Why does the British Establishment ignore one of our greatest cultural ambassadors?

The establishment's refusal to honour a band that does more to spread soft British power than many who have been feted is revealing indeed.

©Iron Maiden Holdings/John McMurtrie In an article in The Daily Mash in 2013 and reproduced on Maiden Revelations ,Professor Harry Brubaker of the Institute of Studies said “In an age where literally everything has to be arch, knowing, witty or retro, Iron Maiden fans somehow still don’t give a fuck.”. 11 years on and the cringing self consciousness and disapproval of working class values is off the scale and yet Iron Maiden are still proving to the establishment that those values are both universal and worth celebrating.

Society in the UK is split by class more than ever before, this makes unwinding the grip of the metropolitan left, who now constitute the ruling class, considerably more challenging than in the USA where, although there is a class system, it is nothing like as entrenched as it is here. Culture has always been a dividing identifier, the music of the working classes has always been dismissed and despised and is only eventually adopted by society in the same way that a miscreant uncle, despised as a youth, is tolerated as a way for people to signal to others, that they might secretly be a bit rebellious all along. It is, as my teenage kids say: cringe.

One of the best examples of this is the Sex Pistols and in particular John Lydon. Ironically the Pistols were essentially a boy band manufactured by Malcolm McLaren taking advantage of the new Punk wave of the 1970s. However, Lydon was the real deal and McLaren soon lost control of his monster. Lydon, of course, is disapproved of by the modern left because he openly supported Brexit and Trump, he has an instinctive understanding of the subversive - of what is ‘punk’ and immediately recognized Brexit and Trump as pushback against a stultifying, corrupt, self aggrandizing neo liberal establishment - a genuine cry of anger and from working people who have been ignored and exploited for decades. Meanwhile his imitators, most notably Billie-Joe Armstrong of Green Day, thinks he is the edgy one by parroting the tedious woke mantra of the new left, shilling for corporate globalism and insulting anyone who doesn’t vote Democrat. In fact, he’s publicly spoken about how much he disapproves of Lydon, which of course, merely demonstrates that this neo punk simply doesn’t understand what punk is.

Now Lydon has always been highly political and the punk movement has a large dollop of the political about it. But what were the workers listening to at the time? What was the music of the industrial working class? Those who frankly, just wanted to get on with their lives: to work, hopefully marry, raise kids, have a pint on a Friday, support football, love their family and love their community and country? What were they listening to when students were dancing to the Pistols? What were they listening to when the New Romantics were strutting their stuff in the charts in the 80s? When angst filled teenagers were moping in their rooms to Robert Smith and Stephen Morrissey?

There’s one British band which broke the mold, which has always been treated as anti establishment but never set out to be, which has never dabbled in politics, has its roots firmly in the industrial east end of London but which captures the hearts and minds of working people all over the globe. The songs of this band are the hero quest in music, heavily influenced by 19th Century Victorian Poets, by the history of these islands and the Anglosphere in general. Events such as the Battle of Britain, The Charge of the Light Brigade, the Highland Clearances and poetic epics from Coleridge and Tennyson litter their catalogue. The songs don’t glory the Empire, they are about the people who built it, the people who died for it and their memory. They are unashamedly proud of their roots and their nation, the Union Flag is waved with pride and they make no apology for their patriotism. I am sure that Mr Starmer and his ilk would be surprised to find that this relates to their fans across the world, from Buenos Ares to Moscow, nations which have no cause to love the Union Flag pack stadia to watch them and are among their most fanatical fans. Why? Because what they are singing about applies to their societies as well, their history is also the history of normal working people stepping up for their country right or wrong. Courage, love, justice, patriotism, self sacrifice, death - it’s the ancient hero quest as sung by bards, skålds and Homer only with electric guitars and drums.

Their members are among the hardest working musicians currently performing in the world, they have just completed one world tour which has lasted 2 years, off the back of another which was interrupted by COVID. In May 2025 they start their 50th anniversary tour which will last another two years at least. Just if that weren’t enough, their founder is squeezing in a South and North America tour for his ‘pub’ band in between.

In 1971 a young man from Leyton in East London called Steve Harris, bought a cheap bass guitar. He was an avid fan of the Beatles and really wanted a drum kit but he couldn’t fit one into his granny’s house so he bought a copy of a Fender Precision Bass. He taught himself and by 1974 was hired by a band called Smiler. But something was missing and he started writing his own songs. The band wouldn’t play his songs, they were too long and too complicated and besides, the subject matter was hardly rock and role. So in 1975 he left Smiler and on Christmas Day 1975 Iron Maiden was formed.

It took four grueling years to get their first record deal in 1979 and it is worth exploring how this happened as it is an example of how hard work, determination and grit are the foundations of success. Harris demanded a relentless work schedule, supremely fit himself (a keen footballer who had been a prospect for West Ham United as a youth and who still plays in his 60s) band members who couldn’t keep up with the virtuosity required to play his songs or the relentless pace of touring with full time jobs were politely dropped. A typical week in the 1970s involved working all week in their day jobs, often physical work in factories, Harris himself was an architectural draughtsman, they would leave London in their van on a Friday evening, drive to a venue within an hour or two, play a set. Finish and drive overnight to Birmingham, Leeds or another northern city, play another gig on the Saturday. Finish, sleep in the van, drive overnight to Glasgow or further, play another gig on the Sunday and then drive home to London in time for work on Monday morning. This was done week in week out, no room for relationships and if you couldn’t make a date you were given one chance then Harris would move you on.

So why the relentless touring schedule? Well it was because the only way people could hear Iron Maiden before their record deal was to go to a gig. Harris refused to compromise the length of his songs and cut them to the 3 minutes radio required. He insisted that his songs, just as Freddy Mercury insisted that Bohemian Rhapsody, must be released in their entirety for radio play. The difference was that Queen had a record deal already when Rhapsody was released, they had clout so the radio played ball. Harris was just a part time band leader from East London. So Maiden got no radio play, and until the rise of Heavy Metal specific radio stations, would never get any and still get no mainstream radio play despite being one of the biggest and most successful acts, let alone music acts, in the world.

Their iconic mascot “Eddie the Head” has graced many of their album covers.

And the band members put in the graft. They didn’t get paid, in fact until they became a global phenomenon they didn’t get particularly well paid. Every penny was sunk back into the band. Self sufficiency, self reliance was everything. So the few quid they got from pubs in the early days went on petrol, strings, fish suppers, and props for their act including the rubber zombie mask that eventually became their iconic mascot ‘Eddie’. This went as far as the band leasing their own Jumbo Jet when on tour “Ed Force One”, piloted by lead singer Bruce Dickinson. The pace was relentless but it is a testament to Harris’s character that very few of those who he moved on held it against him, many remain friends and even those who were let go when the band had made it and started to struggle physically when the relentless pace showed no signs of ending, were never forgotten by Steve despite their understandable resentment, the band performing tribute concerts and funding medical treatment and support for them in their last days.

To Harris, the music has always been the thing. He still considers himself the luckiest man in the world that he is able to feed himself by doing what he loves and he’s always a bit surprised and eternally grateful that people want to pay to come and see his band play his music. He was once asked what he would be doing if Maiden had never been signed and he responded that he would still be playing pub gigs up and down the country at the weekend. Indeed, he founded British Lion, his ‘pub band’ to do precisely that between Maiden tours.

Steve Harris in 2016 (Photo from Planet Rock 2016)

This gratitude to the fans is notable and somewhat unique in this day and age of demand pricing on Ticketmaster and the fleecing of families desperate to see the likes of Taylor Swift or Oasis is definitely not on Maiden’s agenda,. Maiden are one of the biggest bands in the world and could easily exploit their fans for profits but they keep their prices realistic and, in the gigs I have been to have always ensured that there are a number of tickets available on the door on the night to minimise the impact of touts. If you are a member of the Fan Club (£25 for a life membership) you get specially allocated areas in the concerts and a good 3 day lead before general sale. Maiden have never forgotten that their success is entirely down to the fans that come and see them live, and their early fans were British and the Band always ensure that the loyalty of those fans is paid back by filling their schedule with British gigs first. Their next tour kicks off in Budapest with concerts in June 2025 in London, at Harris’s beloved West Ham United home ground. Tickets are little more than the price for a Premier League ticket. Maiden were and have always been a band for the people.

So here we have a man and a band who essentially proved that the record company’s way of doing things and their insistence on control wasn’t needed. Indeed, the advent of streaming demonstrated that it was Maiden’s touring model that was the resilient one as revenues of recording artists and record companies were hollowed out by the likes of Spotify. Artists have been forced back on the road, to much grumbling and this may explain the eye watering ticket prices. To a band that has always toured by necessity, like Maiden, it is business as usual. They have demonstrated that if you are talented, put in the graft, write songs about things that appeal to real people and play them with music that inspires the, people will want to see and buy your music. And the corporate recording industry despises them for it. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is meant to be a museum to the world’s greatest artists and yet, when mediocre bands and artists, some of whom are most certainly not rock bands, are inducted and come and go, Maiden have yet to be inducted. The Hall of Fame is of course, the corporate music industry’s creature and of course, Maiden has defied that industry. After all, who wants to buy albums and watch a band who sings about nineteenth century battles whilst wearing Red Coats and waving the Union Flag? An industry that is riddled with woke monoculture was forced to respond to increasing pressure from music fans as to why Maiden, arguably the biggest Heavy Metal band in the world, have never been honoured? So they eventually held their collective noses and ‘nominated’ them twice in recent years. They have stopped short of actually indicting them, snubbing The Irons in favour of hip hop stars and female solo R&B artists.

Iron Maiden’s current line up (2023): (from left) guitarists: Janick Gers, Dave Murray; vocalist: Bruce Dickinson; Bassist and Songwriter Steve Harris; Guitarist Adrian Smith and Drummer Nicko McBrain

Not that Steve Harris, Bruise Dickinson, Niko McBrain, Janick Gers, Dave Murray and Adrian Smith care. They’ve always been outsiders, they’ve always been despised by the industry because they proved they don’t need them. What’s harder to explain is why they have yet to be honoured by their country.

Apart from appearing on a collection of Stamps in 2023, the United Kingdom has done nothing to honour a band that has arguably done more to spread soft British power and culture amongst the working classes of the people of the world, often in those countries which we have difficult relationships with, than any other British act. When musicians with a fraction of their success are honored with MBEs, Maiden are ignored.

Iron Maiden, Santiago Chile, 2013 60,000 fans. Why is this hugely influential British cultural ambassador ignored by the establishment?

And let’s take Bruce Dickinson as an example. Why Dickinson has not yet been knighted is a question the honours system needs to address. Put aside his music for a minute. In 1994, Dickinson took his own solo band into Sarajevo during the siege and performed for the people of that city, for free. In 2019 he was made a citizen of Sarajevo and the major of that city said that his arrival and performance "was one of those moments that made us realize that we will survive, that the city of Sarajevo will survive, that Bosnia and Herzegovina will survive". In the noughties he took time out of his busy schedule as a TV host, radio DJ, brewery owner, novelist and film maker as well as lead singer for a global rock band, to lear now to become a commercial pilot. He flew regular commercial 737s and qualified as a Captain on and 747s. During the Afghanistan war he flew British personnel in and out of Kabul, a dangerous task, and it is a testament to the man that it was only some time after this that it became public knowledge.

Given all this, one wonders why he’s never been honoured, despite other musicians who have been for their music alone?

Dickinson the Airline Captain in front of the band’s 747 “Ed Force One” in 2016 ©Iron Maiden Holdings

Failure to acknowledge those who bring such honour to their nation cheapens the entire award system. I won’t mention the name of the Principe Secretary of a major Civil Service department who, as a Knight of the Bath already, decided to discipline a member of staff who dared to point out that his zero tolerance DEI policy post George Floyd was likely illegal and also broke the Civil Service Code. He fired her and subsequently lost one of the largest Employment Tribunal payouts to date. Yet, despite this he was promoted in the 2024 King’s Birthday Honours to a Knight Commander of the Bath.

So why is it that this band, which continues to spread British culture around the world, that tours relentlessly and which is one of the top acts in any media currently performing in the world ignored by the British establishment, let alone their own industry?

Well I’d argue that this is strong evidence that, despite claims to the contrary, the British class system is as toxic as it has always been, and the entertainment, attitudes, passions and patriotism of the working class is as despised by the establishment as it has ever been. Harris writes songs that they disapprove of because they are about things that the metropolitan elite wrings its hands over, completely missing the point that these songs do not glorify the incidents they sing of, they glorify the people caught up in them, the normal soldier, the clansman, the young RAF pilot. Argentinian, Russian, Brazilian and American working people understand this and flock to their gigs in their tens of thousands, so why doesn’t our own establishment in the United Kingdom?

Those who have yet to hear Iron Maiden and are curious to understand this uniquely British band, I would recommend that they start with this live version of Hallowed Be Thy Name from Toronto in 2008 it’s a great example of their work, virtuosity and energy and the passion of their fans worldwide.