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Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain Recalls Spinal Tap Moments Touring for ‘Somewhere in Time’
Nicko McBrain recalls the making of Iron Maiden’s 1986 album *Somewhere in Time* and the tour that followed, describing creative disagreements and the band’s increasingly ambitious production. His account shows how the group balanced Steve Harris’s direction with new ideas, including guitar synthesizers, as it responded to changes in mid-Eighties rock.
McBrain says Bruce Dickinson brought acoustic songs to the Bahamas sessions, but Harris rejected them; Adrian Smith then contributed “Wasted Years” and “Stranger in a Strange Land”. The band recorded in the Netherlands and mixed the album in New York, while Harris drew on film and ancient history for inspiration. Though some fans objected to the synthesizers, the album outsold *Powerslave*; the book also covers McBrain’s life and his departure from touring in 2024 after a stroke.
In short
- McBrain recounts disagreements during *Somewhere in Time*.
- Adrian Smith supplied two of the album’s singles.
- The synthesizer-using record outsold *Powerslave*.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
A thoughtful case for Harris’s approach is that a band needs a clear musical direction, and the more melodic, synthesiser-led sound helped Iron Maiden respond to changing rock styles while retaining its identity. The album’s commercial success suggests that the choices reached many listeners, even if some fans disliked the change.
The case against
A thoughtful case against Harris’s approach is that rejecting Dickinson’s acoustic songs may have narrowed the range of ideas considered, while the synthesiser-led production risked alienating fans who valued the band’s earlier sound. Commercial success does not settle whether those creative trade-offs served the music or the band’s longer-term identity.