Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has taken a swipe at bands who use autocues on stage.

He’s particularly upset about having seen the lyrics to Judas Priest classic Breaking The Law on screen.

Dickinson tells the Guardian: “We still don’t have an autocue – yay! I never realised people were using autocues. What the fuck is that all about? People pay good money and you can’t even remember the sodding words.

“The daftest one I ever saw was Breaking The Law on the fucking autocue – ‘Breaking the law, breaking the law, breaking the law, breaking the law, breaking the law, breaking the law – guess what? – breaking the law.’ It’s ridiculous.”

The veteran frontman recently berated Metallica for deciding to headline this year’s Glastonbury festival, saying it was too “middle-class.” Now he’s taken a pot-shot at the mainstream media who cover the Worthy Farm event but won’t go into the same detail about festivals like Sonisphere, which both Maiden and Metallica play next month.

“The closest the art establishment ever came to embracing metal was punk,” Dickinson says. “The reason they embraced punk was because it was rubbish. They reason they embraces rubbish was because they could control it.

“Half the kids that were in punk bands were laughing at the art establishment, going, ‘What a fucking bunch of tosspots. Thanks very much – give us the money and we’ll fuck off and stick it up our nose and shag birds.’”

He believes there’s a failure to understand why metal fans love metal, and compares their passion to that of sports fans. “With the greatest respect to Elvis Costello, the way people think about him is not quite the same as how they feel about Maiden,” he says.

“If you’re a rabid supporter of a football team, and you believe passionately in that team, the fact that they have a couple of off-seasons doesn’t stop you supporting them. As long as they maintain the integrity and don’t take the piss. They can play appallingly as long as they’re trying hard, and you’ll forgive them.”

But he adds: “If they do it repeatedly over a period of years and then acquire a manager that makes everybody wear pink lipstick and a strange tutu. then you may consider your allegiances.”

Iron Maiden are the cover stars of the latest Metal Hammer, on sale now.