Adrian Smith might be a member of one of the most iconic heavy metal bands of all time, but the Iron Maiden guitarist – whose journey is documented in the new documentary Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition – has recently looked back on a time when the band was impacted by the explosion of grunge.
“In South America and Europe, the band was still big, but in America, I think it struggled,” Smith tells Forbes. “Nirvana came along, and that changed everything.
“It was like punk in the late ’70s. I’d been probably playing in bands for about five years, and our bands were getting to a certain level [of success].”
He continues, “You work hard and all of a sudden, bang! You couldn't get a gig unless you had spiky hair and played punk. You thought, ‘Who are these people?’ They've only been playing for a year, and they're proud of it that they can't play. And yet everyone's buying their records, and they're selling out gigs.”
Ultimately, Smith likens the grunge era to the punk movement, calling it a “changing of perspective”.
“For bands like Maiden, it was hard,” he admits. “But like I said, the driving force is still there, and you just got to weather the storm a little bit.”
As for the experience of Maiden falling out of favor in the ’90s and being forced to play smaller venues, Smith says he cannot directly comment on that, as he left the band in 1990 – right before grunge went mainstream.
“I never did it with them. I never did the club thing,” he explains. “I mean, I’ve done clubs since then. I did a club tour with Bruce [Dickinson] in the States in the ’90s.
“So I did have a taste of that, but I just like playing whether it’s in a club or in a stadium, obviously I’d rather play stadium,” he adds with a laugh.
Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition will be released in cinemas worldwide on May 7.
In more recent news, Iron Maiden will finally be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, after more than two decades of eligibility.
