont think makes any difference

Compressing a song to mp3 format significantly reduces the quality of a song.
Micro pips on rock tracks are generally filtered at 50hz, but by compressing the file its the equivalent of filtering them thru another 50hz filter resulting in a significantly reduced bass frequency in the mid rift mechanisms. in other words the song sounds rubbish.

fair enough chris you know your stuff mate i just wouldnt be looking at it that way i like the song in parts but i just think some of the drumming is very poor

MP3 format is useful if you want to listen to music on an MP3 player while you're on the bus or walking down the street (because it's a lot more practical than carrying around a personal CD player), but if you're at home or in a pub or club then CD or vinyl is far more superior.

You may argue that if you download an album then you can also download the album artwork/booklet etc. But then you'd just be staring at your computer screen to read the lyrics and look at the artwork.

Buying an actual CD or record and having the booklet or album cover in your hands while listening to the music is the only way to fully appreciate the end product.

And people who have said Bruce Dickinson is a grumpy old man and out of touch - well, how long have Iron Maiden been going for and how successful are they? They will outlast most of the myspace generation crap out there at the moment and are more successful than the majority of crap bands you read about in Kerrang in the 21st century!

Why the hell does everyone keep saying he's a grumpy old man? He is a pioneer of British metal and if you can't respect that, then go away, and fawn over your shitty new boybands..

And quit slagging off vinyls... Do half of you even know what they are...? Let alone own one...

Lol Brucie my boy, don't diss the iPod generation, when it is your song that is full of suck.

Don't get my wrong, I love Maiden, but this new stuff, ew.

Help a brother out!
http://www.visiblenoise.com/b.php?t=5&m=75

Everyone who's said that MP3's are useful if you want to listen to music on the go... You can put music onto an MP3 player from a CD. I know you know that, everyone does, but previous commenters make it seem like they don't know that, and I have always found that putting songs on my iPod from a CD gives FAR better quality than if it's an MP3 download. I think that's what he means.
And yeah, I also love the new song. I don't get why some people think it's so terrible :/
And I'm pretty sure that, although he's 'old' (He's only 51, not THAT old), Bruce isn't 'Out of touch' with the music scene at the moment, seeing as he's been a musician for a long time and has seen things, such as MP3s etc. change, and has probably had to go with these changes. I highly doubt that he sits at home, only listening to vinyls. That's pretty hard to do, these days...

well ipods + mp3s aside maidens music will live on forever they are getting on no doubt but as someone else pointed out no one out there has taken over the mantle the latest stuff coming out is not great .i remember a certain magazine in the 90s giving maiden a hard time + there still here now up the irons!

That is true, there is not a single british rock band out there that is anywhere near as good as maiden, most of the new bands will be forgotten in 30 years time, Maiden however there music will live on.

Maiden havent done anything decent since the 1980's, all they do now is write weak songs about awful forgotten BBC Soap's. Their live show sucks..they now refuse to play their old stuff, Dickinson is an opinionated arsehole & that 3rd guitarist (Gers) is ridiculous.

It's apples and oranges. On a purely technical level mp3's are inferior to CD's and vinyl. MP3 technology was originally designed for portability on the web. Easier to send compressed data than a .wav file. (harmonics are removed in order to create a smaller sized file)

It's morphed into the most popular form of listening for that reason alone. Cassettes were the equivalent back in the day. They only came about because of portability, but even they sound better than mp3's

Now, everything is relative. I can't recall where I read this but in a study comparing who is listening to what format, most people under 30 say they prefer mp3's. They should since that's usually what they listen to anyway.

I love my mp3 player on pc and portable for it's portability, period. However, when i want to listen to what it's supposed to sound like, I crank my 25 year old amps, turntable and JBL speakers. There is no quality comparison.

You talk utter shit, i think its best you get a rolling donut and go take a flying fuck!!!.
Maiden own British metal simple as.

Last comment was aimed at all the whiny teenyboppers who listen to fake shite metal, MAIDEN OWN THE UK SCENE!!!!

When I read this, I thought it was more a comment on the mp3 format, which IS rubbish. But you're right, the song's not up to much either.

Why is everyone jumping down the man's throat for stating a fact?

Are MP3's technically worse quality than Vinyl, tape & CD? Absolutely, no question.

Would you rather listen to music through decent speakers or tiny earbuds that use your ear-drum and parts of your inner ear as a sub-woofer? (What, you thought that tiny diameter speaker in your headphones can actually produce bass? hah!)

Untill technology advances to the point where lossless digital formats like Wave or Aiff become the standard, I'll stick with CD's. (Also I've never "accidentally deleted" any CD's and if my CD player breaks, I don't lose all my albums with it)

Sad so many 'kids' slam Bruce for speaking the truth. What do you guys NOT understand about 'compressed' VS not compressed sound?
Admit it, Maiden knows more about quality sound than most younger bands will ever imagine.
MP3s have been the death of QUALITY, and no one cares.
Well, some of us still do.

the solution is simple, buy the fuckin cd, then if u want the portability, stick on ur phone or ipod :P

the solution is simple, buy the fuckin cd, then if u want the portability, stick on ur phone or ipod :P

the solution is simple, buy the fuckin cd, then if u want the portability, stick on ur phone or ipod :P

i dont no wat iz up wi all d people sayn dis song is shit me n ma m8 ollie downloaded dis song of d website and we love it we bin iron maiden fans since were like 6 n were now 14 and we got all there albums and bin to 2 concerts we heard all there songs and i will admit its not there best song an the albums are a lot better quality dan d mp3 but how ever u listen to there music it is incredible up the irons.

i dont no wat iz up wi all d people sayn dis song is shit me n ma m8 ollie downloaded dis song of d website and we love it we bin iron maiden fans since were like 6 n were now 14 and we got all there albums and bin to 2 concerts we heard all there songs and i will admit its not there best song an the albums are a lot better quality dan d mp3 but how ever u listen to there music it is incredible up the irons.

i dont no wat iz up wi all d people sayn dis song is shit me n ma m8 ollie downloaded dis song of d website and we love it we bin iron maiden fans since were like 6 n were now 14 and we got all there albums and bin to 2 concerts we heard all there songs and i will admit its not there best song an the albums are a lot better quality dan d mp3 but how ever u listen to there music it is incredible up the irons.

i dont no wat iz up wi all d people sayn dis song is shit me n ma m8 ollie downloaded dis song of d website and we love it we bin iron maiden fans since were like 6 n were now 14 and we got all there albums and bin to 2 concerts we heard all there songs and i will admit its not there best song an the albums are a lot better quality dan d mp3 but how ever u listen to there music it is incredible up the irons.

i dont no wat iz up wi all d people sayn dis song is shit me n ma m8 ollie downloaded dis song of d website and we love it we bin iron maiden fans since were like 6 n were now 14 and we got all there albums and bin to 2 concerts we heard all there songs and i will admit its not there best song an the albums are a lot better quality dan d mp3 but how ever u listen to there music it is incredible up the irons.

because cds never scratch or break or get wedged behind wardrobes. CDS ARE FOREVER DAMNIT!!!11

Chris Packet is clearly trying to sound clever but actually is talking rubbish.

Those who are saying that Maiden haven't done anything decent since the 80's are quite frankly, talking pish.

Brave New World is one of my favourite Maiden albums. Dance of Death has some good songs and A Matter Of Life and Death is excellent!

Personally I much prefer the consistency of the new material, where the album is strong as a whole, rather than the very hit and miss nature of the older material. Number of the Beast is a great example. RTTH, HBTN, COTD and NOTB are all great. But The Prisoner, Invaders, 22AA and Gangland are all pretty poor in my opinion.

Some people just want them to release the same albums over and over and sound exactly the same forever though.

And Liam, your English is a bloody disgrace mate.

I also don't agree with people saying the new music is bad. I like bot the old AND the new music. Sure, I don't absolutely love every song, and I'm not as keen on the albums with Blaze, but my favourites are both old and new songs.
My favourite album is either Brave New World or Powerslave. I like them equally because there's not a single song on those albums that I don't like. I don't get how people can listen to Brave New World and say it 'sucks', if they DO like older Maiden songs :/

sticking to the article topic, yes, mp3 formats are shit, but just what is the bitrate of the freebie track? i mean, 1000+ kbps mp3 doesn't sound completely hopeless, only less so. and this track sounds like max 320. they really should have tried wav or flac or ape, instead of griping after the fact.....

veering away now to the comments; i listened to el dorado once, and haven't been interested enough for seconds. which is a very, very damning indictment; red, bloody murder for a maiden nut like me. it's like blaze-era all over again. the final frontier is better, if you can live with all the rock. it seems as if the new album's gonna go in for a killers-piece of mind-x factor mashup sound, with most of only the boring/bad bits rising to the surface - but the main influence seems to be the rock elements of x-factor, with all the good and bad that goes with it. eep.

damn it all, and the cover art had me hoping for a new somewhere in time, or even another brave new world would have been cool with me

So they'll be releasing the back catalogue lossless from the masters then?

Or shut up and stick to making money from the mp3 on the website shop.

What I dont understand is, why release an MP3 then slag it off on stage.

Even if it was free. Surely as a musician you WANT your music to be heard in the best possible quality. With the millions they have surely they could have release a single track CD with a magazine such as kerrang.