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Iron Maiden

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Iron Maiden is a British heavy metal band from East London. Formed in 1975 by bassist Steve Harris, previously of Gypsy's Kiss and Smiler, they are one of the most successful and influential bands in the heavy metal genre, selling over 70 million albums worldwide. Iron Maiden has so far released thirteen studio albums, four "best of" compilations, nine live albums, and four limited boxed-sets. They won the Ivor Novello Award for international achievement in 2000 [1].

Iron Maiden's mascot, Eddie, is a perennial fixture in the band's horror-influenced album cover art, as well as in live shows. Eddie was originally drawn by Derek Riggs but has had various incarnations by Melvyn Grant. Eddie is also featured in a first-person shooter video game, Ed Hunter as well as numerous books, graphic comics and band-related merchandise.

Iron Maiden has achieved international fame with its distinctive style of melodic metal. Their blend of heavy metal, highly melodic riffs, and intelligent lyrics have become instantly recognizable. The band is also renowned for their down-to-earth and genuine approach towards their music, their impressive stage shows and their openness with fans.

Many of the band's songs are historical in reference to England, others based on folklore, movies, and books, such as "Children of the Damned", "The Duellists", "The Clansman", "Aces High", "Paschendale", "Revelations", "The Wicker Man", "The Prisoner", "Lord of the Flies", "Where Eagles Dare", "Out of the Silent Planet", "To Tame A Land" (based on Frank Herbert's novel Dune), "The Trooper" (based on the poem The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson), "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" – in which words from the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem are sung, and "Man On The Edge" (based on the movie Falling Down).

The band has headlined several major events in its career, notably Rock In Rio, Ozzfest alongside Black Sabbath, Donington's famous "Monsters of Rock", "Download" Festivals and the "Reading and Leeds Festivals [2].

Frontman Bruce Dickinson revealed, in an interview with MTV Brazil, that the band will enter the studio again in March 2006 to record their next album, due to be out in autumn. A European tour is expected to begin in October 2006 [3].

Iron Maiden was ranked # 24 in VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" [4]. They are one of the most popular and influential hard rock bands of all time. They also have perhaps the most iconic mascot in music history.

History

Eddie, the iconic mascot of the band, has been featured on the artwork of almost every album and single

The long and twisting road from formation to the current day started in 1975, when bassist Steve Harris and guitarist Dave Murray met up. Thirty years later, the two remain at the helm of Iron Maiden.

Iron Maiden had twelve different line-ups in the 1970s, paying their dues on the mostly punk club circuit in London's rough East End. Although Iron Maiden was a metal band influenced by Deep Purple, Yes, Wishbone Ash, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath, the earlier music had undoubted punk overtones. Keyboardist Tony Moore joined in 1977, but before long everyone concerned realised that keyboards were a no go. Original singer Paul Day was replaced by the outlandish Dennis Wilcock, a huge KISS fan who used fire, make-up, and fake blood on stage. Wilcock provided the initial inspiration for "Eddie". Neither vocalist possessed both the stage presence and vocal ability to take the band to the next level. However, this changed in 1978, with the addition of punk-ranting Paul Di'Anno as frontman and Doug Sampson on drums.

The name of the band was influenced by "the Irons", or West Ham United F.C. – a club in the local area of the band which it supports. (The bands bassist, Steve Harris, played for West Ham's youth team before becoming a musician.) An iron maiden was also a medieval torture device used in Germany, and the song "Iron Maiden" has lyrics that are about that old method of execution.

Iron Maiden was a sensation on the English rock circuit by this time. The band had been playing for three years and gained a tremendously loyal following, but had never recorded any of their music. On New Year's Eve 1978, the band recorded one of the most famous demos in rock history, the Soundhouse Tapes. Featuring only four songs, the band sold all five thousand copies within weeks, with originals later fetching thousands of dollars (until a re-release in 1996). Two of the tracks on the demo, "Prowler" and "Iron Maiden", went straight to number one on the English metal charts. Their first appearance on an album was on the compilation Metal for Muthas (released on 15 February 1980) with two early recordings of "Sanctuary" and "Wrathchild".

In several of the early Iron Maiden line-ups, Dave Murray was joined by another guitarist, but for most of 1977 and all of 1978, Murray was the sole six-stringer in the band. This changed with the arrival of Tony Parsons in 1979. Drummer Doug Sampson was also replaced by the dynamic Clive Burr, and in November 1979, the band landed a major record deal by signing to EMI, a partnership that would last for nearly 15 years. Shortly before going into the studio, Parsons was replaced by guitarist Dennis Stratton. Initially, the band wanted to hire Dave Murray's childhood friend Adrian Smith, but Smith was busy singing and playing guitar for his own band, Urchin.

Initial success

The eponymous Iron Maiden was released in 1980 to critical and commercial success, and the group became one of the leading components of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The band went on to open for KISS on their 1980 Unmasked tour, as well as opening select dates for the legendary Judas Priest. After the Kiss tour, Dennis Stratton was fired from the band as a result of creative and personal differences. Finally, the timing was right for the arrival of Adrian Smith.

Smith brought a sharp, staccato sound to Iron Maiden. His tight, experimental style was the complete opposite of Murray's smooth, rapid take on blues. One of Iron Maiden's trademarks is the double "twin lead" harmonising guitar stylings of Murray and Smith, a style pioneered by Wishbone Ash and Thin Lizzy, and developed further by Judas Priest and Iron Maiden.

In 1981, Maiden released its second album, titled Killers. This new album contained many tracks that had been penned prior to the release of the debut album, but were considered surplus. Only two new tracks were written for the album; the exciting title track, and the energetic "Murders in the Rue Morgue".

The next level

Like most bands, Maiden drank a lot in the early days. However, most members dabbled very little in other drugs: Steve Harris never taking them at all. The exception was vocalist Paul Di'Anno, who demonstrated increasingly self destructive behaviour particularly through cocaine usage. His performances began to suffer, just as the band was beginning to achieve large-scale success in America. At the end of 1981 the band replaced Di'Anno with former Samson vocalist Bruce Dickinson.

Dickinson vowed from the start that he was his own man – in his own words, he "wasn't going to wear frilly collars and cut his hair". Legendary DJ, Tommy Vance had told Dickinson not to join the band – advice which was ignored. Dickinson's debut with Iron Maiden was 1982's album The Number of the Beast, which is recognised as a classic of the heavy metal genre. This album was a world-wide success providing definitive songs such as "The Number of the Beast", "Run to the Hills" and "Hallowed Be Thy Name", considered by many to be one of the best metal songs ever written. For the first time the band went on a world tour, visiting the United States, Japan and Australia. The tour was marred (or perhaps promoted) by controversy coming from religious groups that claimed Iron Maiden was a Satanic group because of their dark lyrics, which supposedly spoke of Satan. The allegations centered around one song, "The Number of the Beast", a song ostensibly about a bad dream. The members of Iron Maiden tried to deflect this criticism by insisting that the lyrics were based on a dream of Steve Harris's, but the accusations persisted. A group of Christian activists destroyed the band's records (along with those of Ozzy Osbourne) by burning them in a large fire. This controversy, unfortunately, is thought to be one of the main causes of the stereotype that all heavy metal is Satanic. However, these accusations of Satanism were largely based on misinterpretation of the song. Iron Maiden's current drummer, Nicko McBrain, is a born-again Christian, and is happy to play the song, which he sees as a warning against Satanism.

On the same tour, producer Martin Birch was involved in a car accident with a group of church-goers. Coincidentally, the bill for the repair came to £666, a figure which Birch refused to pay, instead opting for a higher amount.

On a more positive note, actor Patrick McGoohan was very accommodating when a request was made to allow the band to use a spoken intro from the cult TV series, The Prisoner, in which McGoohan was the lead actor. McGoohan was a big name in 1982, and Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood was nervous about making the request. The conversation between McGoohan and Smallwood allegedly went:

McGoohan: "What did you say the name of the band was again?"
Smallwood: "Iron Maiden"
McGoohan: "A rock band, you say... do it!"
File:Powerslave Box.jpg
Back cover from Powerslave album

Before heading back into the studio in 1983, they replaced drummer Clive Burr with Nicko McBrain and went on to release four albums which went multi-platinum world-wide: the dark and ultra-heavy Piece of Mind, featuring "Flight of Icarus" and "The Trooper" (1983), Powerslave featuring "2 Minutes to Midnight", "Aces High", and "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1984), Live After Death (1985) and Somewhere in Time (1986). The band gathered huge audiences worldwide, especially in South America, Asia, Australia, and the United States. Support in these areas remains to this day.

Satanic accusations persisted - there was a lot of controversy about occult messages in many bands' music at the time, normally discovered by playing the offending track backwards. On the Piece of Mind album, a backward message was placed at the start of the track "Still Life" as a kind of internal joke. Reverse this track, and you will hear drummer McBrain clearly saying "Hmm, Hmmm, what ho sed de t'ing wid de t'ree bonce. Don't meddle wid t'ings you don't understand", followed by a belch. McBrain later admitted this to be his "famous" impression of Idi Amin Dada. It translates to the following: "'What ho,' said the monster with the three heads, 'don't meddle with things you don't understand.'"

Also on the Piece of Mind album, renowned author Frank Herbert came into conflict with the band when they wanted to record a song named after the book Dune. Not only did Herbert refuse to allow the song to be called "Dune", he also refused to allow a spoken quotation from the book to appear as the track's intro. Bass player Steve Harris's request was met with a stern reply from the agent: "No. Because Frank Herbert doesn't like rock bands, particularly heavy rock bands, and especially rock bands like Iron Maiden". This statement was backed up with a legal threat, and eventually the song was renamed "To Tame A Land" and released in 1983.

Experimentation

In 1988, the band tried a different approach for their seventh studio album, titled Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. This was a concept album featuring a story about a mythical child who possessed clairvoyant powers based on the book Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card.

For the first time, the band used keyboards on a recording (as opposed to guitar synths on the previous release). In the opinion of some critics, this produced a more accessible release. The band also headlined the annual Monsters of Rock Festival for the first time this year. The 1990 edition of the Guinness Book of Records contains the following entry:

"Largest PA system: On Aug 20th 1988 at the Castle Donington "Monsters of Rock" Festival a total of 360 Turbosound cabinets offering a potential 523kW of programme power, formed the largest front-of-house PA. The average Sound Pressure Level at the mixing tower was 118dB, peaking at a maximum of 124dB during Iron Maiden's set. It took five days to set up the system."

Decline

For the first time in seven years, the band had a line-up change with the departure of guitarist/vocalist Adrian Smith. Former Gillan guitarist Janick Gers was chosen to replace Smith, and in 1990 they released the raw sounding album No Prayer for the Dying. This album went back to the heavy style of the band. Vocalist Bruce Dickinson also began experimenting with a raspier style of singing that was a marked departure from his trademark operatic style. Nonetheless, the band obtained their first (and to date, only) number one hit single "Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter". It was released at the start of January, the slowest time of the year for record sales, and was one of the first records to be released on several different formats with different B-sides, thus encouraging fans to buy several copies. The single holds the record for being the fastest release straight in to number one and straight out of the charts again over the following couple of weeks. The song was originally penned and recorded by Bruce Dickinson for the soundtrack to the fifth Nightmare on Elm Street movie.

Before the release of No Prayer for the Dying, Bruce Dickinson officially launched a solo career alongside Iron Maiden, with Gers as guitarist. Dickinson performed a solo tour in 1991 before returning to the studio with Iron Maiden for the album Fear of the Dark. Released in 1992 it had several songs that were popular amongst fans, such as the title track and "Afraid to Shoot Strangers".

In 1993 Bruce Dickinson left the band to further pursue his solo career. However, Bruce agreed to stay with the band for a farewell tour and two live albums (later re-released in one package). The first, A Real Live One, featured songs from 1986 to 1992, and was released in March 1993. The second, A Real Dead One, featured songs from 1975 to 1984, and was released after Bruce had left the band. He played his farewell show with Iron Maiden on August 28, 1993. The show was filmed, broadcast by the BBC, and released on video under the name Raising Hell. Magician Simon Drake performed grisly illusions on the performance, culminating in Dickinson's "death" in an Iron Maiden. However, after Bruce's departure from the band there was a great deal of bad feeling toward him from the other band members.

Winds of change

The band auditioned hundreds of vocalists, both unknown and famous (among them Doogie White of Rainbow[5]), and even offered the position to James LaBrie of Dream Theater (who did not audition), but he declined. They finally chose Blaze Bayley in 1994, formerly of Wolfsbane. Bayley had an altogether different style to his predecessor, which received a mixed reception amongst fans. After a three year hiatus, Maiden returned in 1995 with the hour-long album The X Factor. The album was generally seen as having dark, brooding songs that seemed more melancholy and introspective than usual. Chief songwriter Steve Harris was going through serious personal problems at the time with the break-up of his marriage and the loss of his father and many feel the album's sound is a reflection of this. The 11-minute epic "Sign of the Cross", opening the album, is perhaps the stand-out track, and even Bayley's detractors tend to recognise it as a classic. The first concert supporting the new album took place on September 28, 1995 in Jerusalem, Israel.

The band spent most of 1996 on the road before returning to the studio for Virtual XI (1998). The album contained few notable tracks, with only "The Clansman" and "Futureal" surviving on future tours, and chart positions were observably lower. One of the most criticized tracks was the single "The Angel and the Gambler", which was all that many people heard of the album before deciding not to buy it. Virtual XI failed to reach the one million mark in worldwide sales for the first time, and thus sounded Bayley's death knell.

Reunion

File:BluceD.jpg
Bruce Dickinson left the band in 1993, before returning in 1999

In February 1999, Bayley left the band, apparently by mutual consent. The main reason for his departure was his inconsistent onstage performance - Blaze's voice was not up to the rigours of a full-on Maiden tour. At the same time, the band shocked their fans when they announced that both Bruce Dickinson and guitarist Adrian Smith were rejoining the band, which meant the classic 1980s lineup was back in place - plus Janick Gers, who would remain. Iron Maiden now had three guitarists for the first time. A successful reunion tour followed.

Brave New World and Dance of Death

In 2000, a more progressive period began for the band when they released the album Brave New World. The songs were longer and the lyrics spoke about both dark themes and social criticism. The band gained a new fan base when they began exploring the genre of progressive metal with their more classic sound, and the world tour that followed ended in January 2001 with a show at the famous Rock in Rio festival in Brazil, where Iron Maiden played to an impressive crowd of 250,000.

The band continued with their progressive trend with the over an hour long album Dance of Death released in 2003. All but two of the eleven tracks chime in at over five minutes, and nearly all have a recurrent theme of death, though not always in a dark manner. While failing to reach Gold status in the United States, the album went platinum in several other countries and left no doubts that the band was still a force to be reckoned with. Both Brave New World and Dance of Death were named "Best Metal Album" of 2000 and 2003 respectively by Metal-Rules.com.

In 2005, Iron Maiden announced a tour to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the release of their first album and the 30th anniversary of their formation. The band re-released the "Number of the Beast" single, which went straight to number three in the UK charts. The band hit the road to support the 2004 DVD entitled The Early Days, in which the band celebrates the music mainly from its 1980-1983 period.[6]

The band's show in Gothenburg on Saturday 9 July 2005 was broadcast live on TV across Scandinavia. The Swedish back catalogue album charts published just over a week later were as follows:

  1. Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
  2. Iron Maiden - Edward The Great (Best Of)
  3. Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden
  4. Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
  5. Iron Maiden - Killers
  6. Iron Maiden - Powerslave
  7. Iron Maiden - Live After Death
  8. Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
  9. Iron Maiden - Fear of the Dark

Iron Maiden toured the United States with a stint on the 10th anniversary Ozzfest tour, playing before Black Sabbath from July 15 through August 20, 2005. The band performed a shortened version of its Early Days European set, usually lasting about an hour. Several nights of the Ozzfest tour saw Iron Maiden headlining due to Ozzy Osbourne experiencing throat problems. Iron Maiden also played several "Off-Fest" dates headlining in places such as Toronto and Denver. During this tour, the band was added to the Hollywood Rockwalk. [7]

Ozzfest Incident

File:Steve Harris Ozzfest Incident.jpg
Steve Harris on stage after being pelted with eggs at Ozzfest August 20, 2005

At Iron Maiden's last Ozzfest performance (August 20th 2005 at the Hyundai Pavilion at Glen Helen in San Bernardino, CA), the band had their sound turned off several times, eggs were thrown towards the stage, and chants of "Ozzy" were shouted through the PA system. This was the work of Sharon Osbourne, who took to the stage and called Bruce Dickinson "a prick" after they performed their encore, followed by a large portion of the crowd booing her off the stage. [8] She officially admitted this in a scathing letter, accusing Bruce of heckling her husband, which she signed "The Real Iron Maiden". As planned, Velvet Revolver went on to complete the final dates of the tour in place of Iron Maiden.

The band completed its summer tour by headlining the Reading and Leeds weekend festivals on the 26th and 28th August 2005, playing classics from the first four studio albums to a combined audience of approximately 120,000.

Death on the Road was released on the 10th March and hit the DVD chart at no 1 in UK, Sweden, Italy and Greece and received universal acclaim from most UK rock magazines.

Future plans

A new album has been announced, to be released before the upcoming European tour, scheduled for November and December 2006 [9]. Otherwise, there has been no confirmed release date, nor a title given, but it will be produced by Kevin Shirley.

Iron Maiden in popular culture

  • Bruce Dickinson and Eddie did a public service announcement for British television with "The Seat Belt Dummies" in 1991. The seat belt dummies were in the audience playing air guitar and Eddie is shown. The dummies remark that, "if you don't wear your seatbelt, you may end up looking like this (points to Eddie)". At the end, Bruce says "Don't forget, buckle your safety belt, mate."
  • Iron Maiden is referenced prominently in the lyrics to the 2000 hit "Teenage Dirtbag" by American punk-pop group Wheatus. The song tells of a lonely, nerdy teenage boy who secretly yearns for a pretty female classmate, Noelle, while listening to Iron Maiden. Noelle later surprises him by declaring herself to be a "teenage dirtbag" too, and inviting him to join her at an Iron Maiden concert. Bruce Dickinson returned the favour by singing on Wheatus' third single "Wannabe Gangstar".
  • The band is mentioned several times in episodes of Beavis and Butt-head. Songs featured include "The Prisoner", "From Here To Eternity", and "Running Free".
  • In the movie Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Bill and Ted travel back in time to medieval England, and are caught talking with the King's daughters. The King decides to "put them in the Iron Maiden" at which point Bill and Ted look at each other and say, "Iron Maiden?! EXCELLENT!". Later in the movie, Bill and Ted break into Ted's father's police station to break out some of the historical figures by using a tape recorder with Ted's voice. At the end of the tape, Bill and Ted exclaim together, "Now opening for Iron Maiden: The Wyld Stalyns!". In adventure game Escape from Monkey Island, when players make Guybrush look at the iron maiden in the jail on Lucre Island, he says the same thing.
  • In the computer and video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the song "2 Minutes To Midnight" is played by the V-Rock radio station. Also, the "ROCK" in the logo of V-Rock is written using the angular font used in the Iron Maiden logo. The player can also see a parody of Eddie on posters on the concert hall in the downtown area of Vice City. The angular Iron Maiden font is also used for the title of the Love Fist's latest tour, The Steel Heart Stone Cold Prostate Tour, which the game states as "the world tour that has been banned throughout the world".
  • Several computer viruses contain references to the band, such as the "Seventh Son", "Evil Men" and "V800" infections.
  • Phantom of the Opera (see below for clip) was used in two UK television commercials in the late 80s to mid 90s. One commercial for KFC saw Colonel Sanders bungee jump as the music speeds up while letting his audience know of his latest offerings. The second, and more well known, was a commercial for Lucozade where we see Daley Thompson preparing to race (albeit as a training exercise) and, once again as the music speeds up, he is seen sprinting from his starting blocks.
"Heavy metal and mullets, it's how we were raised.
Maiden and Priest were the gods that we praised."
  • "Aces High", "Be Quick Or Be Dead", "Man on the Edge" and "The Trooper" were featured in the video game Carmageddon II.
  • Japanese pro wrestler Akitoshi Saito uses "Ghost of the Navigator" as his theme song.
  • Eddie is an unlockable character in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4. One of his special moves has him play air guitar along with an Iron Maiden riff. The song "Number of the Beast" is featured on the game's soundtrack as well.
  • Iron Maiden's signature font is used for Heavy Metal and Hard Rock reference and even skate/snowboarding sub-culture. [10]
  • Jimmy Savile reputedly played a piano version of the song "Afraid To Shoot Strangers" [11]
  • Nicko McBrain appeared as a guest star on the long running British children's show 'The Sooty Show' on the episode "Hidden Talent". The highlight being a battle of the drums between the Iron Maiden drummer against Sooty and Sweep.
  • In the First Person Shooter computer video game Delta Force II, single-player cheats are titles of Iron Maiden songs from the Piece of Mind album, such as thetrooper, diewithyourbootson, revelations.
  • In the "This Week" section of New Scientist magazine 25th of March, 2005, an article regarding one of the Mars Landers was headlined "Limp To The Hills"

Studio Albums

For a more detailed discography see Iron Maiden Discography

RIAA Gold and Platinum certification

Actual US sales far higher. Due to change in US record label several times, certifications have not been declared.

(Source: search for "Iron Maiden".)


Audio

  • Phantom of the Opera
  • – From the debut album, featuring Paul Di'anno on vocals.
  • Run To The Hills
  • – A top ten hit in the UK, and vocalist Bruce Dickinson's debut.
  • Caught Somewhere in Time
  • – This clip showcases the band's trademark twin guitar harmonization/"galloping" bass.
  • Sign of the Cross
  • – The band's third recording vocalist Blaze Bayley, singing on the opening track from the "X Factor" album.
  • Brave New World
  • – Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith return in 2000 to critical acclaim.

Lineup

File:Iron Maiden Steve Harris.jpg
Founding member, Steve Harris

For a complete list, see Iron Maiden band members.

Current Members

Past Members

Original lineup

Bibliography

  • Running Free: The Official Story of Iron Maiden; Bushell, Gary and Halfin, Ross (1985) ISBN 0-946391-50-5
  • What Are We Doing This For?: A Photographic History; Halfin, Ross (1988) ISBN 0-946391-65-3
  • Run to the Hills: Iron Maiden, the Authorized Biography; Wall, Mick and Ingham, Chris (1998) ISBN 1-86074-666-7

References

External links

This article contains content from Wikipedia. Current versions of the GNU FDL article Iron Maiden on WP may contain information useful to the improvement of this article WP
English heavy metal musical groupsEnglish rock music groupsMusical groups established in 1975Musical groups from London
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