Earlier today, Ghost released their covers EP Phantomime to equal measures of fanfare and derision, as fans who enjoy the band generally like the new release, while people who don’t consider the band to be metal at all are tripping all over themselves to tell anyone who’ll listen how much the band sucks.
As it turns out, former Iron Maiden frontman and real-life Mr. Clean if he really let himself go Paul Di’Anno, is among the latter camp. When Ghost released the visualizer for their cover of Iron Maiden’s “Phantom of the Opera,” we were generally surprised by it but Di’Anno wasn’t particularly having it. In a since deleted Facebook post that The Metal Voice was able to share on their Facebook page, he simply said “it fkn sucks,” followed by a couple vomit emojis.
As the man who sang the song originally on Iron Maiden’s 1980 self-titled album before going on to record the band’s second album Killers, I’m sure “Phantom of the Opera” is important to him on a personal level. I mean, the dude still performs it live from time to time. But sometimes the music you create takes on a life of its own and future generations put their own take on it.
Ultimately, the dude’s welcome to his own opinion and he’ll rightfully go down in metal history as a key part of Iron Maiden’s history. And of course he’s welcome to have his own opinion on the matter. It’s just interesting to know the man behind the cover feels this way about one of the biggest bands in the world paying homage to his legacy.