"The only reason you look in the rearview mirror is to see how cool you look going forward." This is what happened when Metallica's Lars Ulrich interviewed one of his heroes, Iron Maiden legend Steve Harris

September 10, 1981. Copenhagen, Denmark. A 17-year-old kid stands gawping in awe at the English metal band who're tearing up the stage of the Odd Fellow Palæet. The teenager has already seen some of the greatest hard rock bands of all time – Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Motörhead – but tonight is different. This band are hungrier, rawer, with an almost punk rock intensity and aggression underpinning their sophisticated musicianship. Taking in the spectacle, the kid fantasises about playing in such a band, igniting this kind of frenzied response with his own music. If only.

Fast forward 15 years. That 17-year-old, Lars Ulrich, is now the powerhouse drummer behind the world's most popular metal band, Metallica. Meanwhile, Iron Maiden, the band he saw that night in his hometown, are 30 years deep into a glittering career during which they've released some of heavy metal's greatest albums, changed frontmen twice, and had untold influence upon two generations of musicians. With Maiden set to release a compilation of their greatest work, cunningly titled The Best of the Beast, we though this would be a perfect opportunity to bring together two men who are more responsible than most for shaping the sound of modern metal, Iron Maiden guv'nor Steve Harris and his celebrity super-fan, Lars Ulrich.

The last time Steve and Lars met was in the summer of 1988, back when Iron Maiden drew a record crowd of 107,000 metalheads to their debut Monsters of Rock headline performance at Donington Park, and Metallica were on the verge of releasing ...And Justice For All, the album which would transform them from cult heroes into international superstars.

In the opinion of many rock fans, the intervening years have seen the unofficial 'Greatest Metal Band in the World' accolade pass from Harris' crew to Ulrich's stadium-straddling quartet. So with shared history, mutual respect, egos and professional pride all part of the equation, we thought it'd be interesting to see how the two men relate now.

Steve Harris is first to greet us in the bar of Manhattan's swanky Parker Meridian Hotel. He's flown in on Concorde specially for this interview, prior to meeting up with his bandmates in South America for another huge headlining tour. Immediately, you're struck by his near-legendary friendliness and down-to-earth nature. He confesses to being curious as to how this afternoon will unfold.

Lars Ulrich bounces in a couple of minutes later, all smiles and handshakes. Having just completed Metallica's Lollapalooza tour in the US, the wiry sticksman is supposed to be on a well-deserved break with his medical student girlfriend, and it's a measure of the man's respect for Steve Harris that he's here today. The drummer has endured a lot of good-natured jibes over the years, but you can't fault his enthusiasm and tireless energy.

Initial small-talk over, we retire to Steve's hotel room and order Evian and Heineken on room service. Lars and Steve plonk themselves down side by side on the couch, I turn on my tape recorder.... and no-one speaks.

"Okay," Lars says finally, laughing, "you're the interviewer, I'm the subject. Go ahead..."

Steve looks confused.

"I thought you were interviewing me" he says with a frown.

We explain that, yes, basically Lars is interviewing Steve. But we want both of them to compare and contrast their experiences in the swirling maelstrom that is the life of a hugely successful rock star.

Let's start again.

LU: It must be really interesting to look back over the years.
SH: I don't really think about the past much but, yeah, it's a long history.

The pair reminisce about the early '80s, and Steve reflects upon about the band's early days with Paul Di'Anno, whose final Maiden gig was that Copenhagen show in September '81. He recalls recording Maiden's legendary Soundhouse Tapes demo in Cambridge on New Year's Eve 1978, because that was the only time the East End quintet could afford the studio fees, and of finding accommodation thanks to Di'Anno charming a young nurse who took the band back to her bedsit,

LU: Any regrets from that period?
SH: Any decisions you make at the time are valid no matter what their outcome. You learn by your mistakes. You should never look over your shoulder.

LU: As David Lee Roth once said, 'The only reason you look in the rearview mirror is to see how cool you look going forward.' I'll never sit and slag off decisions we made in the past. Whatever I think of ...And Justice For All in 1996, in 1988 my hard-on was there.

For me, Iron Maiden were the best rock band in the world for at least seven years. But it wasn't just the music. You put 10 minutes more music on albums than any other rock band, you had the best packaging, the coolest t-shirts, everything. There was a depth to your whole organisation that was great for fans like me, and it was a big inspiration for us in Metallica. I wanted to give the same quality to kids who were into our band.

SH I'll not be able to get my head out the door if you keep this up.

LU: Don't worry, I'm not going to bend you over.
SH: Too bloody right you ain't pal!

Iron Maiden – Live at Beat-Club TV (1981 Full Concert) [Remastered Full HD] - YouTube

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The pair move on to discuss Bruce Dickinson's 1993 departure from Maiden. Steve has been unusually reticent on the subject in the past, but faced with Lars' insistent probing he opens up a bit about the singer's exit.

SH: In retrospect, it must've started around the time of the No Prayer for The Dying album when Bruce did his first solo album and tour. I went to see him a couple of times and he was so into it. But when we did our own tour he seemed to be rather going through the motions. With Fear Of The Dark, though, he initially seemed to be interested again. But then he told us he wanted to leave. People are there as long as the passion and pride to be in the band is there, and if they don't want to be there...

LU: There's the fucking door.

At this point, I interject to say that Bruce Dickinson told me that he left because he felt Maiden were in a rut.

SH: Obviously, I'm not going to agree with that. We've always been very stubborn and not worried about anyone outside us. There's five guys in the band now who all love what we're doing, and there's no point in being different for difference's sake. Bruce never said any of this stuff at the time, though, so what can I say?

I know you were a fan in the early days, but sometimes when you're a fan of the band for a long time you can lose interest a bit: what do you think about the recent years?

LU: In the late '80s, our horizons really started expanding, so a lot of the harder rock stuff I was listening to got pushed to the side. I've changed a lot over the years. But I remember in '86 having an advance tape of Somewhere in Time, and playing it over and over again. I really, really liked it.

SH It depends on who you talk to and when they first got into the band. I meet kids of 14 or 15 now who say that No Prayer For The Dying or Fear Of The Dark is their favourite Maiden album.

Iron Maiden - Wasted Years (Official Video) - YouTube

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SH: If someone believes I'm not doing this as well as I was 10 years ago that's up to them. But I can't and don't worry about stuff like that.

This uncompromising attitude is another characteristic Lars and Steve share. They've both single-mindedly led their bands from snotty outsider status to the peak of the music business. And while some noses have been put out of joint en route, neither of the pair have deviated from their childhood aim to be in the biggest band in the world.

Bassists and drummers aren't traditionally band leaders, but Steve and Lars recognise a shared mentality.

LU: You have to put the blinkers on and let no fucker get in your way. True democracy doesn't work in a band.
SH: Exactly. If you had a meeting about every bloody think you'd get nothing done. Someone has to take the bull by the horns. I've been called all sorts over the years, and the fact that we've had so many line-up changes might make it look like people can't get on with me. I'm not going to get a complex about it, though.

It's eight years since you last sat down together so what do you make of one another after all this time?

LU: Name one man in the heart of rock 'n' roll who hasn't changed one fucking iota and it's him. I mean that in a very positive way. He seems to be as happy and set in his ways as he was when I first met him.
SH: I haven't seen Lars for a few years and I was interested to see how he'd be now compared to then. He's had a lot of success since, and that can sometimes go to people's heads. After this meeting, I'd say he hasn't changed much at all. Apart form the haircut.

And the eyeliner, I add.

SH: It's not the sort of thing I'd be into doing. In photo sessions people say to me, "Wear this or that to look younger and better", but I'd rather look 80-years-old than wear makeup.

LU: Have you got anything else you want to do in your career?
SH: Not really, no. I've got loads of other interest s outside of the band – football, tennis, photography – and I've got four kids which obviously takes up a lot of my time. But there's no great ambition to do any one big thing.

Lars, you've helped out many of your musical heroes by giving them widespread exposure on Metallica tours. How about doing the same for Maiden?

Lars' response is to witter on about seeing bands that inspire him without actually saying 'Yes' or 'No'. Steve?

SH: I don't think we'd support them anywhere other than in America, because we're obviously not as strong as we were here. We can still headline anywhere else in the world, so there'd be no point in us supporting anyone, not just Metallica.

I really love doing Maiden and being on stage. When I stop, I suppose it'll be like being a footballer and then becoming a manager – it's always gonna be second best. If I went off and did production or managed a band I might enjoy it, but it's never, ever going to be the same. Obviously, I know it can't go on forever.

LU: But what's your gut feeling?
SH: I was asked this 10 years ago, and I didn't think then that I was going to be doing this when I was 40. But now I am 40, I don't feel any different. I think I'll know the time, but no other bugger's going to tell me. And it ain't yet. I'm determined to grow old disgracefully.

A version of this interview first appeared in Kerrang! magazine, in September 1996.