Two different vocalists of two wildly popular British heavy metal bands have different takes on the political situation in their homeland – namely Brexit – Great Britain's attempt to leave the European Union.
In a new video for France’s L’Obs, Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson explains his position:
“If musicians were running Europe, Europe would run a lot better because we’d all get on with each other and say, ‘Yeah.’
“Iron Maiden music is global music – we have fans everywhere. I don’t see any problem with touring Australia; that’s not part of the EU. There’s no problem with touring in Japan; that’s not part of the EU. I don’t see any problem with touring America; Oh, let me see – that’s not part of the EU. Do those musicians [from Australia, Japan, and America] have problems coming to Europe? No.
“Interesting thing about Brexit was that I was one of the people that voted for it. I’m quite relaxed about the idea.
“There’s a lot of nonsense and scare stories being made up by both sides, actually, which I think is pretty immature. Brexit will enable us to be more flexible and I think that people in Europe will get an advantage from that.
“What you have at the moment is effectively the European Union obviously not doing a very good job satisfying the democracies of Europe.
“A lot of people, not just Brexit, but all kinds of other people – whether it’s Italians, Greeks, Hungarians or Catalans, or whoever it is – are all having big populist movements. It’s because their needs, their democratic needs, are not being addressed by Brussels. The right people to address the needs is the democratically elected leaders.
“It’s absurd to think that the fifth biggest economy in the world is going to be somehow punished for a democratic decision made by its people.
“The EU always been seen as basically just a market, a common market, and that has some advantages, it makes sense. But there’s no desire for most people in England, even people who voted to remain in the EU, there’s no desire to become part of a federal system. And I think that’s a big mistake.
“Britain has always been a trading nation with the rest of the world. Only since the 1960s has Britain started to look only at Europe as being a source of trade – and I think ultimately that’s ended up being a big mistake.
“Brexit actually opens our borders, Brexit opens the United Kingdom to the whole of the world.
“Whatever deal is going to be done on Brexit will not change the status of the UK by very much, but I think it will enhance our economic capabilities. And that’s good for us and that’s actually, in the long run, good for Europe as well. Because as the fifth largest economy in the world, Europe would like access to our market.
“And rapidly after that people will forget about all this nonsense about Brexit and just say there is new relationship with the uk, that’s it, end of story. And we can all get on with doing what we should be doing, which is getting on with each other, trading with each other, making music, making love, and making sure that Vladimir Putin doesn’t come and end up ruling our country.”
Meanwhile, The Prince of Darkness is slightly less eloquent stating his position, saying he doesn't really understand what's going on. When asked by The Big Issue about the topic, Ozzy responds:
“People keep going on at me about that – is it a big deal over there? What will happen with it? Are people voting in or out, what’s going on? I don’t read the newspapers and I don’t really talk politics because I don’t really know. I don’t really understand Brexit.”
At least Ozzy is honest.
It was a bit confusing but Great Britain essentially is saying they are done with the European Union making decisions for them. The UK and EU formally agreed upon a Brexit deal over the weekend, but it may still be in jeopardy because U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May needs approval from the U.K. Parliament over the deal. The BBC noted a new study by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research reveals the deal would cost the United Kingdom £100bn (roughly $128 billion) by 2030.
