Bruce Dickinson credits Rainbow's 'Rising' with changing the face of music
He also argues it doesn't get enough respect outside of the metal world
Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson has credited Rainbow’s seminal 1976 album ‘Rising’ with changing the face of music forever.
Discussing his musical influences and favourite albums with Qobuz while on the promotional trail for ‘The Mandrake Project’, Bruce Dickinson selected Rainbow’s ‘Rising’ as one of his favourite records of all time.
Bruce also stated that he believes the Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio penned opus doesn’t get enough credit from outside the musical world.
Waxing lyrical, Bruce enthused: : "For me, (Rainbow ‘Rising’) was the record where I discovered Ronnie James Dio on vocals. I was, like, ‘Who is that voice?!’ I was, like, 16 years old, and go, 'What the hell? That's Ritchie Blackmore!'
“I didn't know that Rainbow kind of existed. And it was on a little transistor radio in a garage. And I went, 'That sounds like Ritchie Blackmore.' And I waited till it finished. And the guy said, 'That was Rainbow and 'Stargazer'. I went, 'Oh, my God!'”
He continued: “It's one of the shortest albums ever made. It's like 35 minutes long, the whole album, but it's a classic. I'll take that over a 90-minute-long boring yawn fest. Six really incredible songs that changed the face of music. It really did. That was a game changer and it doesn’t get enough respect from people outside of the metal world.”
It’s not the first time Bruce Dickinson has showered ‘Rising’ with superlatives. Speaking to Heavy Consequence in March 2022, he cited it as one of his biggest influences when starting his career with Samson and Iron Maiden.
He said at the time: “When you got to hear Ronnie (James Dio) in full throat and (Ritchie) Blackmore playing his pants off and ‘Stargazer’ and you're going, ‘oh my god, nobody's done this in metal before! Wow, this is just incredible! Here’s somewhere to go!’”
Bruce Dickinson played Swansea Arena last night (21st May) in support of ‘The Mandrake Project’, and his first solo UK tour in 26 years continues at Nottingham Rock City tomorrow.
The band on Bruce’s solo tour consists of bass-player Tanya O’Callaghan, keyboard maestro Mistheria, drummer Dave Moreno, and guitarists Philip Näslund and Chris Declercq.