LADY GAGA: 'IRON MAIDEN Changed My Life'

A new Rolling Stone magazine audio interview with pop superstar Lady Gaga in which she describes the experience of attending IRON MAIDEN's April 17, 2011 concert in Tampa, Florida can be streamed below.

"I went to see IRON MAIDEN the other night, and I actually watched the show from a box," Lady Gaga can be heard saying in the clip. "And we were laughing as we walked it was me and my two best friends as we were walking into the box, we had a bunch of drinks, we were all going, 'This is so not metal, to be in a box.' [laughs] So we watched most of the show from the box and then we were gonna go meet the band. And we went down during 'The Number Of The Beast'. And when we got there, I grabbed Lady Starlight and I said, 'Let's go,' and we just booked it into the center of the crowd. And we were dancing and singing and everyone was just so into it. And it was one of the first times I've been able to just be at a rock concert in a long time . . . People did recognize me, but it was so kind and warm and awesome. I mean, IRON MAIDEN is all about, 'We don't care who our fans are. We love everybody.' . . . I guess what I'm trying to say is the devotion of the fans moving in unison, pumping their fists, watching the show, when I see that, I see the paradigm for my future and the relationship I want to have with my fans. IRON MAIDEN's never had a hit song, and they tour stadiums around the world, and their fans live, breathe and die for MAIDEN, and that is my dream. That is my dream. And not only that, but when we got into the crowd, there was no pretension I'm a pop singer I didn't know what it would be like in a crowd of a MAIDEN [fans]; everybody was hugging me, high-fiving, fistpumps in the air 'Oh, it's so cool you're at MAIDEN.' Jumping and dancing I mean, it was like absolute no judgment, no prejudice, freedom and love for music. It doesn't matter who you are; you don't need to know anything about music to love it. And it was just so It was just awesome MAIDEN changed my life."

A photo of Lady Gaga hanging out with IRON MAIDEN drummer Nicko McBrain backstage at the Tampa concert can be seen below. She posted the picture on her Twitter profile with a caption that simply said "Sexy Beast. 666."

Lady Gaga is recently appeared in photos with ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante and this year's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee Alice Cooper.

For her 666th tweet, Lady Gaga wrote the following message on April 10:

"The Number of the Beast. Having' beers listening to Maiden w the New York Boys. Happy 666 Twitterland."

During Gaga's February 5, 2010 appearance on Ryan Seacrest's radio show, Seacrest played the singer an excerpt from an interview he conducted with Ozzy Osbourne in which the BLACK SABBATH frontman said of Gaga, "She's very clever, very interesting. She's wacky and I like the zaniness of that woman."

According to MTV.com, this news pleased Gaga to no end. "Are you kidding? I'm the biggest BLACK SABBATH fan on Earth!" She even told Seacrest a story about how when she was a go-go dancer, one of her show-stopping numbers was to the SABBATH tune "Black Sabbath".