Time of release and success of an album / song

Listening to Iron Maiden's last album, and particularly the song "Empire of the Clouds", how much does the time a song is released relate to how well received it will be, and whether it will become a classic or not. I really liked this particularly song a lot, and wonder how it has been mostly ignored. Of course, Iron Maiden fans, and even many prog fans, will know it and like it to different degrees, but I believe if this song had been released in the 80's or 90's (perhaps and edited 8-10 min version would have been needed), it would have been all over the radio / MTV and so on. I mean, if something like "November Rain" got such a huge success, I don't see why this one wouldn't do so as well. Now, I don't expect any discussion to be only about "Empire of the Clouds", this is mostly an example, so what do you think? Which other songs would you think might have done better if they had been released in another time?

So much of popular success depends on circumstantial luck. There are countless records that deserved to be hits based on their artistic merits, but garnered little fanfare. One standout example is Eloy's Silent Cries & Mighty Echoes. Released during the heights of disco, this Pink Floyd-like record warranted more critical and popular attention. While the record sold well in the band's native Germany, it didn't make much of an impression outside of Western Europe. A more recent example would be Steve Rothery's Ghosts of Pripyat, which received rave reviews but made nary a dent in the public's consciousness. If it had been released during the prog rock heyday of the early/mid-70s or even amid The Wall craze of the 80s, it would've had the potential to be a smash.

It is indeed very important. Bands like GNR or Nirvana owe much of their success to the time they played in. Also some bands would have been much more successful had they existed during another era, The Kinks come to mind.

Guldbamsen wrote: I'm struggling to come up with any examples of prog outfits/tunes that would have "made it" during a different time. Mostly because prog bands, even back in the day, never had that kind of chart succes to begin with. They may have sold a lot of albums, but you didn't bump into that many a prog tunes on the radio. It was mostly the melodic singles.

infocat wrote: ^Stone Trek got me started on my prog rock journey in the late 80s.