It sure seems that way. I came up in the 80s, but I was never a Maiden fan for some reason. I listened to a lot of metal and hard and prog rock, and you certainly couldn’t get away from the concert shirts and album art in high school, but I just never knew their songs or had a friend who did.

That’s changed in my creaky early 40s due largely to the fact that Maiden just won’t go away. After some personnel changes and less than huge albums–but no real hiatus of state fair circuits–they have the classic lineup back and are arguably the most popular musical act in the world today. They own their own commercial jumbo jet–piloted by the lead singer, no less–and tour whenever and wherever the fuck they want, all over the world, to hundreds of thousands of fans at a time in soccer arenas.

Maiden in insanely popular today with teenagers across Latin America. Last year they did a full replica of the whole damn Powerslave tour from 1984. They are very serious about their musicianship and entertaining the crowd, yet they don’t themselves too seriously. This all makes me very happy.

Live at Abbey Road, 2008: