“I realized Iron Maiden was doing its thing and there was nothing anybody could do to change its trajectory.”

Bruce Dickinson explained the mindset he had when he decided to leave Iron Maiden during the ’90s to focus on his solo career, noting how he “couldn’t understand” how some fans reacted at the time.

Back in 1993, many Iron Maiden fans were shocked and saddened to find that Bruce Dickinson was leaving the beloved NWOBHM band, but it all ended up rather well — Bruce got a leg up with his solo career, the arrival of Blaze Bayley to the band resulted in some very interesting music (and a few tunes that would become enduring fan favorites), and Iron Maiden eventually reunited with their classic vocalist to usher in a new era for the band.

Looking back at the decision from today’s point of view, Bruce, who’s now gearing up to release “The Mandrake Project,” his first solo album in 19 years, tells Classic Rock in a new interview that he would’ve done the same thing all over again, given the opportunity:

“I would have done, yes. I wouldn’t have changed that, but I would have done it better [laughs]. I would have had more of a plan.”

Asked whether his decision to leave the year after Iron Maiden released “Fear of the Dark” was a spontaneous one, Bruce said:

“It was. I realized Iron Maiden was doing its thing and there was nothing anybody could do to change its trajectory. At the time, I was sitting there making what ended up being [his second solo album, released in 1994] ‘Balls To Picasso,’ and I realized that I didn’t have much clue what to do outside of Iron Maiden.”

Dickinson admits that he wasn’t particularly pleased with his solo debut, 1990’s “Tattooed Millionaire,” and only recorded it because the opportunity arose after “some A&R guy” got impressed with his work on “Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter.” Another factor that contributed to his eventual departure was that he felt that his solo career would be less impactful were it just a side project:

“I was in this state of limbo then. I thought, I have to leave because otherwise, whatever I do, nobody’s going to take it seriously. They’ll just go, ‘Oh, bless his pointy little head, it’s his little side project.’ I read a quote in a newspaper which finally provoked it, by [author] Henry Miller, ‘All growth is an unpremeditated leap in the dark with no idea of where you’re going to land.” [The quote is ‘All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without benefit of experience,’ although the message is the same.]

Asked whether he was shocked by the fans’ reaction to his departure, Bruce said:

“Yes, I couldn’t understand it. Some of them told me they couldn’t even listen to ‘Balls To Picasso’ at the time because me leaving was still too raw.”