AS we all know, Iron Maiden will be in Australia when they are inducted into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame later this year – and they don’t like the institution anyway.
But the heavy metal gods may have stumbled across a cunning plan to publicly stick to their guns over the Hall – singer Bruce Dickinson called it an “utter load of bollocks” – while also tacitly accepting the honour.
How? By sending former members to the ceremony at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on November 14. The addition of guitarist Dennis Stratton to the list of honourees looked a little suspicious to some as the Hall has often been intransigent over which individuals get in and which don’t.
Stratton told the Rock Talk podcast he would like to attended and suggested former members Nicko McBrain and Blaze Bayley should go with him.
“I have to say that the decision lies with the band and with the management, and whatever decision they make, I will respect that,” he said.
“It’d be absolutely fantastic for me, Nicko and Blaze to accept the award on their behalf, but I don’t know whether or not that will happen. I don’t know whether or not someone else will accept the award, likeRod. It’s out of our hands, really. It’s not our decision.
“But I’m so glad for the fans. I know the fans don’t really care — with the the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, a lot of them don’t — but I’m glad for the fans, the fact that we’re now inducted and the argument, hopefully, will now be put to bed and everyone can move on.
“I don’t know who’s gonna accept it, but I can’t help being excited, the fact that I’d like to accept the award and hopefully get something that I can put indoors in home and show the grandchildren. Let’s hope. I know Nicko likes a party, as [Def Leppard‘s] Joe Elliott said on Planet Rock. But I don’t know. Let’s wait and see.
“They may have a change of heart. They may say, ‘Send them over. We don’t care, but send them over and get it.’ But I will wait and see. If not, if Rod does go and get it, I hope he remembers me and I get something like a little trophy or a little plaque just to put on the wall at home. And for me, that’s the mark of probably the end of my career, that I’ve finally been inducted in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.”
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