Talk:Bruce Dickinson

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[edit] Discussion from 2004

My Red Dice You've removed a copyright image acc. to your account earlier. So I want you to know before doing it again that both the pictures that are on aren't copyrighted.

Is all the stuff written on Dickinson here true? Sounds too good to be true. David.Monniaux 12:56, 5 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I created a new section entitled "Bruce Dickinson's Solo Albums" and included the following information for it:

   * Tattooed Millionaire
   * Balls To Picasso
   * Alive In Studio A
   * Skunkworks
   * Accident of Birth
   * Chemical Wedding
   * Scream For Me Brazil
   * The Best of Bruce Dickinson

I created another new section called "External Links" and included the following website links for it: http://www.screamforme.com/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/presenters/bruce_dickinson/ http://www.bookofhours.34sp.com/bdwbn/ http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/5026/ http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/5619/ Obviously more information needs to be added for Bruce's solo albums, but I just wanted to put something there for now as it made me sad to see no Bruce solo albums listed on the Bruce Dickinson wiki page! :) So please add what you can. Anyone reading this? Please post a hello! --Demonslave 13:02, Apr 5, 2004 (UTC)

Removed one link I had previously added because the particular design of the website at the link was very messy and ugly in my opinion. So now the total external link count for the Bruce Dickinson page is four. Changed the external links to show descriptive names instead of just bare urls. --Demonslave 15:55, Apr 5, 2004 (UTC)

I notice there's a link at the top of the Bruce Dickinson wiki page to a Bruce Dickinson wiki page in another language which has his solo albums listed and each linked to pictures and descriptive information. Why hasn't this been done for the English page? Can someone please do this so the English page is updated to match the other language version? Thank you. --Demonslave 16:02, Apr 5, 2004 (UTC)

I'm talking to myself I see, heh. I added pages for the solo albums. More work needs to be done. I'll add more content to the solo album pages when time permits. --Demonslave 09:25, Sep 23, 2004 (UTC)

The user Mozman added this comment to the article: "He had two nicknames, 'The Monkey' and 'The Air Raid Siren', when asked which was his favorite, I prefer the monkey, as I do look like a monkey!" I've heard of Bruce being called Air Raid Siren, but never "The Monkey." If this is true, Mozman, please post here in reply your published reference for this claim before posting it again. If it is true I'd like to know the source. Your comment has been removed from the article and next time before you add something please read the article so you know where to place it. You created a whole new paragraph with a sentence rather than adding the comment into the existing paragraph which talks about his nickname(s). --Demonslave 12:11, Dec 6, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Flying Heavy Metal

Added information about the TV series which Bruce stars in: Flying Heavy Metal on the Discovery Channel in the UK. Perhaps someone could contibute more details on this when they have time? Thanks. --Demonslave 00:19, Jan 27, 2005 (UTC)

According to the TV series Flying Heavy Metal, it claims he pilots a 757? Just thought I'd let you know, after an evening watching some of his rather good programs.

Removed an anonymous user's (listed by IP address only in history for 'cowbell') contribution of: "Bruce Dickinson is also famous for his love of cowbell. This was once saterized in a Saturday Night Live sketch" I am aware of this SNL sketch with a character named Bruce Dickinson but as far as I could see it beared little to no resemblence to the acutal Bruce Dickinson of this article. I am not aware of Bruce Dickinson being famous for "his love of cowbell" If this can be proven then please point out a publication where Bruce Dickinson himself mentions this somehow, otherwise it is assumed that this cowbell comment was either added as a joke or in error. --Demonslave 15:07, Feb 18, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism

A user at 83.77.143.6 cleared the External Links section, after I had restored it following a user at 83.78.102.143 clearing it a day before. These two events follow a patten which I believe is connected to a frustrated user who couldn't keep several links in external links to maidenfans dot com listed. As I explained in my comments in History for the article page of Bruce Dickinson, only ONE link to a domain in External Links is needed, especially when it's a fan page. After I had removed duplicate entries the external links section started to be cleared which is clearly vandalism. I'm writing this here as a warning, my next step will be discussing this with an admin to decide whether or not to ban IP addresses of the vandals if this continues. --Demonslave 18:31, Mar 12, 2005 (UTC)

Plus, maidenfans dot com is already listed on the Iron Maiden band page (where the user was adding duplicate entries as well and I had to remove them for a few days) whereas this page is devoted to Bruce Dickinson and should be Bruce centric. --Demonslave 18:59, Mar 12, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Impartial point of view

Recently I´ve reverted the edits from a (surely) Bruce Dickinson fan like myself. He wrote in the introduction that Bruce "were probably the best heavy rock singer ever". While I myself think it is true, I know it is based on personal taste solely. I can´t remember someone who didn´t like Bruce´s voice, even my girlfriend (who did not like heavy rock) think he is superb, but again it is solely a personal point of view. I think it is not what we strive for in wikipedia, so I reverted the edits to the previous one. Anyone have a different opinion over this matter? Should the previous comment be restored? Regards to you all - Loudenvier 30 June 2005 14:33 (UTC)

[edit] "Best ever"

This statement is solely based on personal taste. It most certainly doesn't represent a neutral point of view. To leave it as such would be wrong.


Removed "aboce average" guitarist and drummer and changed to "acclaimed". "aove average" is POV and sounds like a school report. "Acclaimed", in my view, is acceptable to an encyclopedia. Curphey 21:25, 24 December 2005 (UTC)


How about accomplished? 24.223.200.243 08:42, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

According To "Run To The Hills" Bruce is a crap drummer, by his own admmission 81.233.42.51 12:47, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bonus Tracks from the Solo Collections

Could someone else start adding Track listings for the Bonus CDs of the 2005 Extended Re-releases of Bruce's albums? I've made additions based on the albums I've bought, but I'm not planning on owning the whole collection so please, a little help.

[edit] Fencing

I've removed 'Olympic standard' from the line referring to Bruce's fencing talents. He was a reasonably good foilist but never got close to that sort of elite level. Not sure of exact figures, but I believe he was in the top 100 of the UK rankings without ever reaching the top 50. (bear in mind that the UK are not (then or now) among the world's leading fencing countries) The exaggeration of Bruce's fencing ability is somewhat of an urban myth among Iron Maiden fans, so anyone wishing to dispute this edit please find evidence from a fencing source (as opposed to a Bruce/Maiden fan site)

Please, remember to sign your posts! (just write ~~~~ after your post will put your name (or IP if not logged) plus the date and time of the edits. But, I completetly, fully, absolutely agree with you. Bruce fencing is not at the olympic level. He is a very good and talented fencer tough. Regards Loudenvier 11:59, 16 November 2005 (UTC)

He'd still slay us all. Malmsteen Maiden 22:11, 23 December 2005 (UTC)

I just found a Sports Illustrated article which mentions that he was the seventh-best foil fencer in Great Britain. 84.160.235.66 21:56, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the article! Malmsteen Maiden 09:03, 28 January 2006 (UTC)


I'm sure I've read that he was offered a place in eithier the '92 or the '88 olympics, but had to go on tour? MAybe somebody who was read Run to The Hills more recently than me can help? Grymsqueaker 05:49, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Oundle School caption

Could someone please identify Bruce in the caption of the Oundle photo? I'm pretty sure he's the one bottom-left. Meegs 10:50, 26 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Oundle School photo

Bruce is the boy in the centre of the picture -- i.e. middle row, second from left. (The person in bottom left is Guy Walkinton, although he probably wouldn't thank me for reminding him of that.)

Now that I know, It's embarrassingly obvious. Nevertheless, I hope you don't mind that I added direction to the caption. --Meegs 14:23, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] "Bruce Dickinson (producer)"

The "Bruce Dickinson" (or "Dickenson") producer mentioned in the more cowbell sketch is of course not our hero here. If anyone knows anything about the producer, please write the Bruce Dickinson (producer) article, however it is spelled, and add a disambig line to the top of this article...and then someone (I'll volunteer) should comb through the Wikipedia links to "Bruce Dickinson" to make sure they point to the right person. Tempshill 23:49, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

Here is a 2001 interview with the lead singer of Blue Öyster Cult about the more cowbell skit. In it, he says that that Bruce Dickinson (spelled the same) is the producer in charge of remastering the band's old albums for a recent sony release. He was not involved in the original prduction of Agents of Fortune or any of the band's other albums . He might not warrent his own article. -Meegs 00:50, 6 December 2005 (UTC)
I see. Thanks. I'd advocate an article for the producer with a disambig at the top of this article, only to eliminate confusion between him and this Bruce; the producer may be insignificant at present, but he is notable because of the "more cowbell" sketch. Tempshill 19:17, 6 December 2005 (UTC)
If we did that, we'd have all three pages, More Cowbell, Bruce Dickinson and Bruce Dickinson (producer) linking to the other two, with nearly all of of the Bruce Dickinson (producer) info contained within the More Cowbell article. The third page seems totally unnecessary, but I'll support it because he is notable from the popular skit alone, and because it might solicit more info about producer. -Meegs 22:19, 6 December 2005 (UTC)
For those who do not know, the confusion is not accidental. In the skit, after Bruce Dickinson (producer) (played by Christopher Walken) introduces himself to the band, he conspicuously says "Yes, THAT Bruce Dickinson". Not only was neither man involved in the production, but neither's name would have been known to the band in 1976. -Meegs 22:25, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Iron Maiden Summary

This article needs a summary of his activities with Iron Maiden. exolon 21:59, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Legendary status

Oh! It´s a great deal of stupidity not to recognize Dickinson´s legendary status. It´s something no one would ever contest. Unless someone is really not well meant. According to All Music Guide he is the most acclaimed and instantly recognizable vocalist to emerge from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement of the early-'80s. It´s clearly not POV, it could be argued it´s original research, but I really did not think it hurts too much to label him the legendary vocalist of Iron Maiden. To the contrary, I think it´s much worse to deny him the status he actually attained (and deserves). Loudenvier 02:23, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for recognizing my stupidity. Notwithstanding, the lead sentence can do without the figurative legendary attribution; regardless of what you, I, and other fans think he deserves, such a label is POV, inappropriate, and damages the credibility of the article. ×Meegs 08:17, 9 June 2006 (UTC)
Not POV. Perhaps original research. Anyway I rephrased it. The problem is that it´s hard to find exactly the term legendary in an online reliable source. Dickinson has a legend status, but since I was not able to find a reliable source using the exact term, the use of it in the article would be an interpretation of another work or article, which is not meant to be in wikipedia (original research). In magazines I´ve read it very, very often: The legend Bruce Dickinson, the legendary Maiden vocalist, etc. But if I do cite a magazine without online articles then I really think someone will challenge that only because he is not able "reach" the source. Sometimes the enforcement of wikipedia policies should come with common sense: see Mike Stewart article. He is the uncontested greatest bodyboarder of all time. He paved the ground for what bodyboarding is today. Anyway it´s very hard to find online resources about him, since he is a much private person. Someone stumbling onto his article will never be able to recognize how important this man was and still is to bodyboarding because someone would argue that using legendary for him was not approppriate... In fact, not using the label is what I would call inapproppriate. The same happens with Bruce Dickinson (see that I´m not saying that he is the best metal vocalist ever, I´m not a mindless Dickinson fan. I´d rather vote Daniel Gildenlöw from Pain of Salvation or Russell Allen from Symphony X for best metal vocalist. I just think no one will ever be so much influential or acclaimed as Dickinson was/is, that´s what a legend is :-) Loudenvier 14:53, 9 June 2006 (UTC)
Sources for WP need not be online or "reachable". If someone wants to challenge the source, then they can go to their nearest public library and look it up. --Rehcsif 14:57, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bruce Dickinson the writer

doesnt bruce write books? ahouldnt somthing in here include that if its true? --e_tac

He wrote a book in 1992, when he went off on his solo project. Called Lord Iffy Boatface, it was a bit a comical farce, in the lines of Tom Sharpe's Wilt and Porterhouse Blue.

Both of his books are mentioned in the article. This article really does need a serious cleanup. I'll try to tackle it, but not today.--Shinto 04:03, 1 August 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Questionable trivia

Dickinson airlifted 200 British citizens who had fled war torn Beirut, Lebanon back to the UK on July 20, 2006. He picked up the evacuees in Cyprus on a Boeing 757 and flew them back to London's Gatwick Airport.

could somone please cite the above

(Different contributor) Please note - this has been widely reported in respectable newspapers and therefore is probably true (!) but in fairness someone pointed out somewhere that Bruce is a First Officer, not a Captain, so it's unlikely that he airlifted 200 passengers by himself ... The basic story was reported on the official IM website, but I've never seen any expansion on the story from an Iron Maiden or Bruce source. 212.159.59.41 12:24, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

The actual story is the UK Foreign Dept charted a number of available aircraft to airlift UK citizens from Lebanon and Cyprus. One of the chartered aircraft was a 757 from Astraeus Airlines with Bruce serving as first officer. So the reported story is kind of correct but somewhat twisted. And as stated, as first officer qualified on 757 he is allowed to fly the aircraft in commercial service but he is not allowed to command the fligth.Hdw 03:41, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Dickinson speaks good or fluent Spanish, evidenced by the Spanish version of "Man of Sorrows" on the Accident of Birth bonus disc. and how does that mean he speaks it somone could have just translated it for him and he sung it. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 64.61.211.137 (talk • contribs) 2006 August 17.

I've create a references section and listed one for the first bit of trivia (albeit Yahoo News, not exactly a great source), and removed the Spanish language point altogether. ×Meegs 13:12, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bruce at Oundle School

Yesterday (26-Aug-06) I wrote up several paragraphs of my memories of Bruce at Oundle -- I was in Sidney House during the same era. I guess some of the details have not appeared in the public domain before, and they are not entirely wholesome. But I am aghast this morning to see that they have all been removed and described as 'vandalism' by a no doubt well-intentioned fan. I do not have the time to play wiki-ping-pong to try to get these additional paragraphs reinstated. But I feel that removing these paragraphs is an act of censorship of the truth, or at least my memories of the truth. -- User:Thegn

Anyone can just lie and say they came from the same school as Bruce. — Prodigenous Zee - 09:49, 27 August 2006 (UTC)
I have no other source I can quote besides my own memory. If it helps, I was the provider of the school photo used in this article. I also supplied this photo to the UK's Channel 4 in the late 80s or early 90s when 'The Word' did a short article about Bruce. Maybe the correct procedure is that Bruce's biographer can contact me, then the write-up can appear in a future edition of his biography, and then it can be quoted as a source for the Wikipedia article. I feel that the article as it stands suggests that Bruce was largely subjected to violence at school. This, to my knowledge, was not true except on the rugby field, and there were plenty who suffered worse in that sport than Bruce. The bullying that Bruce was subjected to was almast entirely psychological. -- User:Thegn
Shouldn't we assume good faith rather than jumping straight in and accusing a contributor of lying? Although that does still leave the thorny issue of original research, however.
-- Chris (blather • contribs) 12:40, 27 August 2006 (UTC)
The overriding policy is verifiability. I assume that Thegn's information is true, but that doesn't matter; we are an encyclopedia, not a primary source. Prodigenous Zee was correct to remove this text — though it should have be done with a better explanation and without the label vandalism — and, in fact, a tremendous proportion of this article needs to be cited or cut. ×Meegs 12:54, 27 August 2006 (UTC)
I agree. It seems that huge chunks of a biography of Bruce have been copied into this Wikipedia entry -- far more detail than, dare I say it, the subject deserves. -- User:Thegn
If that is true, then we very likely have copyright problems. If you can find any instances of this, please point them out; it is very important that we remove them ASAP. ×Meegs 14:22, 27 August 2006 (UTC)
I couldn't find a book on Bruce on amazon.co.uk, so my guess is that much of this material has come from the pages of Kerrang! magazine. -- User:Thegn 16:22, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Direct lift

A great deal of this article seems to be a direct lift from the biography...it could at least do with rephrasing...Grymsqueaker 13:11, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

Which portion lifted from which biography? If any of it has been taken from another source, please point it out. It must be removed. ×Meegs 21:39, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] ' +"

Can someone please tell me how tall Bruce Dickinson is to settle a long-standing argument? (no pun intended)

Sandy 37 - East Sussex - Can't believe I'm so .......

[edit] Style

Someone write a paragraph about his vocal style, and how its changed (totally different in the early 90s to the 1980s - it was a huge point of discussion at the time)

(The Elfoid 17:51, 28 September 2006 (UTC))

When did he play country and western?? I´d remove it but I don´t know what to replace it with.

 It was a joke by 'Arry, that Bruce'd make a C+W album if he thought that it'd sell. He never did though. I'm removing it.

[edit] Height

I found some sources (do not ask me if they are reliable, use your judgment - the first one seems to be so tough :-) on Dickinson Height:

I'm updating the article with that info again. Loudenvier 13:38, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Image

Some Mod is threatneing to del Bruce's pic- can someone sort out the copyright stuff?

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