The album ‘Iron Maiden’ came out over 30 years ago. Iron Maiden as a band has been going for over 35 years.
I remember on Cliff ‘Em All, some guy commented about Master of Puppets bringing to his mind drugs, specifically chemicals. Well, Iron Maiden brings to mind mythology, poetry, and history. If I want good story, I know which band I’d rather listen to.
Besides, Metallica sold out to sell more albums.
As Jason Newstead said, "Yep we sell out...every single time, everywhere we play."
I’m not really sure that’s a fair comparison. I mean Master of Puppets the song is ABOUT drug addiction, but also on that album is The Thing that Should Not Be, which is based on Cthulhu, Sanitarium which is a tribute to One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, and Disposable Heroes about being on the frontline. There’s plenty of good stories based on external things in the album.
I don’t know of Metallica sold out so much as just changed. They happened to change in a way that hit the popular vein and made them lots of money. They needed to change, Justice featured two songs longer than Yes’ Heart of the Sunrise, they were seriously running the risk of drowning in their own musical excesses. I think they over corrected, but what the hell, they wouldn’t make that much money off of me anyway.
Everybody changes. You can say that Maiden has gone too far to the prog-metal extreme. The albums are still musically good but they aren’t nearly as exciting.