The NBA season's over, the NHL's season's done, Baseball is getting near the trading deadline, and football's about to begin, and right about now you're thinking what the Hell does any of that have to do with rock music?!
Today we're gonna play a little game of Fantasy Rock band, where you the rock fan choose the best bang for your record company buck. In 1979 EMI Records were looking to invest in a Heavy Metal band. At the time punk was beginning to wear down, but not before giving Metal a little boost with the rise of New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands that were creating buzz all throughout England. The label called on A&R man Brian Shepherd to sign a few bands, but Shepherd would convince EMI, that to do the job right with the budget they were considering, they needed to invest in one band only.
Shepherd went out with a three record deal to find EMI's first Metal band, and after making his way through the club circuit he narrowed it down to two bands. He would pass on one and sign the other using the budget provided by EMI to record, promote, and tour the band. The band Shepherd passed on was Def Leppard, but the band he signed, was Iron Maiden. Now, Iron maiden's first three albums would be All-Time classics in "Iron Maiden," "Killers," and "Number Of The Beast," but Def Leppard's first three albums would be "On Through The Night," "High 'n' Dry," and "Pyromania"!
So, now the challenge, who got the better deal? Remember, that even though Pyromania was a massive album, the band needed a massive budget to promote both the album and the tour that followed, to push radio airplay and their videos on MTV, meanwhile Iron Maiden had their own big tour success and album success without the promotional backing that Def Leppard had.
You make the call.
