Can I play with madness?

Like many of the great artists that preceded him, and very likely, sadly, will come after him, Anton Maiden was someone that died at a much too young age.

This is not new news. This is not even new to me. It’s simply lamenting once again after hearing Anton tickling the proverbial midi keys on my iTunes playlist today.

For those of you unfamiliar with Anton Maiden, read here. But I’ll give you my own quick summary interpretation.

Anton was a kid from Sweden who loved Iron Maiden so much, he reworked many of their tunes on his computer, MIDI style, and sang the best he could to be like Bruce Dickinson. Doing so as far back as 1999.

Now, this wasn’t some joke like the many internet sensations that have found fame by being SO bad, like Tay Zonday or William Hung. Anton didn’t do it for fame or to be a novelty, but did it only for himself. Nevermind being tone deaf… it’s what he loved.. and it came out in his artistry of the Iron Maiden tunes in HIS style.

His music “got out” presumably without the intent. He slowly gained this pseudo fame, which he vehemently tried to avoid. He was criticized by Iron Maiden fans for butchering their music. Iron Maiden also attempted to put an end to his musical interpretations. Yet, those of us understood what it was all about. And at the height of all this, known to be depressed, in 2003 he disappeared for a week in Sweden, and turned up dead of a suicide.

Some find his music bad. Others find it as a clever joke. I, however, feel the miracle spirit that came thru in his music from almost a decade ago now.