Iron Maiden
Encyclopedia
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal
band from Leyton
in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris
. Since their inception, the band's discography
has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs
; and six compilations
.
Pioneers of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal
, Iron Maiden achieved success during the early 1980s. After several line-up changes, the band went on to release a series of U.S. and UK platinum and gold albums, including 1982's The Number of the Beast
, 1983's Piece of Mind
, 1984's Powerslave
, 1985's live release Live After Death
, 1986's Somewhere in Time and 1988's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
. The band are currently undergoing a resurgence in popularity, with their latest studio offering, The Final Frontier
, released worldwide on 16 and 17 August 2010, peaking at No. 1 in 28 different countries and receiving widespread critical acclaim.
Considered one of the most successful heavy metal bands in history, Iron Maiden have reportedly sold over 85 million records worldwide with little radio or television support. The band won the Ivor Novello Award
for international achievement in 2002, and were also inducted into the Hollywood RockWalk in Sunset Boulevard
, Los Angeles, California during their United States tour
in 2005. As of October 2009, the band have played over 2000 live shows throughout their career.
For the past 30 years, the band have been supported by their famous mascot, "Eddie
", who has appeared on almost all of their album and single covers, as well as in their live shows.
, shortly after he left his previous group, Smiler. Harris attributes the band's name to a film adaptation of The Man in the Iron Mask
from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, which he saw around that time and which had a verbal connection to the iron maiden torture device.
The original lineup did not last very long, however, with vocalist Paul Day being the first casualty as he lacked "energy or charisma onstage." He was replaced by Dennis Wilcock, a Kiss
fan who used make-up and fake blood during live performances. Wilcock's friend Dave Murray
was invited to join, to the dismay of the band's guitarists Dave Sullivan and Terry Rance. Their frustration led Harris to temporarily disunite the band in 1976, though the group reformed soon after with Murray as the sole guitarist. Steve Harris and Dave Murray remain the band's longest-standing members and have performed on all of their releases.
Iron Maiden recruited yet another guitarist in 1977, Bob Sawyer, who was sacked for embarrassing the band onstage by pretending to play guitar with his teeth. Tension ensued again, causing a rift between Murray and Wilcock, who convinced Harris to fire Murray, as well as original drummer Ron Matthews. A new line-up was put together, including Tony Moore
on keyboards, Terry Wapram on guitar, and drummer Barry Purkis
. A bad performance at the Bridgehouse in November 1977, the line-up's first and only concert, led to Purkis being replaced by Doug Sampson
. At the same time, Moore was asked to leave as Harris decided that keyboards did not suit the band's sound. Soon afterwards, Dennis Wilcock decided he'd had enough with the group and left to form his own band, V1, and Dave Murray was immediately reinstated. As he preferred to be the band's sole guitarist, Wapram disapproved of Murray's return and was also dismissed.
Steve Harris, Dave Murray and Doug Sampson promptly began rehearsing while they searched for a singer to complete the band's new line-up. A chance meeting at the Red Lion pub in Leytonstone
evolved into a successful audition for vocalist Paul Di'Anno
. Steve Harris has stated, "There's sort of a quality in Paul's voice, a raspiness in his voice, or whatever you want to call it, that just gave it this great edge." Other than the periods of late 1976-mid 1977 and winter of 1978–79, when Murray was the sole guitarist in the band, Iron Maiden's line-up would always employ multiple guitarists. Dave Murray's childhood friend Adrian Smith was considered to join the group at one time, but he was busy with his own band, Urchin
.
, then managing a heavy metal club called "Bandwagon Heavy Metal Soundhouse." Upon hearing the tape, Kay began playing the demo regularly at the Bandwagon, and one of the release's songs, "Prowler," eventually went to No. 1 in the Soundhouse charts, which were published weekly in Sounds
magazine. A copy was also acquired by Rod Smallwood
, who soon became the band's manager, and, as Iron Maiden's popularity increased, they decided to release the demo on their own record label as "The Soundhouse Tapes
," named after the club itself. Featuring only three songs, all five thousand copies were sold out within weeks.
In December 1979, the band secured a major record deal with EMI
and hired guitarist Dennis Stratton
that same month. Shortly afterwards, Doug Sampson
left due to health issues and was replaced by an ex-Samson
drummer Clive Burr
at Stratton's suggestion on 26 December. Iron Maiden's first appearance on an album was on the Metal for Muthas
compilation (released on 15 February 1980) with two early versions of "Sanctuary
" and "Wrathchild". The release led to an ensuing tour
which featured several other bands linked with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal
.
Iron Maiden's eponym
ous 1980 release, Iron Maiden
, debuted at No. 4 in the UK Albums Chart
. In addition to the title track, the album includes other early favourites such as "Running Free
", "Transylvania", "Phantom of the Opera
", and "Sanctuary
" – which was not on the original UK release but made the U.S. version and subsequent remasters. The band set out on a headline tour of the UK, before opening for Kiss
on their 1980 Unmasked Tour
's European leg as well as supporting Judas Priest
on select dates
. After the Kiss tour, Dennis Stratton
was dismissed from the band as a result of creative and personal differences, and was replaced by Adrian Smith
in October 1980.
In 1981, Iron Maiden released their second album, entitled Killers
. Containing many tracks that had been written prior to their debut release, only two new songs were written for the record: "Prodigal Son" and "Murders in the Rue Morgue" (the latter of which's title was taken from the short story
by Edgar Allan Poe
). The record was followed by the band's first world tour, which included their debut performance in the United States, opening for Judas Priest at The Aladdin Casino
, Las Vegas.
was demonstrating increasingly self-destructive behaviour, particularly through alleged drug usage, which Di'Anno himself admits, commenting "it wasn't just that I was snorting a bit of coke, though; I was just going for it non-stop, 24 hours a day, every day... the band had commitments piling up that went on for months, years, and I just couldn't see my way to the end of it. I knew I'd never last the whole tour. It was too much." His performances began to suffer, just as the band were beginning to achieve major success in America. At the end of the Killer World Tour the band dismissed Di'Anno and sought a new vocalist.
After a meeting with Rod Smallwood at the Reading Festival, Bruce Dickinson
, previously of Samson
, auditioned for Iron Maiden in September 1981 and was immediately hired.
The following month, Dickinson went out on the road with the band on a small headlining tour in Italy, as well as a one-off show at the Rainbow Theatre in the UK. In anticipation of their forthcoming album, the band played "Children of the Damned", "Run to the Hills
", "22 Acacia Avenue" and "The Prisoner" at select venues, introducing fans to the sound that they were progressing towards.
Dickinson's recorded debut with Iron Maiden was 1982's The Number of the Beast
, an album that claimed the band their first ever UK Albums Chart No. 1 record and additionally became a Top Ten hit in many other countries.
Dickinson, at the time, was in the midst of legal difficulties with Samson's management and was not permitted to add his name to any of the songwriting credits, although he still made what he described as a "moral contribution" to "Children of the Damned", "The Prisoner" and "Run to the Hills".
For the second time the band went on a world tour
, visiting the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, UK and Germany, including a headline appearance at the Reading Rock festival. A new and hugely successful chapter in Iron Maiden's future was cemented; the album went on to sell over 14 million copies worldwide.
The Number of the Beast tour's U.S. leg proved controversial when an American conservative political lobbying group claimed Iron Maiden were Satanic
because of the new album's title track, to the point where a group of Christian activists
destroyed Iron Maiden records as a protest against the band. In recent years, Dickinson has stated that the band treated this as "silliness," and that the demonstrations in fact gave them "loads of publicity."
In December 1982, drummer Clive Burr
ended his association with the band due to personal and tour schedule problems and was replaced by Nicko McBrain
, previously of French band Trust
. Soon afterwards, the band journeyed for the first time to The Bahamas
to record the first of three consecutive albums at Compass Point Studios
. In 1983, they released Piece of Mind
, which reached the No. 3 spot in the UK, and was the band's debut at the North American charts, reaching No. 70 on the Billboard 200
. Piece of Mind includes the successful singles "The Trooper
" and "Flight of Icarus
," the latter of which being particularly notable as one of the band's few songs to gain substantial airplay in the U.S.
Soon after the success of Piece of Mind and its supporting tour
, the band released Powerslave
on 9 September 1984. The album featured fan favourites "2 Minutes to Midnight
", "Aces High
", and "Rime of The Ancient Mariner", the latter based on Samuel Taylor Coleridge
's poem of the same name and running over 13 minutes long.
The tour following the album, dubbed the World Slavery Tour
, was the band's largest to date and consisted of 193 shows in 28 countries over 13 months, playing to an estimated 3,500,000 people. Many shows were played back-to-back in the same city, such as in Long Beach, California
(4 consecutive sold out concerts to an overall audience of 54,000), where the majority of their subsequent live release, Live After Death
, was recorded, which became a critical and commercial success, peaking at No. 4 in the UK. Iron Maiden also co-headlined (with Queen
) the Rock In Rio
festival, where they performed to an estimated crowd of 350,000. The tour was physically gruelling for the band, who demanded a six month break when it ended (although this was later reduced to four months). This was the first substantial break in the band's history, including even cancelling a proposed supporting tour for the new live album, with Bruce Dickinson threatening to quit unless the tour ended.
," but notably included no writing credits from lead singer Bruce Dickinson
, whose material was rejected by the rest of the band.
The experimentation evident on Somewhere in Time continued on their next album, entitled Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
, which was released in 1988. A concept album
, The Tales of Alvin Maker
series of novels by Orson Scott Card
, this would be the first time the band used keyboards on a recording, as opposed to guitar synthesisers on the previous release. After his contributions weren't used for Somewhere in Time, Dickinson's enthusiasm was renewed as his ideas were accepted for this album. Another popular release, it became Iron Maiden's second album to hit No. 1 in the UK charts, although it only achieved a Gold certification in the U.S, in contrast to its four predecessors.
During the following tour
, the band headlined the Monsters of Rock
festival at Donington Park
for the first time on 20 August 1988, playing to the largest crowd in the festival's history (107,000). Also included on the bill were Kiss
, David Lee Roth
, Megadeth
, Guns N' Roses
and Helloween
. The festival was marred, however, by the deaths of two fans in a crowd-surge during the aforementioned Guns N' Roses performance; the following year's festival was cancelled as a result. The tour concluded with several headline shows in the UK in November and December 1988, with the concerts at the NEC Arena
, Birmingham
recorded for a live video, entitled Maiden England
.
, entitled Silver and Gold, and vocalist Bruce Dickinson began work on a solo album with former Gillan
guitarist Janick Gers
, releasing Tattooed Millionaire
in 1990, followed by a tour. At the same time, to mark the band's ten year recording anniversary, Iron Maiden released The First Ten Years
, a series of ten CDs and double 12" vinyls. Between 24 February and 28 April 1990, the individual parts were released one-by-one, each containing two of Iron Maiden's singles, including the original B-sides.
Soon afterwards, Iron Maiden regrouped to work on a new studio record. During the pre-production stages, Adrian Smith left the band due to differences with Steve Harris regarding the direction the band should be taking, disagreeing with the "stripped down" style that they were leaning towards. Janick Gers, having worked on Dickinson's solo project, was chosen to replace Smith and became the band's first new member in seven years. The album, No Prayer for the Dying
, was released in October 1990.
The band obtained their first (and to date, only) UK Singles Chart
No. 1 with "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter
", originally recorded by Dickinson for the soundtrack to A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
. It was released on 24 December 1990, and was one of the first records to be released on several different formats with different B-sides. The single holds the record for being the fastest release to reach No. 1 and then lose any chart rating again over the following weeks.
After another tour
and some more time off, the band recorded their next album, Fear of the Dark. Released in 1992, the release was noticeably longer (due to this being Iron Maiden's first album recorded for CD rather than LP) and included the stand-out title track
, which is now a regular fixture in the band's concert setlists. Achieving their third No. 1 in the UK albums chart, the disc also featured "Wasting Love
", one of the band's softer songs, and the No. 2 single "Be Quick or Be Dead
". The album featured the first songwriting by Gers, and no collaboration at all between Harris and Dickinson on songs. The extensive worldwide tour that followed
included their first ever Latin American leg (after a single concert during the World Slavery Tour), and being the headline act of "Monsters of Rock
Festival" in seven European countries. Iron Maiden's second performance at Donington Park
, to an audience of 68,500 (the attendance was capped after the incident in 1988), was filmed for the audio and video release, Live at Donington, and featured a surprise appearance by Adrian Smith, who joined the band to perform "Running Free".
In 1993, Bruce Dickinson left the band to further pursue his solo career, but agreed to remain 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 1980 to 1984, and was released after Dickinson had left the band. The tour did not go well, however, with Steve Harris claiming that Dickinson would only perform properly for high profile shows and that at several concerts he would only mumble into the microphone. Dickinson denies the charge that he was under-performing, stating that it was impossible to "make like Mr Happy Face if the vibe wasn't right," claiming that news of his exit from the band had prevented any chance of a good atmosphere during the tour. He played his farewell show with Iron Maiden on 28 August 1993, which was filmed, broadcast by the BBC
and released on video under the name Raising Hell
.
, formerly of the band Wolfsbane
who had supported Iron Maiden in 1990, to audition for them. Bayley had a different vocal style from his predecessor, which ultimately received a mixed reception among fans.
After a two year hiatus (as well as a three year hiatus from studio releases – a record for the band at the time) Iron Maiden returned in 1995. Releasing The X Factor
, the band had their lowest chart position since 1981 for an album in the UK (debuting at No. 8), although it would go on to win Album of the Year awards in France and Germany.
The record included the 11-minute epic "Sign of the Cross", the band's longest song since "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", as well as the singles, "Man on the Edge
", based on the film Falling Down
, and "Lord of the Flies
", based on the novel of the same name
. The release is notable for its "dark" tone, inspired by Steve Harris' divorce. The band toured
for the rest of 1995 and 1996, playing for the first time in Israel
and South Africa, before stopping to release the Best of the Beast
. The band's first compilation, it included a new single, "Virus", whose lyrics attack the critics who had recently written off the band.
Iron Maiden returned to the studio to record Virtual XI
, released in 1998. The album's chart scores were the band's lowest to date, including the UK where it peaked at No. 16 failing to score one million worldwide sales for the first time in Iron Maiden's history. At the same time, Steve Harris assisted in remastering the band's entire discography, up to and including Live at Donington (which was given a mainstream release for the first time).
, a band meeting was held in January 1999, in which Bayley was asked to leave Iron Maiden. At the same time, the band were in talks with former vocalist, Bruce Dickinson, who agreed to rejoin during a meeting in Brighton, along with guitarist Adrian Smith, who was telephoned a few hours later. With Janick Gers, Smith's replacement, remaining, Iron Maiden now had a three guitar line-up and embarked on a hugely successful reunion tour. Dubbed "The Ed Hunter Tour
," it tied in with the band's newly released greatest hits collection, Ed Hunter
, which also contained a computer game of the same name starring the band's mascot
.
In November 1999, the band moved to Guillaume Tell Studios, Paris with producer Kevin Shirley
to make their first studio release following the reunion with Dickinson and Smith, 2000's Brave New World. Thematic influences continued with "The Wicker Man
" – based on the 1973 British cult film of the same name – and "Brave New World" – title taken from the Aldous Huxley
novel of the same name
. The album furthered the more progressive and melodic sound present in some earlier recordings, with elaborate song structures and keyboard orchestration.
The world tour
that followed consisted of well over 100 dates and culminated on 19 January 2001 in a show at the Rock in Rio
festival in Brazil, where Iron Maiden played to an audience of around 250,000. While the performance was being produced for a CD and DVD release in March 2002, under the name Rock in Rio
, the band took a year out from touring, during which they played three consecutive shows at Brixton Academy in aid of former drummer Clive Burr
, who had recently announced that he had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
.
Following their Give Me Ed... 'Til I'm Dead Tour in the summer of 2003, Iron Maiden released Dance of Death
, their thirteenth studio album, which was met by worldwide critical and commercial success. Produced by Kevin Shirley, now the band's regular producer, many critics also felt that this release matched up to their earlier efforts, such as Killers, Piece of Mind and The Number of the Beast. As usual, historical and literary references were present, with "Montségur" in particular being about the Cathar stronghold conquered in 1244, and "Paschendale" relating to the significant battle which took place during The First World War
.
The following tour was another landmark for the band, as they played to over 750,000 fans during 50 dates over a period of 4 months in 2003–04, including sold out dates in South America, Europe, North America and Japan. Their performance at Westfalenhalle
in Dortmund
, Germany, as part of the supporting tour, was recorded and released in August 2005 as a live album and DVD, entitled Death on the Road
.
In 2005, the band announced the Eddie Rips Up the World Tour
which, tying in with their 2004 DVD entitled The Early Days
, only featured material from their first four albums. As part of this celebration of their earlier years, the "Number of the Beast" single was re-released and went straight to No. 3 in the UK Chart. The tour included many headlining stadium and festival dates, including a performance at Ullevi Stadium in Sweden to an audience of almost 60,000. This concert was also broadcast live on satellite television all over Europe to approximately 60 million viewers. The band completed this tour by headlining the Reading and Leeds weekend festivals
on the 26-28 August, two shows to an estimated combined audience of 130,000 people, and in Ireland on 31 August to almost 40,000 people at RDS Stadium. For the second time, the band played a charity show for former drummer Clive Burr's MS Trust Fund charity, this time taking place at the Hammersmith Apollo
.
, their fourteenth studio effort, released in autumn 2006. While not a concept album, war and religion are recurring themes in the lyrics, as well as in the cover artwork. A successful tour
followed, during which they played the album in its entirety; response to this was mixed.
Iron Maiden recorded a live session at Abbey Road Studios
for Live from Abbey Road
in December 2006. Their performance was screened in an episode alongside sessions with Natasha Bedingfield
and Gipsy Kings
in March 2007 on Channel 4
(UK) and June 2007 on the Sundance Channel (USA).
In November 2006, Iron Maiden and manager Rod Smallwood announced that they were to end their 27 year relationship with Sanctuary Music and were to start a new company named Phantom Music Management. No other significant changes were made.
The second part of the "A Matter of Life and Death" tour was dubbed "A Matter of the Beast" to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Number of the Beast album, and included appearances at several major festivals worldwide. The band announced plans to play five songs each from A Matter of Life and Death and The Number of the Beast as part of their set, but in fact only played four songs from the latter. They performed in the Middle East for the first time at the annual Dubai Desert Rock Festival
in 2007, playing to an audience of 20,000. They also made their first appearance in India with a concert in Bangalore
, aptly titled Eddfest
, playing to over 20,000 people at the Bangalore Palace
Grounds. This event marked the first time any major heavy metal band played in the Indian sub-continent. The band went on to play a string of European dates, consisting of open air festivals and mostly stadium-sized concerts, including an appearance at Download
, their record-breaking fourth headline performance at Donington Park
. The show attracted the largest audience in Download's history, with an estimated attendance of approximately 80,000 people, in spite of higher ticket and camping prices. On 24 June they ended the tour with a performance at London's Brixton Academy in aid of The Clive Burr MS
Trust fund.
, which tied in with the DVD release of their Live After Death
album. The setlist for the tour consisted of successes from the 1980s, with a specific emphasis on the Powerslave era for set design. The first part of the tour, commencing in Mumbai
, India on 1 February 2008, consisted of 24 concerts in 21 cities, travelling over 50,000 miles in the band's own chartered aeroplane "Ed Force One". They played their first ever concerts in Costa Rica and Colombia
and their first Australian shows since 1992.
The tour led to the release of a new compilation album, entitled Somewhere Back in Time, which included a selection of tracks from their 1980 eponymous debut to 1988's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, as well as several live versions from Live After Death.
The Somewhere Back in Time World Tour continued with two further legs in the US and Europe in Summer 2008, during which the band used a more expansive stage-set, including further elements of the original Live After Death show. With the sole UK concert taking place at Twickenham Stadium
, this would be the first time the band would headline a stadium in their own country. The three 2008 legs of the tour were remarkably successful; it was the second highest grossing tour of the year for a British artist.
The final part of the tour took place in February and March 2009, with the band, once again, using "Ed Force One". The final leg included the band's first ever appearances in Peru
and Ecuador, as well as their return to Venezuela
after 19 years and their first performances in New Zealand for 16 years. The band also played another show in India (their third in the country within a span of 2 years) at the Rock In India
festival to a crowd of 20,000. At their concert in São Paulo
on 15 March, Dickinson announced on stage that the show was the biggest of their career. In fact, the crowd of 100,000 people was Iron Maiden's largest ever audience for a solo show (i.e. not a festival). The attendance was larger than Chile
's show of almost 60,000 people, according to the organisers. The final leg ended in Florida on 2 April after which the band took a break. Overall, the tour reportedly had an attendance of over two million people worldwide over both years.
At the 2009 BRIT Awards
, Iron Maiden won the award for best British live act. Voted for by the public, the band reportedly won by a landslide.
On 20 January 2009, the band announced that they were to release a full-length documentary film in select cinemas on 21 April 2009. Entitled Iron Maiden: Flight 666
, it was filmed during the first part of the Somewhere Back In Time World Tour between February and March 2008. Flight 666 is co-produced by Banger Productions and was released by Universal Music Group
in the U.S. and EMI Records in the rest of the world. The film went on to have a Blu-ray, DVD and CD release in May and June, topping the music DVD charts in 22 countries.
producing, The Final Frontier
was announced on 4 March. The album, the band's fifteenth, was released on 16 August, garnering critical acclaim and the band's greatest commercial success in their history, reaching No. 1 in twenty-eight countries worldwide. Although Steve Harris had been quoted in the past as claiming that the band would only produce fifteen studio releases, band members have since confirmed that there will be at least one further record.
The album's supporting tour
would see the band play 98 shows across the globe to an estimated audience of over 2 million, including their first visits to Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea and Transylvania, and concluded in London on 6 August 2011.
At the 53rd Grammy Awards
on 13 February 2011, "El Dorado" won the award
for Best Metal Performance
. It is the band's first win following two previous Grammy nominations ("Fear of the Dark
" in 1994 and "The Wicker Man
" in 2001).
On 15 March, a new compilation to accompany 2009's Somewhere Back in Time was announced. Entitled From Fear to Eternity
, the original release date was set at 23 May but was later pushed back to 6 June. The double disc set covers the period 1990–2010 (the band's most recent eight studio albums), and, as on Somewhere Back in Time, live versions with Bruce Dickinson
were included in place of original recordings which featured other vocalists, in this case Blaze Bayley
.
In a press release regarding From Fear to Eternity, band manager Rod Smallwood
revealed that the band will release a new concert video to DVD in 2011, filmed in Santiago and Argentina during The Final Frontier World Tour.
's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock", fourth in MTV's "Top 10 Greatest Heavy Metal Bands of All Time" and were named as the third best heavy metal band of all time on VH1 Classic: Top 20 Metal Bands.
The band also won the Ivor Novello Award for international achievement in 2002 and were inducted into the Hollywood RockWalk whilst touring in the United States in 2005.
Iron Maiden frequently use the slogan "Up the Irons" in their disc liner notes, and the phrase can also be seen on several t-shirts officially licensed by the band. It is a paraphrase of "Up the Hammers," the phrase which refers to the London football club, West Ham United, of which founder Steve Harris is a fan.
Iron Maiden's mascot
, Eddie
, is a perennial fixture in the band's science fiction and horror-influenced album cover art, as well as in live
shows. Eddie was painted exclusively by Derek Riggs
until 1992, at which point the band began using artwork from numerous other artists as well, including Melvyn Grant
. Eddie is also featured in the band's first-person shooter
video game, Ed Hunter
, as well as numerous books, graphic comics and band-related merchandise.
Iron Maiden's distinct logo has adorned all of the band's releases since the debut; the typeface originates with Vic Fair's poster design for 1976 science fiction film, The Man Who Fell To Earth
, although Steve Harris claims that he designed it himself, utilising his abilities as an architectural draughtsman.
According to Guitar World
Iron Maiden's sound has "influenced generations of newer metal acts, from legends like Metallica
to current stars like Avenged Sevenfold
," with Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich
commenting that he has "always had an incredible amount of respect and admiration for them." Kerry King
of Slayer
has stated that "they meant so much to me in their early days" and Scott Ian
of Anthrax
says that "they had a major impact on my life."
M. Shadows
of Avenged Sevenfold
states that Iron Maiden "are by far the best live band in the world and their music is timeless," while
Trivium
singer Matt Heafy
comments that "without Iron Maiden, Trivium surely wouldn't exist." Slipknot
frontman Corey Taylor
says that "Steve Harris does more with four fingers than I've ever seen anybody do. And Bruce Dickinson? Dude! To me, he was the quintessential old-school heavy metal singer. He could hit notes that were just sick, and he was a great showman. Everything made me a fan. And there wasn't a dude that I hung out with that wasn't trying to draw Eddie on their schoolbooks," while their music also helped Jesper Strömblad
of In Flames
to pioneer the melodic death metal
genre, stating that he had wanted to combine death metal
with the melodic guitar sounds of Iron Maiden.
Other heavy metal artists who cite the band as an influence include Chris Jericho
, WWE wrestler and lead singer of Fozzy
, and Cam Pipes
of 3 Inches of Blood
. On top of this, however, pop artist Lady Gaga
has cited Iron Maiden as her favourite band, saying that "their fans live, breathe and die for Maiden, and that is my dream. Maiden changed my life."
The band's name has been mentioned prominently in several songs, such as the singles "Teenage Dirtbag
" by Wheatus
, "Back to the 80's
" by Danish dance-pop band Aqua
. and "Fat Lip
" by Sum 41
. Iron Maiden have also been referenced in Weezer
's "Heart Songs" (from their 2008 self-titled "Red
" album), Blues Traveler
's "Psycho Joe" (from 1997's Straight On till Morning
), and NOFX
's "Eddie, Bruce and Paul" (from their 2009 album Coaster
), which Sputnikmusic
describes as "a humorous retelling of Paul DiAnno's departure."
On top of this, Swedish power metal
band Sabaton
have made references to the band in their songs "Metal Machine" and "Metal Ripper", with the former mentioning various Iron Maiden songs (namely "Fear of the Dark" and "Afraid to Shoot Strangers"), and the latter including lyrics from "The Number of the Beast
".
In 2008, Kerrang!
released an album, entitled Maiden Heaven: A Tribute to Iron Maiden, composed of Iron Maiden cover songs played by artists such as Metallica, Machine Head
, Dream Theater
, Trivium, Coheed and Cambria
, Avenged Sevenfold, and others who were influenced by Iron Maiden throughout their careers. In 2010, Maiden uniteD
, an acoustic tribute band consisting of members of Ayreon
, Threshold
and Within Temptation
, released Mind the Acoustic Pieces
, a re-interpretation of the entire Piece of Mind
album. Many other Iron Maiden cover albums exist (each featuring various artists), including piano, electro, string quartet and hip-hop tributes.
Iron Maiden songs have been featured in the soundtracks of several video games, including Carmageddon 2, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City
, Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned
, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
, SSX on Tour
and Madden NFL 10
. Their music also appears in the Guitar Hero
and Rock Band series of rhythmic video games
. Iron Maiden songs have also appeared in films, such as Phenomena
(entitled "Creepers" in the U.S.), and Murder by Numbers
; while MTV's animated duo Beavis and Butt-head
have commented favourably on Iron Maiden several times.
Transformers
author Bill Forster is an avowed Iron Maiden fan and made several Iron Maiden references, including song lyrics and the phrase "Up the Irons" in his books, including The Ark series and The AllSpark Almanac series.
. The artwork and title track led to Christian groups in the United States branding the band as Satanists
, encouraging people to destroy copies of the release. The band's manager, Rod Smallwood, later commented that Christians initially burnt the records, but later decided to destroy them with hammers through fear of breathing in the melting vinyl's fumes. The claims were not restricted to the United States, however, with the Catholic Church managing to prevent Iron Maiden from performing in Chile in 1992.
Contrary to the accusations, the band have always denied the notion that they are Satanists, with lead vocalist, Bruce Dickinson, doing so on-stage in the Live After Death
concert video. Steve Harris has since commented that, "It was mad. They completely got the wrong end of the stick. They obviously hadn't read the lyrics. They just wanted to believe all that rubbish about us being Satanists." Harris has also stated that "The Number of the Beast
" was inspired by a nightmare he had after watching Damien: Omen II
, and also influenced by Robert Burns
' Tam o' Shanter
. Furthermore the band's drummer, Nicko McBrain
, has been a born again Christian since 1999.
, Deep Purple
, Led Zeppelin
, The Who
, Uriah Heep
, Pink Floyd
, Genesis
, Yes
, Jethro Tull
, Thin Lizzy
, UFO
and Wishbone Ash
. In 2010 Harris stated, "I think if anyone wants to understand Maiden’s early thing, in particular the harmony guitars, all they have to do is listen to Wishbone Ash’s Argus
album. Thin Lizzy too, but not as much. And then we wanted to have a bit of a prog thing thrown in as well, because I was really into bands like Genesis and Jethro Tull. So you combine all that with the heavy riffs and the speed, and you’ve got it." In 2004, Harris explained that the band's "heaviness" was inspired by "Black Sabbath and Deep Purple with a bit of Zeppelin thrown in." On top of this, Harris developed his own playing style, which guitarist Janick Gers describes as "more like a rhythm guitar," cited as responsible for the band's galloping style, heard in such songs as "The Trooper" and "Run to the Hills."
The band's guitarists, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers, each have their own individual influences and playing style. Dave Murray is known for his legato
technique which, he claims, "evolved naturally. I'd heard Jimi Hendrix
using legato when I was growing up, and I liked that style of playing." Stating that he "was inspired by blues rock rather than metal," Adrian Smith was influenced by Johnny Winter
and Pat Travers
, leading to him becoming a "melodic player." Janick Gers, on the hand, prefers a more improvised style, largely inspired by Ritchie Blackmore
, which he claims is in contrast to Smith's "rhythmic" sound.
Singer Bruce Dickinson, who typically works in collaboration with guitarist Adrian Smith, has an operatic vocal style, inspired by Arthur Brown
, Peter Hammill
, Ian Anderson
and Ian Gillan
, and is often considered to be one of the best heavy metal vocalists of all time. Although only receiving one writing credit on the Dance of Death album, Harris often relies on drummer Nicko McBrain in developing songs, with Adrian Smith commenting, "Steve loves playing with him. [They] used to work for hours going over these bass and drum patterns."
Throughout their career, the band's style has remained largely unchanged, in spite of the addition of guitar synthesizers on 1986's Somewhere in Time, keyboards on 1988's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, and an attempt to return to the "stripped down" production of their earlier material on 1990's No Prayer for the Dying. In recent years, however, the band have begun using more progressive
elements in their songs, which Steve Harris describes as not progressive "in the modern sense, but like Dream Theater
, more in a 70s way." The development contrasts with the band's earlier material, which Allmusic states was "clearly drawing from elements of punk rock," and also led to drummer Nicko McBrain stating in 2006, "I don't regard Iron Maiden as heavy metal. I don't think we're a heavy metal band. We're a hard rock band. We're a progressive rock band."
757 as transport for their 'Somewhere Back in Time World Tour
' in 2008. Lead singer Bruce Dickinson explained the logic behind the charter in 2007:
The aircraft, named "Ed Force One" after a competition on the band's website, was flown by Dickinson as he is also a commercial airline pilot for Astraeus. The aeroplane was converted into a combi
configuration and repainted with a special Iron Maiden livery, along with a list of that year's tour dates. According to Dickinson, Astraeus decided to retain the Iron Maiden artwork when it returned to normal charter service after receiving positive feedback from customers, but had to remove the decals after passengers in Africa refused to board the plane, claiming it to be possessed by evil spirits.
The decoration was restored a year later as the same aircraft (G-OJIB) was used on the final leg of the Somewhere Back in Time tour in 2009. It plays a major role in the award-winning documentary, Iron Maiden: Flight 666
, which was released in cinemas in 42 countries in April 2009 and on DVD and Blu-ray in May and June 2009. The film debuted on British television on 4 March 2010 at 11:00 pm on BBC4 as part of Heavy Metal Britannia Weekend.
"Ed Force One" was used again for "The Final Frontier World Tour
" in 2011, although this time with a different aeroplane (G-STRX) and altered livery, adopting the artwork of "The Final Frontier
".
Brit Awards
Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards
Emma-gaala
Grammy Award
Hollywood's RockWalk
Ivor Novello Awards
Juno Award
Kerrang! Awards
Metal Hammer Awards
Metal Storm Awards
Nordoff-Robbins
Rockbjörnen
SXSW Film Festival
Live members
Former members
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band from Leyton
Leyton
Leyton is an area of north-east London and part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, located north east of Charing Cross. It borders Walthamstow and Leytonstone; Stratford in Newham; and Homerton and Lower Clapton in the London Borough of Hackney....
in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris
Steve Harris (musician)
Stephen Percy "Steve" Harris is an English musician and songwriter, known as the bassist, occasional keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, which he founded in 1975...
. Since their inception, the band's discography
Iron Maiden discography
The discography of Iron Maiden, a British heavy metal band founded in 1975 by bassist and only original member, Steve Harris. The band has released fifteen studio albums, as well as numerous live albums, compilations, EPs, singles, video albums, music videos, and box sets...
has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
; and six compilations
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
.
Pioneers of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal
New Wave of British Heavy Metal
The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was a heavy metal movement that started in the late 1970s, in Britain, and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. The movement developed as a reaction in part to the decline of early heavy metal bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black...
, Iron Maiden achieved success during the early 1980s. After several line-up changes, the band went on to release a series of U.S. and UK platinum and gold albums, including 1982's The Number of the Beast
The Number of the Beast (album)
The Number of the Beast is the third studio album by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 29 March 1982 through EMI and on its sister label Capitol the US. The 1998 re-issue was released by EMI and Sanctuary/Columbia in the US...
, 1983's Piece of Mind
Piece of Mind
Piece of Mind is the fourth studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was originally released in 1983 on EMI, and on Capitol in the US; it was reissued later on Sanctuary/Columbia Records...
, 1984's Powerslave
Powerslave
Powerslave is the fifth studio album by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 3 September 1984 on EMI in Europe and its sister label Capitol Records in the US ....
, 1985's live release Live After Death
Live After Death
Live After Death was well received by the music press, with Kerrang! describing it as "possibly the greatest live album of all time." Allmusic shared this sentiment, describing Live After Death as "easily one of heavy metal's best live albums."...
, 1986's Somewhere in Time and 1988's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son is the seventh studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released in 1988 by EMI in Europe and its sister label Capitol Records in the US...
. The band are currently undergoing a resurgence in popularity, with their latest studio offering, The Final Frontier
The Final Frontier
The Final Frontier is a 1986 album by the heavy metal band Keel. It was the band's second album to be produced by KISS bassist Gene Simmons. Videos were filmed for the tracks "Because the Night" and "Tears of Fire."...
, released worldwide on 16 and 17 August 2010, peaking at No. 1 in 28 different countries and receiving widespread critical acclaim.
Considered one of the most successful heavy metal bands in history, Iron Maiden have reportedly sold over 85 million records worldwide with little radio or television support. The band won the Ivor Novello Award
Ivor Novello Awards
The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Cardiff born entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They are presented annually in London by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors and were first introduced in 1955.Nicknamed The Ivors, the awards take place...
for international achievement in 2002, and were also inducted into the Hollywood RockWalk in Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...
, Los Angeles, California during their United States tour
Eddie Rips Up The World Tour
Eddie Rips Up the World Tour was a concert tour by Iron Maiden in 2005 based on bringing back rarities from the first four Iron Maiden albums for the younger audience , brought about by the band's DVD The Early Days.The tour saw the band headlining several stadiums and festivals throughout Europe,...
in 2005. As of October 2009, the band have played over 2000 live shows throughout their career.
For the past 30 years, the band have been supported by their famous mascot, "Eddie
Eddie the Head
Eddie, also known as Eddie The Head, is the mascot for the British heavy metal band, Iron Maiden. He is a perennial fixture of the group's artwork, appearing in all of their record covers and in their merchandise, which includes t-shirts, posters and action figures...
", who has appeared on almost all of their album and single covers, as well as in their live shows.
Early years (1975–1977)
Iron Maiden were formed on Christmas Day 1975, by bassist Steve HarrisSteve Harris (musician)
Stephen Percy "Steve" Harris is an English musician and songwriter, known as the bassist, occasional keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, which he founded in 1975...
, shortly after he left his previous group, Smiler. Harris attributes the band's name to a film adaptation of The Man in the Iron Mask
The Man in the Iron Mask (1939 film)
The Man in the Iron Mask is a 1939 American film very loosely adapted from the last section of the novel The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas, père, which is itself based on the French legend of the Man in the Iron Mask....
from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, which he saw around that time and which had a verbal connection to the iron maiden torture device.
The original lineup did not last very long, however, with vocalist Paul Day being the first casualty as he lacked "energy or charisma onstage." He was replaced by Dennis Wilcock, a Kiss
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
fan who used make-up and fake blood during live performances. Wilcock's friend Dave Murray
Dave Murray (musician)
David Michael Murray is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as one of the earliest members of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden.-Biography:...
was invited to join, to the dismay of the band's guitarists Dave Sullivan and Terry Rance. Their frustration led Harris to temporarily disunite the band in 1976, though the group reformed soon after with Murray as the sole guitarist. Steve Harris and Dave Murray remain the band's longest-standing members and have performed on all of their releases.
Iron Maiden recruited yet another guitarist in 1977, Bob Sawyer, who was sacked for embarrassing the band onstage by pretending to play guitar with his teeth. Tension ensued again, causing a rift between Murray and Wilcock, who convinced Harris to fire Murray, as well as original drummer Ron Matthews. A new line-up was put together, including Tony Moore
Tony Moore (musician)
Tony Moore is an English singer/songwriter, musician, radio presenter and music promoter. He was also one of the early members of Iron Maiden...
on keyboards, Terry Wapram on guitar, and drummer Barry Purkis
Thunderstick
Thunderstick, real name Barry Graham Purkis, is an English drummer who wore various masks and used to perform on-stage closed in a cage. He was in the popular cult-band Samson which his name is most associated with....
. A bad performance at the Bridgehouse in November 1977, the line-up's first and only concert, led to Purkis being replaced by Doug Sampson
Doug Sampson
Douglas Gary Sampson was an early drummer for Iron Maiden and first to ever record with the band. He was in the band from 1977 to 1979....
. At the same time, Moore was asked to leave as Harris decided that keyboards did not suit the band's sound. Soon afterwards, Dennis Wilcock decided he'd had enough with the group and left to form his own band, V1, and Dave Murray was immediately reinstated. As he preferred to be the band's sole guitarist, Wapram disapproved of Murray's return and was also dismissed.
Steve Harris, Dave Murray and Doug Sampson promptly began rehearsing while they searched for a singer to complete the band's new line-up. A chance meeting at the Red Lion pub in Leytonstone
Leytonstone
Leytonstone is an area of east London and part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is a high density suburban area, located seven miles north east of Charing Cross in the ceremonial county of Greater London and the historic county of Essex...
evolved into a successful audition for vocalist Paul Di'Anno
Paul Di'Anno
Paul Andrews , better known as Paul Di'Anno, is an English singer best known as the first vocalist to record with the iconic heavy metal band Iron Maiden, from 1978 to 1981....
. Steve Harris has stated, "There's sort of a quality in Paul's voice, a raspiness in his voice, or whatever you want to call it, that just gave it this great edge." Other than the periods of late 1976-mid 1977 and winter of 1978–79, when Murray was the sole guitarist in the band, Iron Maiden's line-up would always employ multiple guitarists. Dave Murray's childhood friend Adrian Smith was considered to join the group at one time, but he was busy with his own band, Urchin
Urchin (band)
-Early years:It was formed in 1972 by childhood friends Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. Along with bassist John Hoye and various drummers, they learnt their first songs and entered a few local talent competitions and played their first gig's in Hoye's school....
.
Rise to fame (1978–1981)
On New Year's Eve 1978, Iron Maiden recorded a demo consisting of four songs at Spaceward Studios in Cambridge. Hoping the recording would help them secure more gigs, the band presented a copy to Neal KayNeal Kay
Neal Kay is a London-based DJ who along with Tommy Vance was a significant factor in the rise of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. He himself helped in coining this term for this subgenre of heavy metal....
, then managing a heavy metal club called "Bandwagon Heavy Metal Soundhouse." Upon hearing the tape, Kay began playing the demo regularly at the Bandwagon, and one of the release's songs, "Prowler," eventually went to No. 1 in the Soundhouse charts, which were published weekly in Sounds
Sounds (magazine)
Sounds was a long-term British music paper, published weekly from 10 October 1970 – 6 April 1991. It was produced by Spotlight Publications , which was set up by Jack Hutton and Peter Wilkinson, who left "Melody Maker" to start their own company...
magazine. A copy was also acquired by Rod Smallwood
Rod Smallwood
Rod Smallwood, co-manager of the British band Iron Maiden and co-founder in 1976 of then Smallwood-Taylor Enterprises, today Sanctuary Group which is the world's largest music management company. The company was named after the Maiden song by the same name...
, who soon became the band's manager, and, as Iron Maiden's popularity increased, they decided to release the demo on their own record label as "The Soundhouse Tapes
The Soundhouse Tapes
- Credits :*Paul Di'Anno - vocals*Dave Murray - guitar*Steve Harris - bass guitar*Doug Sampson - drums...
," named after the club itself. Featuring only three songs, all five thousand copies were sold out within weeks.
In December 1979, the band secured a major record deal with EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
and hired guitarist Dennis Stratton
Dennis Stratton
Dennis Stratton is a guitar player who is best known as a former member of the British band Iron Maiden from October 1979 to October 1980.-Biography:...
that same month. Shortly afterwards, Doug Sampson
Doug Sampson
Douglas Gary Sampson was an early drummer for Iron Maiden and first to ever record with the band. He was in the band from 1977 to 1979....
left due to health issues and was replaced by an ex-Samson
Samson (band)
Samson was a British hard rock band formed in 1977 by guitarist and vocalist Paul Samson. They are best known for their first three albums with future Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson, then known as "Bruce Bruce", and drummer Thunderstick , who wore a leather mask and performed on stage in a...
drummer Clive Burr
Clive Burr
Clive Burr is a British drummer, best known as a member of Iron Maiden from 1979 to 1982.-Career:Previously a member of Samson, Burr joined Iron Maiden in 1979...
at Stratton's suggestion on 26 December. Iron Maiden's first appearance on an album was on the Metal for Muthas
Metal for Muthas
Metal For Muthas is the name given to a series of heavy metal compilations made during the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The original compilation was Metal For Muthas , released in February 1980...
compilation (released on 15 February 1980) with two early versions of "Sanctuary
Sanctuary (Iron Maiden song)
"Sanctuary" is the second single released by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The single was released on 23 May 1980. The song was included in the US release of their debut album Iron Maiden but it was not included in the UK/European release...
" and "Wrathchild". The release led to an ensuing tour
Metal for Muthas Tour
The Metal for Muthas Tour was a 1980 concert tour headlined variously by Motörhead, Samson, and Saxon. Supporting the New Wave of British Heavy Metal compilation album Metal for Muthas, the tour featured a large number of bands identified as the founders of the movement...
which featured several other bands linked with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal
New Wave of British Heavy Metal
The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was a heavy metal movement that started in the late 1970s, in Britain, and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. The movement developed as a reaction in part to the decline of early heavy metal bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black...
.
Iron Maiden's eponym
Eponym
An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
ous 1980 release, Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden (album)
*On the 1998 remastered release, the fade out of "Transylvania" and the intro to "Strange World" were moved to the end of "Transylvania".-Personnel:*Paul Di'Anno – vocals*Dave Murray – guitar*Dennis Stratton – guitar, backing vocals...
, debuted at No. 4 in the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
. In addition to the title track, the album includes other early favourites such as "Running Free
Running Free
"Running Free" was the first single released by Iron Maiden, released on 8 February 1980 on the 7" 45 rpm vinyl record format. It was written by Steve Harris and Paul Di'Anno...
", "Transylvania", "Phantom of the Opera
Phantom of the Opera (song)
"Phantom of the Opera" is a song from Iron Maiden's self-titled debut album. It was written by Steve Harris. It is the fourth track from the original US & UK album releases, and was the fifth track from the remastered 1998 release CD. It is based on the French novel The Phantom of the Opera by...
", and "Sanctuary
Sanctuary (Iron Maiden song)
"Sanctuary" is the second single released by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The single was released on 23 May 1980. The song was included in the US release of their debut album Iron Maiden but it was not included in the UK/European release...
" – which was not on the original UK release but made the U.S. version and subsequent remasters. The band set out on a headline tour of the UK, before opening for Kiss
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
on their 1980 Unmasked Tour
Unmasked Tour
The Unmasked Tour was a 1980 concert tour by the hard rock group Kiss. It was the first tour not to feature original drummer Peter Criss, and the touring debut of his replacement Eric Carr. The Unmasked tour was the first time that Kiss only played in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, with only...
's European leg as well as supporting Judas Priest
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,...
on select dates
British Steel Tour
The British Steel Tour was a 1980 concert tour by British heavy metal band Judas Priest, in support of their most recent release, British Steel. During the UK leg of the tour, they were supported by Iron Maiden.-Tour dates:...
. After the Kiss tour, Dennis Stratton
Dennis Stratton
Dennis Stratton is a guitar player who is best known as a former member of the British band Iron Maiden from October 1979 to October 1980.-Biography:...
was dismissed from the band as a result of creative and personal differences, and was replaced by Adrian Smith
Adrian Smith
Adrian Frederick "H" Smith is an English musician and one of three guitarists in the heavy metal band, Iron Maiden. He is also one of the band's regular songwriters and, along with bassist Steve Harris, performs backing vocals on some songs.-Biography:While at school, Smith purchased his first...
in October 1980.
In 1981, Iron Maiden released their second album, entitled Killers
Killers (Iron Maiden album)
Killers is the second album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 2 February 1981 in the UK, and 6 June 1981 in the US. The album was their first with guitarist Adrian Smith and their last with vocalist Paul Di'Anno, who was sacked after problems with his stage performance arose due...
. Containing many tracks that had been written prior to their debut release, only two new songs were written for the record: "Prodigal Son" and "Murders in the Rue Morgue" (the latter of which's title was taken from the short story
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in Graham's Magazine in 1841. It has been claimed as the first detective story; Poe referred to it as one of his "tales of ratiocination". Two works that share some similarities predate Poe's stories, including Das...
by Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
). The record was followed by the band's first world tour, which included their debut performance in the United States, opening for Judas Priest at The Aladdin Casino
Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino
Planet Hollywood Las Vegas, previously known as The Aladdin, is a casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip, in the unincorporated locale of Paradise, Nevada, United States. Westgate Resorts operates the condo portion of the property, known as PH Towers by Westgate.Planet Hollywood is owned by Caesars...
, Las Vegas.
Success (1981–1986)
By 1981, Paul Di'AnnoPaul Di'Anno
Paul Andrews , better known as Paul Di'Anno, is an English singer best known as the first vocalist to record with the iconic heavy metal band Iron Maiden, from 1978 to 1981....
was demonstrating increasingly self-destructive behaviour, particularly through alleged drug usage, which Di'Anno himself admits, commenting "it wasn't just that I was snorting a bit of coke, though; I was just going for it non-stop, 24 hours a day, every day... the band had commitments piling up that went on for months, years, and I just couldn't see my way to the end of it. I knew I'd never last the whole tour. It was too much." His performances began to suffer, just as the band were beginning to achieve major success in America. At the end of the Killer World Tour the band dismissed Di'Anno and sought a new vocalist.
After a meeting with Rod Smallwood at the Reading Festival, Bruce Dickinson
Bruce Dickinson
Paul Bruce Dickinson is an English singer, songwriter, airline pilot, fencer, broadcaster, author, screenwriter, actor and marketing director, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden....
, previously of Samson
Samson (band)
Samson was a British hard rock band formed in 1977 by guitarist and vocalist Paul Samson. They are best known for their first three albums with future Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson, then known as "Bruce Bruce", and drummer Thunderstick , who wore a leather mask and performed on stage in a...
, auditioned for Iron Maiden in September 1981 and was immediately hired.
The following month, Dickinson went out on the road with the band on a small headlining tour in Italy, as well as a one-off show at the Rainbow Theatre in the UK. In anticipation of their forthcoming album, the band played "Children of the Damned", "Run to the Hills
Run to the Hills
"Run to the Hills" was Iron Maiden's sixth single and the first single from their 1982 album The Number of the Beast. The lyrics clearly discuss the violence visited upon Native Americans in the Nineteenth Century. Several lines appear to address the Sioux Wars, a conflict between the Lakota...
", "22 Acacia Avenue" and "The Prisoner" at select venues, introducing fans to the sound that they were progressing towards.
Dickinson's recorded debut with Iron Maiden was 1982's The Number of the Beast
The Number of the Beast (album)
The Number of the Beast is the third studio album by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 29 March 1982 through EMI and on its sister label Capitol the US. The 1998 re-issue was released by EMI and Sanctuary/Columbia in the US...
, an album that claimed the band their first ever UK Albums Chart No. 1 record and additionally became a Top Ten hit in many other countries.
Dickinson, at the time, was in the midst of legal difficulties with Samson's management and was not permitted to add his name to any of the songwriting credits, although he still made what he described as a "moral contribution" to "Children of the Damned", "The Prisoner" and "Run to the Hills".
For the second time the band went on a world tour
The Beast on the Road
The Beast on the Road was a tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden, made in support of their album, The Number of the Beast in 1982. It is one of Iron Maiden's longest tours to date, only to be surpassed by the World Slavery Tour in length....
, visiting the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, UK and Germany, including a headline appearance at the Reading Rock festival. A new and hugely successful chapter in Iron Maiden's future was cemented; the album went on to sell over 14 million copies worldwide.
The Number of the Beast tour's U.S. leg proved controversial when an American conservative political lobbying group claimed Iron Maiden were Satanic
Satanism
Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
because of the new album's title track, to the point where a group of Christian activists
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
destroyed Iron Maiden records as a protest against the band. In recent years, Dickinson has stated that the band treated this as "silliness," and that the demonstrations in fact gave them "loads of publicity."
In December 1982, drummer Clive Burr
Clive Burr
Clive Burr is a British drummer, best known as a member of Iron Maiden from 1979 to 1982.-Career:Previously a member of Samson, Burr joined Iron Maiden in 1979...
ended his association with the band due to personal and tour schedule problems and was replaced by Nicko McBrain
Nicko McBrain
Michael Henry "Nicko" McBrain is an English musician, best known as the drummer for Iron Maiden, which he joined in 1982, prior to which he had played for Streetwalkers, Pat Travers, and the French political band, Trust.-Biography:...
, previously of French band Trust
Trust (band)
Trust is a French rock band closely associated with both AC/DC and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.-History:Trust was founded in 1977 by:* Bernard "Bernie" Bonvoisin * Norbert "Nono" Krief...
. Soon afterwards, the band journeyed for the first time to The Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
to record the first of three consecutive albums at Compass Point Studios
Compass Point Studios
Compass Point Studios were founded in 1977 by Chris Blackwell, the owner of Island Records.In the late 1970s and mid-1980s, many musical artists from across the world came to the Bahamas to record music at its facilities. Many producers, including Chris Blackwell himself, used the studio to produce...
. In 1983, they released Piece of Mind
Piece of Mind
Piece of Mind is the fourth studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was originally released in 1983 on EMI, and on Capitol in the US; it was reissued later on Sanctuary/Columbia Records...
, which reached the No. 3 spot in the UK, and was the band's debut at the North American charts, reaching No. 70 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
. Piece of Mind includes the successful singles "The Trooper
The Trooper
"The Trooper" is a song written by Iron Maiden bass player Steve Harris. It is Iron Maiden's ninth single, and the second from their 1983 album Piece of Mind. The single was released on 20 June 1983...
" and "Flight of Icarus
Flight of Icarus
"Flight of Icarus" is a 1983 song by Iron Maiden. It is the band's eighth single and the first from the album, Piece of Mind. It was the first single by Iron Maiden that was released in the United States...
," the latter of which being particularly notable as one of the band's few songs to gain substantial airplay in the U.S.
Soon after the success of Piece of Mind and its supporting tour
World Piece Tour
The World Piece Tour was a concert tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 2 May 1983 to 18 December 1983. The tour was in support of the band's fourth album Piece of Mind.- Tour dates :-Setlist:# Intro - Main Title from Where Eagles Dare...
, the band released Powerslave
Powerslave (album)
Powerslave is the fifth studio album by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 3 September 1984 on EMI in Europe and its sister label Capitol Records in the US ....
on 9 September 1984. The album featured fan favourites "2 Minutes to Midnight
2 Minutes to Midnight
"2 Minutes to Midnight" is the second track from British heavy metal band Iron Maiden's fifth album Powerslave. It was released as the band's tenth single on 6 August 1984 and rose to number 11 in the UK Singles Chart and number 25 on Billboard Top Album Tracks.The song was written by Adrian Smith...
", "Aces High
Aces High (song)
"Aces High" is a song by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, written by bassist Steve Harris. It is Iron Maiden's eleventh single and the second from the 1984 studio album Powerslave...
", and "Rime of The Ancient Mariner", the latter based on Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
's poem of the same name and running over 13 minutes long.
The tour following the album, dubbed the World Slavery Tour
World Slavery Tour
The World Slavery Tour was a concert tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden in support of their fifth album, Powerslave, beginning in Warsaw, Poland on 9 August 1984 and ending at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in Irvine, California on 5 July 1985...
, was the band's largest to date and consisted of 193 shows in 28 countries over 13 months, playing to an estimated 3,500,000 people. Many shows were played back-to-back in the same city, such as in Long Beach, California
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
(4 consecutive sold out concerts to an overall audience of 54,000), where the majority of their subsequent live release, Live After Death
Live After Death
Live After Death was well received by the music press, with Kerrang! describing it as "possibly the greatest live album of all time." Allmusic shared this sentiment, describing Live After Death as "easily one of heavy metal's best live albums."...
, was recorded, which became a critical and commercial success, peaking at No. 4 in the UK. Iron Maiden also co-headlined (with Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
) the Rock In Rio
Rock in Rio
Rock in Rio is a series of music festivals held in three cities: Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Lisbon in Portugal and Madrid in Spain.Four incarnations of the festival were in Rio de Janeiro, in 1985, 1991, 2001 and 2011, four in Lisbon, in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010, and two in Madrid in 2008 and 2010....
festival, where they performed to an estimated crowd of 350,000. The tour was physically gruelling for the band, who demanded a six month break when it ended (although this was later reduced to four months). This was the first substantial break in the band's history, including even cancelling a proposed supporting tour for the new live album, with Bruce Dickinson threatening to quit unless the tour ended.
Experimentation (1986–1989)
Returning from their time off, the band adopted a different style for their 1986 studio album, entitled Somewhere in Time, featuring, for the first time in the band's history, synthesised bass and guitars to add textures and layers to the sound. The release charted well across the world, particularly with the single "Wasted YearsWasted Years
"Wasted Years" is the fourteenth single released by Iron Maiden and the first from their Somewhere in Time album. It's the only song on the album that features no synthesizers. Released in 1986, it was the first single solely written by guitarist Adrian Smith, who also sings backing vocals...
," but notably included no writing credits from lead singer Bruce Dickinson
Bruce Dickinson
Paul Bruce Dickinson is an English singer, songwriter, airline pilot, fencer, broadcaster, author, screenwriter, actor and marketing director, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden....
, whose material was rejected by the rest of the band.
The experimentation evident on Somewhere in Time continued on their next album, entitled Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son is the seventh studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released in 1988 by EMI in Europe and its sister label Capitol Records in the US...
, which was released in 1988. A concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
, The Tales of Alvin Maker
The Tales of Alvin Maker
The Tales of Alvin Maker is a series of novels by Orson Scott Card that revolve around the experiences of a young man, Alvin Miller, who discovers he has incredible powers for creating and shaping things around him...
series of novels by Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...
, this would be the first time the band used keyboards on a recording, as opposed to guitar synthesisers on the previous release. After his contributions weren't used for Somewhere in Time, Dickinson's enthusiasm was renewed as his ideas were accepted for this album. Another popular release, it became Iron Maiden's second album to hit No. 1 in the UK charts, although it only achieved a Gold certification in the U.S, in contrast to its four predecessors.
During the following tour
7th Tour of a 7th Tour
The 7th Tour of a 7th Tour was a world tour conducted by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden in 1988 and was the last tour to feature Adrian Smith until 1999.- Opening bands :...
, the band headlined the Monsters of Rock
Monsters of Rock
Monsters of Rock was an annual music festival held in England, then moved in other locations like The Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Chile.The Last show was in 2008....
festival at Donington Park
Donington Park
Donington Park is a motorsport circuit near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England.Originally part of the Donington Hall estate, it was created as a racing circuit during the pre-war period when the German Silver Arrows were battling for the European Championship...
for the first time on 20 August 1988, playing to the largest crowd in the festival's history (107,000). Also included on the bill were Kiss
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
, David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth is an American rock vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and former radio personality. Roth was ranked nineteenth by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Singers of All Time....
, Megadeth
Megadeth
Megadeth is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California which was formed in 1983 by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine, bassist Dave Ellefson and guitarist Greg Handevidt, following Mustaine's expulsion from Metallica. The band has since released 13 studio albums, three live albums, two...
, Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
and Helloween
Helloween
Helloween is a German power metal band founded in the mid 1980s by members of Iron Fist and Powerfool. The band was a pioneering force in the European Power Metal movement and their second and third studio albums, Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt...
. The festival was marred, however, by the deaths of two fans in a crowd-surge during the aforementioned Guns N' Roses performance; the following year's festival was cancelled as a result. The tour concluded with several headline shows in the UK in November and December 1988, with the concerts at the NEC Arena
National Exhibition Centre
The National Exhibition Centre is an exhibition centre in Birmingham, England. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham International Airport and Birmingham International railway station. It has 20 interconnected halls, set in grounds of 628 acres making it the...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
recorded for a live video, entitled Maiden England
Maiden England
Maiden England is a live video by the band Iron Maiden during their Seventh Son of a Seventh Son world tour, which was dubbed 7th Tour of a 7th Tour....
.
Upheaval (1989–1994)
During another break in 1989, guitarist Adrian Smith released a solo album with his band ASAPASAP (band)
ASAP was a progressive rock band created by guitarist and vocalist Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden fame. ASAP released an album in 1989 titled Silver and Gold. A.S.A.P...
, entitled Silver and Gold, and vocalist Bruce Dickinson began work on a solo album with former Gillan
Gillan
Gillan was a rock band formed in 1978 by Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan.-History:In 1978 Ian Gillan had become dissatisfied with the jazz fusion style of his band called the Ian Gillan Band and dissolved it, retaining only keyboard player Colin Towns, and formed a new band entitled Gillan...
guitarist Janick Gers
Janick Gers
Janick Robert Gers is an English musician, best known for being one of the three current guitarists in Iron Maiden, along with Dave Murray and Adrian Smith, as well as his earlier work with Gillan and White Spirit.-Career and Personal Life:...
, releasing Tattooed Millionaire
Tattooed Millionaire
Tattooed Millionaire is the first solo hard rock album by Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson, released in 1990 .The album project began when Dickinson was asked to record a song for A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, and so wrote "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter"...
in 1990, followed by a tour. At the same time, to mark the band's ten year recording anniversary, Iron Maiden released The First Ten Years
The First Ten Years
The First Ten Years is a series of 10 CDs and double 12" singles by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released between 24 February and 28 April 1990, in commemoration of the band's ten year recording anniversary....
, a series of ten CDs and double 12" vinyls. Between 24 February and 28 April 1990, the individual parts were released one-by-one, each containing two of Iron Maiden's singles, including the original B-sides.
Soon afterwards, Iron Maiden regrouped to work on a new studio record. During the pre-production stages, Adrian Smith left the band due to differences with Steve Harris regarding the direction the band should be taking, disagreeing with the "stripped down" style that they were leaning towards. Janick Gers, having worked on Dickinson's solo project, was chosen to replace Smith and became the band's first new member in seven years. The album, No Prayer for the Dying
No Prayer for the Dying
Reviews for the album were generally poor, with Allmusic commenting that "the songwriting wasn't up to snuff when compared to such classics as Killers or Number of the Beast" and "as a whole doesn't measure up to the hits." Sputnikmusic were equally negative, stating that "No Prayer for the Dying...
, was released in October 1990.
The band obtained their first (and to date, only) UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
No. 1 with "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter
Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter
"Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter" is the second single from No Prayer for the Dying, Iron Maiden's first full-length album in over two years...
", originally recorded by Dickinson for the soundtrack to A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child is a 1989 American slasher film and the fifth film in the Nightmare on Elm Street series. It was directed by Stephen Hopkins. The film's general tone is much more gothic and dark than the films before, and used a blue filter lighting technique in most of...
. It was released on 24 December 1990, and was one of the first records to be released on several different formats with different B-sides. The single holds the record for being the fastest release to reach No. 1 and then lose any chart rating again over the following weeks.
After another tour
No Prayer On The Road
No Prayer on the Road is a concert tour by the British Heavy Metal Band Iron Maiden in support of their album No Prayer for the Dying. It is the first tour to feature Janick Gers, who replaced leaving guitarist Adrian Smith.- Opening bands :...
and some more time off, the band recorded their next album, Fear of the Dark. Released in 1992, the release was noticeably longer (due to this being Iron Maiden's first album recorded for CD rather than LP) and included the stand-out title track
Fear of the Dark (song)
"Fear of the Dark" is a song written by Steve Harris, bass player and main songwriter for Iron Maiden, as the title track to Iron Maiden's 1992 album Fear of the Dark...
, which is now a regular fixture in the band's concert setlists. Achieving their third No. 1 in the UK albums chart, the disc also featured "Wasting Love
Wasting Love
"Wasting Love" is the third single from the Iron Maiden album Fear of the Dark, released in 1992. This song represents Iron Maiden's first and currently only power ballad released as a single to date....
", one of the band's softer songs, and the No. 2 single "Be Quick or Be Dead
Be Quick or Be Dead
"Be Quick or Be Dead" is the first single from the Iron Maiden album Fear of the Dark, released in 1992. The song is about several political scandals taking place at the time of its release, including the Robert Maxwell banking scandal, European stock market crashes, and the BCCI case...
". The album featured the first songwriting by Gers, and no collaboration at all between Harris and Dickinson on songs. The extensive worldwide tour that followed
Fear Of The Dark Tour
The Fear of the Dark Tour was a concert tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 3 June 1992 to 4 November 1992.-Dates:-Setlist:# Be Quick or Be Dead # The Number of the Beast...
included their first ever Latin American leg (after a single concert during the World Slavery Tour), and being the headline act of "Monsters of Rock
Monsters of Rock
Monsters of Rock was an annual music festival held in England, then moved in other locations like The Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Chile.The Last show was in 2008....
Festival" in seven European countries. Iron Maiden's second performance at Donington Park
Donington Park
Donington Park is a motorsport circuit near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England.Originally part of the Donington Hall estate, it was created as a racing circuit during the pre-war period when the German Silver Arrows were battling for the European Championship...
, to an audience of 68,500 (the attendance was capped after the incident in 1988), was filmed for the audio and video release, Live at Donington, and featured a surprise appearance by Adrian Smith, who joined the band to perform "Running Free".
In 1993, Bruce Dickinson left the band to further pursue his solo career, but agreed to remain for a farewell tour
Real Live Tour
The Real Live Tour was a concert tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 25 March 1993 to 28 August 1993. It was the last tour which featured lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson before he left to pursue a solo career.- Tour dates:- Setlist :# Intro...
and two live albums (later re-released in one package). The first, A Real Live One
A Real Live One
A Real Live One is a live album by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released in March 1993. The album tracks were recorded at 9 different venues in Europe on the Fear of the Dark World Tour...
, featured songs from 1986 to 1992, and was released in March 1993. The second, A Real Dead One
A Real Dead One
A Real Dead One is a live album by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, recorded in 1992/93 at concerts across Europe, and released on 25 October 1993...
, featured songs from 1980 to 1984, and was released after Dickinson had left the band. The tour did not go well, however, with Steve Harris claiming that Dickinson would only perform properly for high profile shows and that at several concerts he would only mumble into the microphone. Dickinson denies the charge that he was under-performing, stating that it was impossible to "make like Mr Happy Face if the vibe wasn't right," claiming that news of his exit from the band had prevented any chance of a good atmosphere during the tour. He played his farewell show with Iron Maiden on 28 August 1993, which was filmed, broadcast by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and released on video under the name Raising Hell
Raising Hell (video)
Raising Hell is a concert video by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden, filmed on 28 August 1993 at the Pinewood Studios in London, England and broadcast live on pay-per-view television in North America. It was later bought by the BBC for broadcast in the UK as an edited version. The video is...
.
Blaze Bayley era, The X Factor and Virtual XI (1994–1999)
In 1994, the band listened to hundreds of tapes sent in by vocalists before convincing Blaze BayleyBlaze Bayley
Blaze Bayley is an English singer and songwriter. He has been the lead singer of Wolfsbane from 1984 to 1994, and nowadays since their recent reunion. Blaze is however world-known for having been the lead singer of British metal band Iron Maiden from 1994 to 1999...
, formerly of the band Wolfsbane
Wolfsbane (band)
Wolfsbane are an English heavy metal band. Formed in 1984, the band remained active until lead singer Blaze Bayley went on to join Iron Maiden in 1994. After a couple of reunion shows in 2007 and 2009, Wolfsbane officially reunited in June 2010...
who had supported Iron Maiden in 1990, to audition for them. Bayley had a different vocal style from his predecessor, which ultimately received a mixed reception among fans.
After a two year hiatus (as well as a three year hiatus from studio releases – a record for the band at the time) Iron Maiden returned in 1995. Releasing The X Factor
The X Factor (album)
Initially, The X Factor was met with lukewarm responses from critics. Allmusic rated the album two stars out of five, stating that "suffering from a lack of powerful riffs and tightly written songs, The X Factor is a lackluster latter-day album from Iron Maiden...
, the band had their lowest chart position since 1981 for an album in the UK (debuting at No. 8), although it would go on to win Album of the Year awards in France and Germany.
The record included the 11-minute epic "Sign of the Cross", the band's longest song since "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", as well as the singles, "Man on the Edge
Man on the Edge
"Man on the Edge" is a single from the Iron Maiden album The X Factor. It was released in 1995. The song is based on the film Falling Down, starring Michael Douglas...
", based on the film Falling Down
Falling Down
Falling Down is a 1993 crime-drama film directed by Joel Schumacher. The film stars Michael Douglas in the lead role of William Foster , a divorcee and unemployed former defense engineer...
, and "Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies (song)
"Lord of the Flies" is an Iron Maiden single and second track on their 1995 album The X Factor. The song is based on the book and film of the same name.The single was only released outside of the UK...
", based on the novel of the same name
Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding about a group of British boys stuck on a deserted island who try to govern themselves, with disastrous results...
. The release is notable for its "dark" tone, inspired by Steve Harris' divorce. The band toured
The X Factour
The X Factour was a concert tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 28 September 1995, to 7 September 1996. It was the first tour to feature Blaze Bayley as the lead singer...
for the rest of 1995 and 1996, playing for the first time in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and South Africa, before stopping to release the Best of the Beast
Best of the Beast
Best of the Beast was Iron Maiden's first "best of" album, released in 1996 in three formats: a 34 track vinyl, a 27 track CD, a 16 track CD and MiniDisc .-Background:...
. The band's first compilation, it included a new single, "Virus", whose lyrics attack the critics who had recently written off the band.
Iron Maiden returned to the studio to record Virtual XI
Virtual XI
Virtual XI was met with mixed reviews from critics. Allmusic commented that "on the surface, there's nothing terribly wrong with the record, as it delivers all the crunching riffs and demonic horror of their best records. The problem is that there's nothing memorable about the hooks, riffs, or...
, released in 1998. The album's chart scores were the band's lowest to date, including the UK where it peaked at No. 16 failing to score one million worldwide sales for the first time in Iron Maiden's history. At the same time, Steve Harris assisted in remastering the band's entire discography, up to and including Live at Donington (which was given a mainstream release for the first time).
Ed Hunter, Brave New World, Dance of Death (1999–2005)
Following problems with his voice during the Virtual XI World TourVirtual XI World Tour
The Virtual XI Tour was a concert tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 22 April 1998 to 12 December 1998. During the American leg, singer Blaze Bayley lost his voice, and the band cancelled 16 shows. The band later made up the Los Angeles and San Diego dates...
, a band meeting was held in January 1999, in which Bayley was asked to leave Iron Maiden. At the same time, the band were in talks with former vocalist, Bruce Dickinson, who agreed to rejoin during a meeting in Brighton, along with guitarist Adrian Smith, who was telephoned a few hours later. With Janick Gers, Smith's replacement, remaining, Iron Maiden now had a three guitar line-up and embarked on a hugely successful reunion tour. Dubbed "The Ed Hunter Tour
The Ed Hunter Tour
The Ed Hunter tour began in Saint John, New Brunswick Canada. Iron Maiden began rehearsals at Harbour Station, the city's largest arena for about a week, then performing there for one night before embarking on the tour...
," it tied in with the band's newly released greatest hits collection, Ed Hunter
Ed Hunter
Ed Hunter, a rail shooter video game, was released in 1999, and is based on and accompanied by Iron Maiden's music. The game objective consists of rescuing the mascot of Iron Maiden, Eddie, from a prison while passing through game settings evocative of the albums...
, which also contained a computer game of the same name starring the band's mascot
Eddie the Head
Eddie, also known as Eddie The Head, is the mascot for the British heavy metal band, Iron Maiden. He is a perennial fixture of the group's artwork, appearing in all of their record covers and in their merchandise, which includes t-shirts, posters and action figures...
.
In November 1999, the band moved to Guillaume Tell Studios, Paris with producer Kevin Shirley
Kevin Shirley
Kevin Shirley is a music producer and mixer for many artists, such as the bands Journey, Iron Maiden, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Joe Bonamassa, Marya Roxx, Dream Theater, Tyler Bryant, Mr. Big, and Europe.-Biography:...
to make their first studio release following the reunion with Dickinson and Smith, 2000's Brave New World. Thematic influences continued with "The Wicker Man
The Wicker Man (song)
"The Wicker Man" is a song by Iron Maiden, released as the first single from their album Brave New World in April 2000. It was co-written by Adrian Smith, Bruce Dickinson and Steve Harris. It was co-produced by Kevin Shirley and Harris. The title is inspired by the British cult film of the same name...
" – based on the 1973 British cult film of the same name – and "Brave New World" – title taken from the Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...
novel of the same name
Brave New World
Brave New World is Aldous Huxley's fifth novel, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set in London of AD 2540 , the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The future society is an embodiment of the ideals that form the basis of...
. The album furthered the more progressive and melodic sound present in some earlier recordings, with elaborate song structures and keyboard orchestration.
The world tour
Brave New World Tour
The Brave New World Tour was a concert tour by Iron Maiden which began on 2 June 2000 and ended on 19 January 2001. The tour was in support of the release of their 2000 album Brave New World. In Europe, the tour was called Metal 2000...
that followed consisted of well over 100 dates and culminated on 19 January 2001 in a show at the Rock in Rio
Rock in Rio
Rock in Rio is a series of music festivals held in three cities: Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Lisbon in Portugal and Madrid in Spain.Four incarnations of the festival were in Rio de Janeiro, in 1985, 1991, 2001 and 2011, four in Lisbon, in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010, and two in Madrid in 2008 and 2010....
festival in Brazil, where Iron Maiden played to an audience of around 250,000. While the performance was being produced for a CD and DVD release in March 2002, under the name Rock in Rio
Rock in Rio (album)
Rock In Rio is a live album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, recorded at Rock in Rio, Brazil in 2001 on the last night of the Brave New World Tour...
, the band took a year out from touring, during which they played three consecutive shows at Brixton Academy in aid of former drummer Clive Burr
Clive Burr
Clive Burr is a British drummer, best known as a member of Iron Maiden from 1979 to 1982.-Career:Previously a member of Samson, Burr joined Iron Maiden in 1979...
, who had recently announced that he had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
.
Following their Give Me Ed... 'Til I'm Dead Tour in the summer of 2003, Iron Maiden released Dance of Death
Dance of Death (album)
Dance of Death is the thirteenth studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released first in Japan on 2 September and then the rest of the world on 8 September 2003.-Background:...
, their thirteenth studio album, which was met by worldwide critical and commercial success. Produced by Kevin Shirley, now the band's regular producer, many critics also felt that this release matched up to their earlier efforts, such as Killers, Piece of Mind and The Number of the Beast. As usual, historical and literary references were present, with "Montségur" in particular being about the Cathar stronghold conquered in 1244, and "Paschendale" relating to the significant battle which took place during The First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
The following tour was another landmark for the band, as they played to over 750,000 fans during 50 dates over a period of 4 months in 2003–04, including sold out dates in South America, Europe, North America and Japan. Their performance at Westfalenhalle
Westfalenhalle
Westfalenhallen are three multi-purpose venues, located in Dortmund, Germany. The original building was opened in 1925, but was destroyed during World War II. New halls were built, the Große Westfalenhalle opened in 1952. The capacity of the arena is 16,500...
in Dortmund
Dortmund
Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....
, Germany, as part of the supporting tour, was recorded and released in August 2005 as a live album and DVD, entitled Death on the Road
Death on the Road
Death on the Road is a live CD, LP, and DVD released by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden on 30 August 2005 and on 6 February 2006...
.
In 2005, the band announced the Eddie Rips Up the World Tour
Eddie Rips Up The World Tour
Eddie Rips Up the World Tour was a concert tour by Iron Maiden in 2005 based on bringing back rarities from the first four Iron Maiden albums for the younger audience , brought about by the band's DVD The Early Days.The tour saw the band headlining several stadiums and festivals throughout Europe,...
which, tying in with their 2004 DVD entitled The Early Days
The Early Days
The Early Days is a DVD video by Iron Maiden, released in 2004. It features the first part of "The History of iron Maiden" series, a 90 minute documentary which describes their beginnings in London's East End in 1975 through to the Piece of Mind album and tour in 1983. The second part of the series...
, only featured material from their first four albums. As part of this celebration of their earlier years, the "Number of the Beast" single was re-released and went straight to No. 3 in the UK Chart. The tour included many headlining stadium and festival dates, including a performance at Ullevi Stadium in Sweden to an audience of almost 60,000. This concert was also broadcast live on satellite television all over Europe to approximately 60 million viewers. The band completed this tour by headlining the Reading and Leeds weekend festivals
Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend, sharing the same bill. The Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm...
on the 26-28 August, two shows to an estimated combined audience of 130,000 people, and in Ireland on 31 August to almost 40,000 people at RDS Stadium. For the second time, the band played a charity show for former drummer Clive Burr's MS Trust Fund charity, this time taking place at the Hammersmith Apollo
Hammersmith Apollo
Hammersmith Apollo is a major entertainment venue located in Hammersmith, London. Designed by Robert Cromie in Art Deco style, it opened in 1932 as the Gaumont Palace cinema, being re-named the Hammersmith Odeon in 1962...
.
A Matter of Life and Death (2005–2007)
At the end of 2005, Iron Maiden began work on A Matter of Life and DeathA Matter of Life and Death (album)
A Matter of Life and Death is the fourteenth studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released on 25 August 2006 in Italy and Finland, and 28 August worldwide, excluding the United States, Canada and Japan on 5 September 2006....
, their fourteenth studio effort, released in autumn 2006. While not a concept album, war and religion are recurring themes in the lyrics, as well as in the cover artwork. A successful tour
A Matter Of Life And Death Tour
A Matter of Life and Death and A Matter of the Beast were two concert tours by Iron Maiden from 2006 to 2007. The first tour was unique, as the set list primarily consisted of the band's most recent release, A Matter of Life and Death, in its entirety, although this got a mixed response from...
followed, during which they played the album in its entirety; response to this was mixed.
Iron Maiden recorded a live session at Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
for Live from Abbey Road
Live from Abbey Road
Live from Abbey Road is a 12-part, one-hour performance series/documentary that began filming its first season during 2006 at Abbey Road Studios in London. Season 2 was filmed between 2007 and 2008, season 3 was filmed in 2009 and Season 4 was filmed in 2011...
in December 2006. Their performance was screened in an episode alongside sessions with Natasha Bedingfield
Natasha Bedingfield
Natasha Anne Bedingfield is a British pop singer and songwriter. Bedingfield debuted in the 1990s as a member of the Christian dance/electronic group The DNA Algorithm with her siblings Daniel Bedingfield and Nikola Rachelle...
and Gipsy Kings
Gipsy Kings
The Gipsy Kings are a group of musicians from Arles and Montpellier, who perform in Spanish with an Andalucían accent. Although group members were born in France, their parents were mostly gitanos, Spanish Romani people who fled Catalonia during the 1930s Spanish Civil War. Chico Bouchikhi is of...
in March 2007 on Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
(UK) and June 2007 on the Sundance Channel (USA).
In November 2006, Iron Maiden and manager Rod Smallwood announced that they were to end their 27 year relationship with Sanctuary Music and were to start a new company named Phantom Music Management. No other significant changes were made.
The second part of the "A Matter of Life and Death" tour was dubbed "A Matter of the Beast" to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Number of the Beast album, and included appearances at several major festivals worldwide. The band announced plans to play five songs each from A Matter of Life and Death and The Number of the Beast as part of their set, but in fact only played four songs from the latter. They performed in the Middle East for the first time at the annual Dubai Desert Rock Festival
Dubai Desert Rock Festival
The Dubai Desert Rock Festival was an event celebrating various styles of rock and metal music on one stage in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. At the time, it was the only festival of its kind in the Middle East. As well as live music, extreme sports were also featured as crowd attractions...
in 2007, playing to an audience of 20,000. They also made their first appearance in India with a concert in Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
, aptly titled Eddfest
Eddfest
Eddfest was a one-off rock/metal festival headlined by heavy metal legends Iron Maiden which took place at the Bangalore Palace Grounds in Bangalore, India on March 17 2007. The concert was part of the band's A Matter Of Life And Death Tour. The name Eddfest is taken from the band's mascot Eddie...
, playing to over 20,000 people at the Bangalore Palace
Bangalore Palace
Bangalore Palace, a palace located in the city of Bangalore, India, was built to look like a smaller replica of the Windsor Castle in England. It was built by Rev. Garrett, who was the first Principal of the Central High School in Bangalore, now known as Central College.The construction of the...
Grounds. This event marked the first time any major heavy metal band played in the Indian sub-continent. The band went on to play a string of European dates, consisting of open air festivals and mostly stadium-sized concerts, including an appearance at Download
Download Festival
The Download Festival is a three day rock music festival held annually at Donington Park, England . It usually takes place in June...
, their record-breaking fourth headline performance at Donington Park
Donington Park
Donington Park is a motorsport circuit near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England.Originally part of the Donington Hall estate, it was created as a racing circuit during the pre-war period when the German Silver Arrows were battling for the European Championship...
. The show attracted the largest audience in Download's history, with an estimated attendance of approximately 80,000 people, in spite of higher ticket and camping prices. On 24 June they ended the tour with a performance at London's Brixton Academy in aid of The Clive Burr MS
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
Trust fund.
Somewhere Back in Time World Tour & Flight 666 (2007–2009)
On 5 September 2007, the band announced their Somewhere Back in Time World TourSomewhere Back In Time World Tour
Somewhere Back in Time World Tour was a concert tour by Iron Maiden in 2008 and 2009, focussed on the band's 80s material, in particular songs from Powerslave, Somewhere In Time and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son...
, which tied in with the DVD release of their Live After Death
Live After Death (video)
Live After Death is the video compendium to the double-live Iron Maiden album of the same name. Released in VHS/Beta/LaserDisc/VHD/Hi-8 and DVD....
album. The setlist for the tour consisted of successes from the 1980s, with a specific emphasis on the Powerslave era for set design. The first part of the tour, commencing in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, India on 1 February 2008, consisted of 24 concerts in 21 cities, travelling over 50,000 miles in the band's own chartered aeroplane "Ed Force One". They played their first ever concerts in Costa Rica and Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
and their first Australian shows since 1992.
The tour led to the release of a new compilation album, entitled Somewhere Back in Time, which included a selection of tracks from their 1980 eponymous debut to 1988's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, as well as several live versions from Live After Death.
The Somewhere Back in Time World Tour continued with two further legs in the US and Europe in Summer 2008, during which the band used a more expansive stage-set, including further elements of the original Live After Death show. With the sole UK concert taking place at Twickenham Stadium
Twickenham Stadium
Twickenham Stadium is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000...
, this would be the first time the band would headline a stadium in their own country. The three 2008 legs of the tour were remarkably successful; it was the second highest grossing tour of the year for a British artist.
The final part of the tour took place in February and March 2009, with the band, once again, using "Ed Force One". The final leg included the band's first ever appearances in Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
and Ecuador, as well as their return to Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
after 19 years and their first performances in New Zealand for 16 years. The band also played another show in India (their third in the country within a span of 2 years) at the Rock In India
Rock In India
Rock 'N India is an annual music festival organized by DNA Networks at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore. The first festival was held in 2008, with heavy metal bands such as Megadeth and Machine Head headlining. The venue layout of Rock 'N India is unusual, using two stages at an angle of 45° to each...
festival to a crowd of 20,000. At their concert in São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
on 15 March, Dickinson announced on stage that the show was the biggest of their career. In fact, the crowd of 100,000 people was Iron Maiden's largest ever audience for a solo show (i.e. not a festival). The attendance was larger than Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
's show of almost 60,000 people, according to the organisers. The final leg ended in Florida on 2 April after which the band took a break. Overall, the tour reportedly had an attendance of over two million people worldwide over both years.
At the 2009 BRIT Awards
2009 BRIT Awards
The 2009 BRIT Awards ceremony took place on Wednesday 18 February 2009. It was the 29th edition of the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The awards ceremony was held at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London, and was broadcast live on ITV1 on 18 February at 8pm...
, Iron Maiden won the award for best British live act. Voted for by the public, the band reportedly won by a landslide.
On 20 January 2009, the band announced that they were to release a full-length documentary film in select cinemas on 21 April 2009. Entitled Iron Maiden: Flight 666
Iron Maiden: Flight 666
Iron Maiden: Flight 666 is a concert documentary film featuring the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The film follows the band on the first leg of their Somewhere Back in Time World Tour between February and March 2008....
, it was filmed during the first part of the Somewhere Back In Time World Tour between February and March 2008. Flight 666 is co-produced by Banger Productions and was released by Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
in the U.S. and EMI Records in the rest of the world. The film went on to have a Blu-ray, DVD and CD release in May and June, topping the music DVD charts in 22 countries.
The Final Frontier (2010–2011)
Following announcements that the band had begun composition of new material and booked studio time in early 2010 with Kevin ShirleyKevin Shirley
Kevin Shirley is a music producer and mixer for many artists, such as the bands Journey, Iron Maiden, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Joe Bonamassa, Marya Roxx, Dream Theater, Tyler Bryant, Mr. Big, and Europe.-Biography:...
producing, The Final Frontier
The Final Frontier
The Final Frontier is a 1986 album by the heavy metal band Keel. It was the band's second album to be produced by KISS bassist Gene Simmons. Videos were filmed for the tracks "Because the Night" and "Tears of Fire."...
was announced on 4 March. The album, the band's fifteenth, was released on 16 August, garnering critical acclaim and the band's greatest commercial success in their history, reaching No. 1 in twenty-eight countries worldwide. Although Steve Harris had been quoted in the past as claiming that the band would only produce fifteen studio releases, band members have since confirmed that there will be at least one further record.
The album's supporting tour
The Final Frontier World Tour
The Final Frontier World Tour was a concert tour by Iron Maiden in support of the band's 15th album, The Final Frontier, which began on 9 June 2010 in Dallas, Texas and ended in London, England on 6 August 2011...
would see the band play 98 shows across the globe to an estimated audience of over 2 million, including their first visits to Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea and Transylvania, and concluded in London on 6 August 2011.
At the 53rd Grammy Awards
53rd Grammy Awards
The 53rd annual Grammy Awards were held on February 13, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were broadcast on CBS with a rating of 26.6 million viewers. Barbra Streisand was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year two nights prior to the telecast on February 11. Nominations were...
on 13 February 2011, "El Dorado" won the award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Metal Performance
Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for works containing quality performances in the heavy metal music genre...
. It is the band's first win following two previous Grammy nominations ("Fear of the Dark
Fear of the Dark (song)
"Fear of the Dark" is a song written by Steve Harris, bass player and main songwriter for Iron Maiden, as the title track to Iron Maiden's 1992 album Fear of the Dark...
" in 1994 and "The Wicker Man
The Wicker Man (song)
"The Wicker Man" is a song by Iron Maiden, released as the first single from their album Brave New World in April 2000. It was co-written by Adrian Smith, Bruce Dickinson and Steve Harris. It was co-produced by Kevin Shirley and Harris. The title is inspired by the British cult film of the same name...
" in 2001).
On 15 March, a new compilation to accompany 2009's Somewhere Back in Time was announced. Entitled From Fear to Eternity
From Fear to Eternity (album)
From Fear to Eternity: The Best of 1990 - 2010 is a compilation album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, containing a selection of songs originally released on their last eight studio efforts to date...
, the original release date was set at 23 May but was later pushed back to 6 June. The double disc set covers the period 1990–2010 (the band's most recent eight studio albums), and, as on Somewhere Back in Time, live versions with Bruce Dickinson
Bruce Dickinson
Paul Bruce Dickinson is an English singer, songwriter, airline pilot, fencer, broadcaster, author, screenwriter, actor and marketing director, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden....
were included in place of original recordings which featured other vocalists, in this case Blaze Bayley
Blaze Bayley
Blaze Bayley is an English singer and songwriter. He has been the lead singer of Wolfsbane from 1984 to 1994, and nowadays since their recent reunion. Blaze is however world-known for having been the lead singer of British metal band Iron Maiden from 1994 to 1999...
.
In a press release regarding From Fear to Eternity, band manager Rod Smallwood
Rod Smallwood
Rod Smallwood, co-manager of the British band Iron Maiden and co-founder in 1976 of then Smallwood-Taylor Enterprises, today Sanctuary Group which is the world's largest music management company. The company was named after the Maiden song by the same name...
revealed that the band will release a new concert video to DVD in 2011, filmed in Santiago and Argentina during The Final Frontier World Tour.
Image and legacy
Iron Maiden were ranked No. 24 in VH1VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock", fourth in MTV's "Top 10 Greatest Heavy Metal Bands of All Time" and were named as the third best heavy metal band of all time on VH1 Classic: Top 20 Metal Bands.
The band also won the Ivor Novello Award for international achievement in 2002 and were inducted into the Hollywood RockWalk whilst touring in the United States in 2005.
Iron Maiden frequently use the slogan "Up the Irons" in their disc liner notes, and the phrase can also be seen on several t-shirts officially licensed by the band. It is a paraphrase of "Up the Hammers," the phrase which refers to the London football club, West Ham United, of which founder Steve Harris is a fan.
Iron Maiden's mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
, Eddie
Eddie the Head
Eddie, also known as Eddie The Head, is the mascot for the British heavy metal band, Iron Maiden. He is a perennial fixture of the group's artwork, appearing in all of their record covers and in their merchandise, which includes t-shirts, posters and action figures...
, is a perennial fixture in the band's science fiction and horror-influenced album cover art, as well as in live
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
shows. Eddie was painted exclusively by Derek Riggs
Derek Riggs
Derek Riggs is a contemporary British artist best known for creating the heavy metal music band Iron Maiden's mascot, "Eddie the Head".-Career:...
until 1992, at which point the band began using artwork from numerous other artists as well, including Melvyn Grant
Melvyn Grant
Melvyn Grant , is a universal artist and illustrator. Trained traditionally he originally worked with oil paints, but now has switched to creating most of his work digitally...
. Eddie is also featured in the band's first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
video game, Ed Hunter
Ed Hunter
Ed Hunter, a rail shooter video game, was released in 1999, and is based on and accompanied by Iron Maiden's music. The game objective consists of rescuing the mascot of Iron Maiden, Eddie, from a prison while passing through game settings evocative of the albums...
, as well as numerous books, graphic comics and band-related merchandise.
Iron Maiden's distinct logo has adorned all of the band's releases since the debut; the typeface originates with Vic Fair's poster design for 1976 science fiction film, The Man Who Fell To Earth
The Man Who Fell to Earth (film)
The Man Who Fell to Earth is a 1976 British science fiction film directed by Nicolas Roeg.The film is based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Walter Tevis, about an extraterrestrial who crash lands on Earth seeking a way to ship water to his planet, which is suffering from a severe drought...
, although Steve Harris claims that he designed it himself, utilising his abilities as an architectural draughtsman.
According to Guitar World
Guitar World
Guitar World is a monthly music magazine devoted to guitarists. It contains original interviews, album and gear reviews and guitar and bass tablature of approximately five songs each month. The magazine is published 13 times per year...
Iron Maiden's sound has "influenced generations of newer metal acts, from legends like Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
to current stars like Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California. Formed in 1999, the group consists of vocalist M. Shadows, lead guitarist Synyster Gates, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance, bassist Johnny Christ....
," with Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich
Lars Ulrich
Lars Ulrich is a Danish drummer, and one of the founding members of the American thrash metal band Metallica. He was born in Gentofte, Denmark to an upper-middle class family. A tennis player in his youth, Ulrich moved to Los Angeles, California at age sixteen to pursue his training; though rather...
commenting that he has "always had an incredible amount of respect and admiration for them." Kerry King
Kerry King
Kerry King is an American lead and rhythm guitarist. He is best known as the lead guitarist and cofounder of American thrash metal band Slayer. He co-founded the band with Jeff Hanneman in 1981 and has been a member ever since...
of Slayer
Slayer
Slayer is an American thrash metal band formed in Huntington Park, California, in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts, along with Metallica, Megadeth and...
has stated that "they meant so much to me in their early days" and Scott Ian
Scott Ian
Scott Ian Rosenfeld , better known by the stage name Scott Ian, is an American musician, best known as the rhythm & lead guitarist for the heavy metal band Anthrax. Ian is also the guitarist and a founding member of the crossover thrash band Stormtroopers of Death...
of Anthrax
Anthrax
Anthrax is an acute disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Most forms of the disease are lethal, and it affects both humans and other animals...
says that "they had a major impact on my life."
M. Shadows
M. Shadows
Matthew Charles Sanders , better known by his stage name M. Shadows, is the lead vocalist, songwriter, and founding member for the American metal band Avenged Sevenfold.-Early life and musical beginnings:...
of Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California. Formed in 1999, the group consists of vocalist M. Shadows, lead guitarist Synyster Gates, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance, bassist Johnny Christ....
states that Iron Maiden "are by far the best live band in the world and their music is timeless," while
Trivium
Trivium (band)
Trivium is an American heavy metal band from Orlando, Florida, formed in 1999. Signed to Roadrunner Records, the band has released five studio albums, eleven singles, and twelve music videos...
singer Matt Heafy
Matt Heafy
Matthew Kiichi "Matt" Heafy is a Japanese-American musician, best known as the lead vocalist and lead guitarist for the American Metal band Trivium. Heafy is also the vocalist for the band Capharnaum, along with Trivium's former producer Jason Suecof.-Biography:Heafy is Japanese from his mother...
comments that "without Iron Maiden, Trivium surely wouldn't exist." Slipknot
Slipknot (band)
Slipknot is an American heavy metal band from Des Moines, Iowa. Formed in 1995, the group was founded by percussionist Shawn Crahan and bassist Paul Gray...
frontman Corey Taylor
Corey Taylor
Corey Todd Taylor sometimes known by the number 8, is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of Slipknot and Stone Sour. Taylor was raised by his single mother. He developed a fond feeling toward classic rock after his grandmother introduced him to it...
says that "Steve Harris does more with four fingers than I've ever seen anybody do. And Bruce Dickinson? Dude! To me, he was the quintessential old-school heavy metal singer. He could hit notes that were just sick, and he was a great showman. Everything made me a fan. And there wasn't a dude that I hung out with that wasn't trying to draw Eddie on their schoolbooks," while their music also helped Jesper Strömblad
Jesper Strömblad
Clas Håkan Jesper Strömblad is a Swedish musician who is currently the guitarist for the bands Dimension Zero & The Resistance...
of In Flames
In Flames
In Flames is a Swedish heavy metal band from Gothenburg, formed in 1990. Since the band's inception in 1993, they have released ten studio albums and one live DVD...
to pioneer the melodic death metal
Melodic death metal
Melodic death metal is a heavy metal music style that combines elements from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with elements of death metal. The style was developed during the early and mid-1990s, primarily in England and Scandinavia...
genre, stating that he had wanted to combine death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
with the melodic guitar sounds of Iron Maiden.
Other heavy metal artists who cite the band as an influence include Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho
Christopher Keith Irvine , better known by his ring name Chris Jericho, is an inactive Canadian-American professional wrestler, musician, songwriter, radio personality, television host, actor, author, and dancer...
, WWE wrestler and lead singer of Fozzy
Fozzy
Fozzy is an American heavy metal/hard rock band, formed in Atlanta, Georgia in 1999. Lead singer Chris Jericho , who is also a professional wrestler, resides in Florida, while the rest of the band lives in Georgia. The band is currently signed to Riot! Entertainment...
, and Cam Pipes
Cam Pipes
Cam Pipes is the lead vocalist in the Canadian heavy metal band 3 Inches of Blood. He performs a falsetto vocal style reminiscent of King Diamond...
of 3 Inches of Blood
3 Inches of Blood
3 Inches of Blood is a Canadian heavy metal band formed in 2000 in Vancouver, British Columbia, currently consisting of Cam Pipes, Justin Hagberg, Shane Clark, and Ash Pearson...
. On top of this, however, pop artist Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
has cited Iron Maiden as her favourite band, saying that "their fans live, breathe and die for Maiden, and that is my dream. Maiden changed my life."
The band's name has been mentioned prominently in several songs, such as the singles "Teenage Dirtbag
Teenage Dirtbag
"Teenage Dirtbag" is the title of a song recorded by American alternative rock group Wheatus. It was released in July 2000 as the lead single from their eponymous debut album. It was included on the soundtrack of the movie Loser. The single was massively successful in Australia, spending four weeks...
" by Wheatus
Wheatus
Wheatus are an American rock group from Northport, New York. They are known for their 2000 single "Teenage Dirtbag" which was featured in the movie Loser, as well as in the HBO miniseries Generation Kill.-1995-2002: Formation and Wheatus:...
, "Back to the 80's
Back to the 80's (song)
-Charts:-Certifications:-Credits and personnel:*Lyrics: Søren Rasted, Claus Norreen*Music: Søren Rasted*Producer: Søren Rasted in Elektron Studio*Engineer: Nicolaj Rasted*Guitars: Peter Düring*Drums: Thomas Troelsen, Søren Rasted...
" by Danish dance-pop band Aqua
Aqua (band)
Aqua is a Danish dance-pop group, best known for their 1997 breakthrough single "Barbie Girl". The group formed in 1989 and achieved huge success across the globe in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The group managed to top the UK Singles Chart with their first three singles. The group released two...
. and "Fat Lip
Fat Lip
"Fat Lip" is the title of a song recorded by Canadian punk rock band Sum 41. It was released in April 2001 as the lead single from their debut album All Killer No Filler. It is the band's most successful single to date, topping the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart...
" by Sum 41
Sum 41
Sum 41 is a Canadian rock band from Ajax, Ontario. The band was formed in 1996 and currently consists of members Deryck Whibley , Tom Thacker , Jason McCaslin and Steve Jocz .In 1999, the band signed an international record deal with Island Records...
. Iron Maiden have also been referenced in Weezer
Weezer
Weezer is an American alternative rock band. The band currently consists of Rivers Cuomo , Patrick Wilson , Brian Bell , and Scott Shriner . The band has changed lineups three times since its formation in 1992...
's "Heart Songs" (from their 2008 self-titled "Red
Weezer (2008 album)
Weezer, also known as "The Red Album", is the sixth studio album by the American alternative rock band Weezer, released on June 3, 2008. Rick Rubin and Jacknife Lee both helped to produce the album...
" album), Blues Traveler
Blues Traveler
Blues Traveler is a rock band, formed in Princeton, New Jersey in 1987. The band has been influenced by a variety of genres, including blues-rock, psychedelic rock, folk rock, soul, and Southern rock...
's "Psycho Joe" (from 1997's Straight On till Morning
Straight on Till Morning
Straight on Till Morning is a 1972 British thriller film directed by Peter Collinson and starring Rita Tushingham, Shane Briant, James Bolam, Katya Wyeth and John Clive. A reserved young woman finds herself attracted to a handsome stranger, unaware of his psychotic tendencies...
), and NOFX
NOFX
NOFX is an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California .The band was formed in 1983 by vocalist/bassist Fat Mike and guitarist Eric Melvin. Drummer Erik Sandin joined NOFX shortly after. In 1991 El Hefe joined to play lead guitar and trumpet, rounding out the current line-up...
's "Eddie, Bruce and Paul" (from their 2009 album Coaster
Coaster (album)
-Personnel:* Fat Mike – vocals, bass, keyboard on tracks 5 and 6* Eric Melvin – guitar, vocals* El Hefe – guitar, vocals, trombone on track 8* Erik Sandin – drums-Additional musicians:* Aaron Novik – bass clarinet, trombone on track 11...
), which Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic, or simply Sputnik, is a music website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites...
describes as "a humorous retelling of Paul DiAnno's departure."
On top of this, Swedish power metal
Power metal
Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...
band Sabaton
Sabaton (band)
Sabaton is a Grammis-nominated power metal band from Falun, Sweden formed in 1999. The band's main lyrical themes are those of historical wars. This is heard in albums Primo Victoria, Attero Dominatus and Coat of Arms where all of the songs, except final tracks, take inspiration from historical...
have made references to the band in their songs "Metal Machine" and "Metal Ripper", with the former mentioning various Iron Maiden songs (namely "Fear of the Dark" and "Afraid to Shoot Strangers"), and the latter including lyrics from "The Number of the Beast
The Number of the Beast (song)
"The Number of the Beast" is Iron Maiden's seventh single and the second single from Iron Maiden's 1982 album of the same name. The song is inspired by both a nightmare bandleader and bassist Steve Harris had after watching the movie Damien: Omen II, and the storyline of the poem Tam o' Shanter...
".
In 2008, Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
released an album, entitled Maiden Heaven: A Tribute to Iron Maiden, composed of Iron Maiden cover songs played by artists such as Metallica, Machine Head
Machine Head (band)
Machine Head is an American heavy metal band from Oakland, California. Formed on October 12, 1991, the group was founded by Robb Flynn and Adam Duce. There have been 4 member changes since their inception. The current lineup of the band comprises Flynn , Duce , ex-Vio-Lence guitarist Phil Demmel ,...
, Dream Theater
Dream Theater
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to further concentrate on the band that would...
, Trivium, Coheed and Cambria
Coheed and Cambria
Coheed and Cambria is an American progressive rock band from Nyack, New York. Formed in 1995, the group incorporates aspects of progressive rock, punk rock, metal and post-hardcore....
, Avenged Sevenfold, and others who were influenced by Iron Maiden throughout their careers. In 2010, Maiden uniteD
Maiden uniteD
Maiden uniteD is an acoustic project. Musicians from different bands join together to play an all-acoustic tribute to English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The songs are played with new arrangements.-About:...
, an acoustic tribute band consisting of members of Ayreon
Ayreon
Ayreon is a project by Dutch composer and musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen.Ayreon's musical style derives mostly from heavy metal and progressive rock, but combines them with genres like folk, classical and electronica...
, Threshold
Threshold (band)
Threshold is a progressive metal band, formed in Surrey, UK in the late 1980s.-History:Threshold began their career in 1988, initially playing covers of metal groups like Ratt and Testament. As they continued playing together, they began to write their own songs, and eventually stopped playing...
and Within Temptation
Within Temptation
Within Temptation is a Dutch symphonic gothic metal/rock band founded in 1996 by vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt. Their music is described as symphonic metal, although their earlier material, such as Enter, was gothic metal. In an interview, Den Adel said they fell into a...
, released Mind the Acoustic Pieces
Mind The Acoustic Pieces
Mind the Acoustic Pieces is the first studio album by Maiden uniteD. It is an all-acoustic reinterpretation of the 1983 Iron Maiden album Piece of Mind with rearranged music for an acoustic setting-Background:...
, a re-interpretation of the entire Piece of Mind
Piece of Mind
Piece of Mind is the fourth studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was originally released in 1983 on EMI, and on Capitol in the US; it was reissued later on Sanctuary/Columbia Records...
album. Many other Iron Maiden cover albums exist (each featuring various artists), including piano, electro, string quartet and hip-hop tributes.
Iron Maiden songs have been featured in the soundtracks of several video games, including Carmageddon 2, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a 2002 open world action computer and video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the second 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and sixth original title overall...
, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City is a standalone compilation of the downloadable content episodes for the 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV. Created by Rockstar North in the United Kingdom, it contains both The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony on one disc...
, Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned is the first of two episodic expansion packs developed for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC versions of Grand Theft Auto IV, developed by Rockstar North. It was first released for the Xbox 360 on 17 February 2009 and on PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows...
, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
-External links:* on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine...
, SSX on Tour
SSX on Tour
SSX on Tour is a skiing and snowboarding game, the fourth title in the SSX series of video games for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, PSP and Xbox. The game was developed under the working title SSX 4. It was released in North America on October 11, 2005, In the PAL region on October 21, 2005 and in...
and Madden NFL 10
Madden NFL 10
For the tenth installment in the Madden series, see Madden 64Madden NFL 10 is an American football video game based on the National Football League that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the 21st annual installment in the Madden NFL video game franchise...
. Their music also appears in the Guitar Hero
Guitar Hero
Guitar Hero is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems and published by RedOctane for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It is the first entry in the Guitar Hero series. Guitar Hero was released on November 8, 2005 in North America, April 7, 2006 in Europe and June 15, 2006 in...
and Rock Band series of rhythmic video games
Music video game
A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs...
. Iron Maiden songs have also appeared in films, such as Phenomena
Phenomena (film)
Phenomena is a 1985 Italian horror film directed by Dario Argento. An edited version of the film was released in the United States under the title Creepers , the game called Clock_Tower_ that was released in 1995 for snes , was loosely based on Phenomena.Jennifer Connelly stars as a young girl who...
(entitled "Creepers" in the U.S.), and Murder by Numbers
Murder by Numbers
Murder by Numbers is a 2002 psychological thriller film produced and directed by Barbet Schroeder. It stars Sandra Bullock, Ben Chaplin, Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt. It is loosely based on the Leopold and Loeb case....
; while MTV's animated duo Beavis and Butt-head
Beavis and Butt-Head
Beavis and Butt-head is an American animated television series created by Mike Judge. The series originated from Frog Baseball, a 1992 short film by Judge. After seeing the short, MTV signed Judge to develop the concept. Beavis and Butt-head originally aired from March 8, 1993 to November 28, 1997...
have commented favourably on Iron Maiden several times.
Transformers
Transformers (toy line)
The is a line of toys produced by the American toy company Hasbro. The Transformers toyline was created from toy molds mostly produced by Japanese company Takara in the toylines Diaclone and Microman. Other toy molds from other companies such as Bandai were used as well...
author Bill Forster is an avowed Iron Maiden fan and made several Iron Maiden references, including song lyrics and the phrase "Up the Irons" in his books, including The Ark series and The AllSpark Almanac series.
Claims of Satanic references
In 1982, the band released one of their most popular, controversial and acclaimed albums, The Number of the BeastThe Number of the Beast (album)
The Number of the Beast is the third studio album by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 29 March 1982 through EMI and on its sister label Capitol the US. The 1998 re-issue was released by EMI and Sanctuary/Columbia in the US...
. The artwork and title track led to Christian groups in the United States branding the band as Satanists
Satanism
Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
, encouraging people to destroy copies of the release. The band's manager, Rod Smallwood, later commented that Christians initially burnt the records, but later decided to destroy them with hammers through fear of breathing in the melting vinyl's fumes. The claims were not restricted to the United States, however, with the Catholic Church managing to prevent Iron Maiden from performing in Chile in 1992.
Contrary to the accusations, the band have always denied the notion that they are Satanists, with lead vocalist, Bruce Dickinson, doing so on-stage in the Live After Death
Live After Death (video)
Live After Death is the video compendium to the double-live Iron Maiden album of the same name. Released in VHS/Beta/LaserDisc/VHD/Hi-8 and DVD....
concert video. Steve Harris has since commented that, "It was mad. They completely got the wrong end of the stick. They obviously hadn't read the lyrics. They just wanted to believe all that rubbish about us being Satanists." Harris has also stated that "The Number of the Beast
The Number of the Beast (song)
"The Number of the Beast" is Iron Maiden's seventh single and the second single from Iron Maiden's 1982 album of the same name. The song is inspired by both a nightmare bandleader and bassist Steve Harris had after watching the movie Damien: Omen II, and the storyline of the poem Tam o' Shanter...
" was inspired by a nightmare he had after watching Damien: Omen II
Damien: Omen II
Damien: Omen II, is a 1978 American horror film directed by Don Taylor, starring William Holden, Lee Grant, and Jonathan Scott-Taylor. The film was the second installment in The Omen series, set seven years after the first film, and was followed by a third installment, Omen III: The Final Conflict,...
, and also influenced by Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
' Tam o' Shanter
Tam o' Shanter (Burns poem)
"Tam o' Shanter" is a poem written by the Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1790. Many consider it to be one of the best examples of the narrative poem in modern European literature....
. Furthermore the band's drummer, Nicko McBrain
Nicko McBrain
Michael Henry "Nicko" McBrain is an English musician, best known as the drummer for Iron Maiden, which he joined in 1982, prior to which he had played for Streetwalkers, Pat Travers, and the French political band, Trust.-Biography:...
, has been a born again Christian since 1999.
Musical style and influences
Steve Harris, Iron Maiden's bassist and primary songwriter, has stated that his influences include Black SabbathBlack Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
, Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
, Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
, The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, Uriah Heep
Uriah Heep (band)
Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969 and regarded as a seminal classic hard rock act of the 1970s. Uriah Heep's progressive/art rock/heavy metal fusion's distinctive features have always been massive keyboards sound, strong vocal harmonies and David Byron's operatic vocals...
, Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
, Genesis
Genesis (band)
Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...
, Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
, Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull (band)
Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...
, Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums...
, UFO
UFO (band)
UFO are an English heavy metal and hard rock band, who were formed in 1969. UFO became a transitional group between early hard rock and heavy metal and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal...
and Wishbone Ash
Wishbone Ash
Wishbone Ash are a British rock band who achieved success in the early and mid-1970s. Their popular records included Wishbone Ash , Argus , There's the Rub , and New England...
. In 2010 Harris stated, "I think if anyone wants to understand Maiden’s early thing, in particular the harmony guitars, all they have to do is listen to Wishbone Ash’s Argus
Argus (album)
Argus is the third album by the rock band Wishbone Ash. It is the most popular Wishbone Ash album and widely considered their greatest by fans and reviewers. It was named "Album of the Year" in the 1972 year-end issue of Sounds magazine...
album. Thin Lizzy too, but not as much. And then we wanted to have a bit of a prog thing thrown in as well, because I was really into bands like Genesis and Jethro Tull. So you combine all that with the heavy riffs and the speed, and you’ve got it." In 2004, Harris explained that the band's "heaviness" was inspired by "Black Sabbath and Deep Purple with a bit of Zeppelin thrown in." On top of this, Harris developed his own playing style, which guitarist Janick Gers describes as "more like a rhythm guitar," cited as responsible for the band's galloping style, heard in such songs as "The Trooper" and "Run to the Hills."
The band's guitarists, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers, each have their own individual influences and playing style. Dave Murray is known for his legato
Legato
In musical notation the Italian word legato indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected. That is, in transitioning from note to note, there should be no intervening silence...
technique which, he claims, "evolved naturally. I'd heard Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
using legato when I was growing up, and I liked that style of playing." Stating that he "was inspired by blues rock rather than metal," Adrian Smith was influenced by Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter
John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...
and Pat Travers
Pat Travers
Patrick Henry "Pat" Travers is a Canadian rock guitarist, keyboardist and singer who began his recording career with Polydor Records in the mid-1970s...
, leading to him becoming a "melodic player." Janick Gers, on the hand, prefers a more improvised style, largely inspired by Ritchie Blackmore
Ritchie Blackmore
Richard Hugh "Ritchie" Blackmore is an English guitarist and songwriter, who was known as one of the first guitarists to fuse Classical music elements with rock. He fronted his own band Rainbow after leaving Deep Purple where he was unhappy because his favourite musical style wasn't adequately...
, which he claims is in contrast to Smith's "rhythmic" sound.
Singer Bruce Dickinson, who typically works in collaboration with guitarist Adrian Smith, has an operatic vocal style, inspired by Arthur Brown
Arthur Brown (musician)
Arthur Brown is an English rock and roll musician best known for his flamboyant, theatrical style and significant influence on Alice Cooper, Peter Gabriel, Marilyn Manson, George Clinton, Kiss, King Diamond, and Bruce Dickinson, among others, and for his number one hit in the UK Singles Chart and...
, Peter Hammill
Peter Hammill
Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill is an English singer-songwriter, and a founding member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Most noted for his vocal abilities, his main instruments are guitar and piano...
, Ian Anderson
Ian Anderson
Ian Anderson may refer to:* In music:**Ian Anderson , head of the rock band Jethro Tull**Ian A. Anderson , folk musician and editor of Roots magazine**Ian M...
and Ian Gillan
Ian Gillan
Ian Gillan is an English rock music vocalist and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist for Deep Purple. During his career Gillan also fronted his own band, had a year-long stint as the vocalist for Black Sabbath, and sang the role of Jesus in the original recording of Andrew Lloyd...
, and is often considered to be one of the best heavy metal vocalists of all time. Although only receiving one writing credit on the Dance of Death album, Harris often relies on drummer Nicko McBrain in developing songs, with Adrian Smith commenting, "Steve loves playing with him. [They] used to work for hours going over these bass and drum patterns."
Throughout their career, the band's style has remained largely unchanged, in spite of the addition of guitar synthesizers on 1986's Somewhere in Time, keyboards on 1988's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, and an attempt to return to the "stripped down" production of their earlier material on 1990's No Prayer for the Dying. In recent years, however, the band have begun using more progressive
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
elements in their songs, which Steve Harris describes as not progressive "in the modern sense, but like Dream Theater
Dream Theater
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to further concentrate on the band that would...
, more in a 70s way." The development contrasts with the band's earlier material, which Allmusic states was "clearly drawing from elements of punk rock," and also led to drummer Nicko McBrain stating in 2006, "I don't regard Iron Maiden as heavy metal. I don't think we're a heavy metal band. We're a hard rock band. We're a progressive rock band."
Special charter
In October 2007, Iron Maiden commissioned an AstraeusAstraeus (airline)
Astraeus Limited, trading as Astraeus Airlines, was a British airline based at Astraeus House in Crawley, West Sussex, England. In May 2008, Astraeus changed its business model and ceased full time charter and scheduled service flying to concentrate on sublease activities...
757 as transport for their 'Somewhere Back in Time World Tour
Somewhere Back In Time World Tour
Somewhere Back in Time World Tour was a concert tour by Iron Maiden in 2008 and 2009, focussed on the band's 80s material, in particular songs from Powerslave, Somewhere In Time and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son...
' in 2008. Lead singer Bruce Dickinson explained the logic behind the charter in 2007:
"Looking at the list of places we would like to play we have always had problems joining up the dots. With sea containers in various places it slows down the whole touring process, which is fine if you want a holiday but not if you want to play. It's great to see places but we don't want to sit around for a week waiting for gear to get from, say, Australia to South America, so this way we can get to more fans in more places en route in the same time period"
The aircraft, named "Ed Force One" after a competition on the band's website, was flown by Dickinson as he is also a commercial airline pilot for Astraeus. The aeroplane was converted into a combi
Combi
In commercial aviation, the term combi refers to versions of various aircraft that can be used for either passenger, as an airliner would, or cargo duties, as a freighter would, and often have a partition in the aircraft cabin to allow both uses at once...
configuration and repainted with a special Iron Maiden livery, along with a list of that year's tour dates. According to Dickinson, Astraeus decided to retain the Iron Maiden artwork when it returned to normal charter service after receiving positive feedback from customers, but had to remove the decals after passengers in Africa refused to board the plane, claiming it to be possessed by evil spirits.
The decoration was restored a year later as the same aircraft (G-OJIB) was used on the final leg of the Somewhere Back in Time tour in 2009. It plays a major role in the award-winning documentary, Iron Maiden: Flight 666
Iron Maiden: Flight 666
Iron Maiden: Flight 666 is a concert documentary film featuring the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The film follows the band on the first leg of their Somewhere Back in Time World Tour between February and March 2008....
, which was released in cinemas in 42 countries in April 2009 and on DVD and Blu-ray in May and June 2009. The film debuted on British television on 4 March 2010 at 11:00 pm on BBC4 as part of Heavy Metal Britannia Weekend.
"Ed Force One" was used again for "The Final Frontier World Tour
The Final Frontier World Tour
The Final Frontier World Tour was a concert tour by Iron Maiden in support of the band's 15th album, The Final Frontier, which began on 9 June 2010 in Dallas, Texas and ended in London, England on 6 August 2011...
" in 2011, although this time with a different aeroplane (G-STRX) and altered livery, adopting the artwork of "The Final Frontier
The Final Frontier
The Final Frontier is a 1986 album by the heavy metal band Keel. It was the band's second album to be produced by KISS bassist Gene Simmons. Videos were filmed for the tracks "Because the Night" and "Tears of Fire."...
".
Awards
Bandit Rock AwardsBandit Rock
Bandit Rock is a Swedish radio station which plays rock, punk and heavy metal. The station, now a part of the Modern Times Group, was originally founded by American ex-pat Thomas McAlevey and began broadcasting in Stockholm in 1994....
- 2011: Best International Live Act – Iron Maiden
Brit Awards
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...
- 2009: Best British Live Act – Iron Maiden
Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards
Classic Rock (magazine)
Classic Rock is a British magazine dedicated to the radio format of classic rock, published by Future Publishing, who are also responsible for its "sister" publication Metal Hammer. Although firmly focusing on key bands from the 1960s through early 1990s, it also includes articles and reviews of...
- 2006: Album Of The Year – A Matter Of Life And Death, Iron Maiden
- 2006: VIP Award – Rod Smallwood, Iron Maiden
- 2009: Band of the year – Iron Maiden
Emma-gaala
Emma-gaala
The Emma-gaala is a Finnish music gala arranged yearly by Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland, awarding the most distinguished artists and music professionals of the year. It has been arranged since 1983, except for the years 1988–1990....
- 2004: The audience vote for Best Foreign Artist – Iron Maiden
- 2006: The audience vote for Best Foreign Artist – Iron Maiden
Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
- 2011: Grammy Award for Best Metal PerformanceGrammy Award for Best Metal PerformanceThe Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for works containing quality performances in the heavy metal music genre...
– El DoradoEl Dorado (song)"El Dorado" is the second track from British heavy metal band Iron Maiden's album The Final Frontier. The song is the band's thirty-sixth single, and the only one from the album. It was made available as a free download on the band's official site at 00:01 on 8 June 2010 , one day before the...
Hollywood's RockWalk
- 2005: RockWalk Of Fame Inductee – Iron Maiden
Ivor Novello Awards
Ivor Novello Awards
The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Cardiff born entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They are presented annually in London by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors and were first introduced in 1955.Nicknamed The Ivors, the awards take place...
- 2002: International Achievement – Iron Maiden
Juno Award
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
- 2010: DVD of the Year – Iron Maiden: Flight 666Iron Maiden: Flight 666Iron Maiden: Flight 666 is a concert documentary film featuring the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The film follows the band on the first leg of their Somewhere Back in Time World Tour between February and March 2008....
(Sam Dunn and Scott McFadyen)
Kerrang! Awards
- 2005: Kerrang! Hall of Fame – Iron Maiden
Metal Hammer Awards
- 2004: Best UK Act – Iron Maiden
- 2008: Best UK Band – Iron Maiden
- 2008: Icon Award – Eddie the Head
- 2009: Golden Gods Award – Iron Maiden
- 2009: Best UK Band – Iron Maiden
- 2011: Best UK Band – Iron Maiden
Metal Storm Awards
- 2006: Best Heavy Metal Album – A Matter of Life and Death, Iron Maiden
- 2009: Best DVD – Iron Maiden: Flight 666
- 2010: Best Video – The Final FrontierSatellite 15... The Final Frontier"Satellite 15... The Final Frontier" is the first track from British heavy metal band Iron Maiden's album The Final Frontier. A short teaser for the song's music video was released on 9 July 2010 and an announcement of the full video's release was made on 13 July.-Music video:The music video,...
, Iron Maiden
Nordoff-Robbins
- 2004: Special Achievement Award – Iron Maiden
Rockbjörnen
Rockbjörnen
Rockbjörnen is a Swedish popular music award established by the Stockholm evening newspaper Aftonbladet in 1979. The award, which is awarded annually, is divided into several categories and is mostly concentrated around the genres Pop and Rock. The first award was however given to the Swedish...
- 2011: Best Hard Rock Live Act – Iron Maiden
SXSW Film Festival
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
- 2009: 24 Beats Per Second – Iron Maiden: Flight 666
Band members
Current members- Steve HarrisSteve Harris (musician)Stephen Percy "Steve" Harris is an English musician and songwriter, known as the bassist, occasional keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, which he founded in 1975...
– bass, backing vocals (1975–present) - Dave MurrayDave Murray (musician)David Michael Murray is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as one of the earliest members of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden.-Biography:...
– lead & rhythm guitars (1976-1977, 1977–present) - Adrian SmithAdrian SmithAdrian Frederick "H" Smith is an English musician and one of three guitarists in the heavy metal band, Iron Maiden. He is also one of the band's regular songwriters and, along with bassist Steve Harris, performs backing vocals on some songs.-Biography:While at school, Smith purchased his first...
– lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals (1980–1990, 1999–present) - Bruce DickinsonBruce DickinsonPaul Bruce Dickinson is an English singer, songwriter, airline pilot, fencer, broadcaster, author, screenwriter, actor and marketing director, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden....
– lead vocals (1981–1993, 1999–present) - Nicko McBrainNicko McBrainMichael Henry "Nicko" McBrain is an English musician, best known as the drummer for Iron Maiden, which he joined in 1982, prior to which he had played for Streetwalkers, Pat Travers, and the French political band, Trust.-Biography:...
– drums, percussion (1982–present) - Janick GersJanick GersJanick Robert Gers is an English musician, best known for being one of the three current guitarists in Iron Maiden, along with Dave Murray and Adrian Smith, as well as his earlier work with Gillan and White Spirit.-Career and Personal Life:...
– lead & rhythm guitars (1990–present)
Live members
- Michael Kenney – keyboards, synthesiser (1988–present)
Former members
- Paul Day – lead vocals (1975–1976)
- Ron "Rebel" Matthews – drums (1975–1977)
- Terry Rance – guitars (1975–1976)
- Dave Sullivan – guitars (1975–1976)
- Dennis Wilcock – lead vocals (1976–1977)
- Bob Sawyer – guitars (1977)
- Terry Wapram – guitars (1977)
- Tony MooreTony Moore (musician)Tony Moore is an English singer/songwriter, musician, radio presenter and music promoter. He was also one of the early members of Iron Maiden...
– keyboards (1977) - ThunderstickThunderstickThunderstick, real name Barry Graham Purkis, is an English drummer who wore various masks and used to perform on-stage closed in a cage. He was in the popular cult-band Samson which his name is most associated with....
– drums, percussion (1977) - Doug SampsonDoug SampsonDouglas Gary Sampson was an early drummer for Iron Maiden and first to ever record with the band. He was in the band from 1977 to 1979....
– drums, percussion (1977–1979) - Paul Di'AnnoPaul Di'AnnoPaul Andrews , better known as Paul Di'Anno, is an English singer best known as the first vocalist to record with the iconic heavy metal band Iron Maiden, from 1978 to 1981....
– lead vocals (1977–1981) - Paul Cairns – guitars (1977–1978)
- Paul Todd – guitars (1978)
- Tony Parsons -guitars (1979)
- Dennis StrattonDennis StrattonDennis Stratton is a guitar player who is best known as a former member of the British band Iron Maiden from October 1979 to October 1980.-Biography:...
– guitars, backing vocals (1979–1980) - Clive BurrClive BurrClive Burr is a British drummer, best known as a member of Iron Maiden from 1979 to 1982.-Career:Previously a member of Samson, Burr joined Iron Maiden in 1979...
– drums, percussion (1979–1982) - Blaze BayleyBlaze BayleyBlaze Bayley is an English singer and songwriter. He has been the lead singer of Wolfsbane from 1984 to 1994, and nowadays since their recent reunion. Blaze is however world-known for having been the lead singer of British metal band Iron Maiden from 1994 to 1999...
– lead vocals (1994–1999)
Discography
Studio albums- Iron MaidenIron Maiden (album)*On the 1998 remastered release, the fade out of "Transylvania" and the intro to "Strange World" were moved to the end of "Transylvania".-Personnel:*Paul Di'Anno – vocals*Dave Murray – guitar*Dennis Stratton – guitar, backing vocals...
(1980) - KillersKillers (Iron Maiden album)Killers is the second album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 2 February 1981 in the UK, and 6 June 1981 in the US. The album was their first with guitarist Adrian Smith and their last with vocalist Paul Di'Anno, who was sacked after problems with his stage performance arose due...
(1981) - The Number of the BeastThe Number of the Beast (album)The Number of the Beast is the third studio album by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 29 March 1982 through EMI and on its sister label Capitol the US. The 1998 re-issue was released by EMI and Sanctuary/Columbia in the US...
(1982) - Piece of MindPiece of MindPiece of Mind is the fourth studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was originally released in 1983 on EMI, and on Capitol in the US; it was reissued later on Sanctuary/Columbia Records...
(1983) - PowerslavePowerslavePowerslave is the fifth studio album by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 3 September 1984 on EMI in Europe and its sister label Capitol Records in the US ....
(1984) - Somewhere in Time (1986)
- Seventh Son of a Seventh SonSeventh Son of a Seventh SonSeventh Son of a Seventh Son is the seventh studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released in 1988 by EMI in Europe and its sister label Capitol Records in the US...
(1988) - No Prayer for the DyingNo Prayer for the DyingReviews for the album were generally poor, with Allmusic commenting that "the songwriting wasn't up to snuff when compared to such classics as Killers or Number of the Beast" and "as a whole doesn't measure up to the hits." Sputnikmusic were equally negative, stating that "No Prayer for the Dying...
(1990) - Fear of the Dark (1992)
- The X FactorThe X Factor (album)Initially, The X Factor was met with lukewarm responses from critics. Allmusic rated the album two stars out of five, stating that "suffering from a lack of powerful riffs and tightly written songs, The X Factor is a lackluster latter-day album from Iron Maiden...
(1995) - Virtual XIVirtual XIVirtual XI was met with mixed reviews from critics. Allmusic commented that "on the surface, there's nothing terribly wrong with the record, as it delivers all the crunching riffs and demonic horror of their best records. The problem is that there's nothing memorable about the hooks, riffs, or...
(1998) - Brave New World (2000)
- Dance of DeathDance of Death (album)Dance of Death is the thirteenth studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released first in Japan on 2 September and then the rest of the world on 8 September 2003.-Background:...
(2003) - A Matter of Life and DeathA Matter of Life and Death (album)A Matter of Life and Death is the fourteenth studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released on 25 August 2006 in Italy and Finland, and 28 August worldwide, excluding the United States, Canada and Japan on 5 September 2006....
(2006) - The Final FrontierThe Final FrontierThe Final Frontier is a 1986 album by the heavy metal band Keel. It was the band's second album to be produced by KISS bassist Gene Simmons. Videos were filmed for the tracks "Because the Night" and "Tears of Fire."...
(2010)
Concert tours
| Duration | Concert tour | Lineups | Scheduled dates | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vocals | Bass | Guitars | Drums | |||||
| Feb 1980 | Metal for Muthas Tour Metal for Muthas Tour The Metal for Muthas Tour was a 1980 concert tour headlined variously by Motörhead, Samson, and Saxon. Supporting the New Wave of British Heavy Metal compilation album Metal for Muthas, the tour featured a large number of bands identified as the founders of the movement... |
P. Di'Anno Paul Di'Anno Paul Andrews , better known as Paul Di'Anno, is an English singer best known as the first vocalist to record with the iconic heavy metal band Iron Maiden, from 1978 to 1981.... |
S. Harris Steve Harris (musician) Stephen Percy "Steve" Harris is an English musician and songwriter, known as the bassist, occasional keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, which he founded in 1975... |
D. Murray Dave Murray (musician) David Michael Murray is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as one of the earliest members of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden.-Biography:... |
D. Stratton Dennis Stratton Dennis Stratton is a guitar player who is best known as a former member of the British band Iron Maiden from October 1979 to October 1980.-Biography:... |
N/A | C. Burr Clive Burr Clive Burr is a British drummer, best known as a member of Iron Maiden from 1979 to 1982.-Career:Previously a member of Samson, Burr joined Iron Maiden in 1979... |
11 |
| Apr 1980 – Dec 1980 | Iron Maiden Tour | 75 | ||||||
| Feb 1981 – Dec 1981 | Killer World Tour | A. Smith Adrian Smith Adrian Frederick "H" Smith is an English musician and one of three guitarists in the heavy metal band, Iron Maiden. He is also one of the band's regular songwriters and, along with bassist Steve Harris, performs backing vocals on some songs.-Biography:While at school, Smith purchased his first... |
140 | |||||
| Feb 1982 – Dec 1982 | The Beast on the Road The Beast on the Road The Beast on the Road was a tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden, made in support of their album, The Number of the Beast in 1982. It is one of Iron Maiden's longest tours to date, only to be surpassed by the World Slavery Tour in length.... |
B. Dickinson Bruce Dickinson Paul Bruce Dickinson is an English singer, songwriter, airline pilot, fencer, broadcaster, author, screenwriter, actor and marketing director, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden.... |
187 | |||||
| May 1983 – Dec 1983 | World Piece Tour World Piece Tour The World Piece Tour was a concert tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 2 May 1983 to 18 December 1983. The tour was in support of the band's fourth album Piece of Mind.- Tour dates :-Setlist:# Intro - Main Title from Where Eagles Dare... |
N. McBrain Nicko McBrain Michael Henry "Nicko" McBrain is an English musician, best known as the drummer for Iron Maiden, which he joined in 1982, prior to which he had played for Streetwalkers, Pat Travers, and the French political band, Trust.-Biography:... |
142 | |||||
| Aug 1984 – Jul 1985 | World Slavery Tour World Slavery Tour The World Slavery Tour was a concert tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden in support of their fifth album, Powerslave, beginning in Warsaw, Poland on 9 August 1984 and ending at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in Irvine, California on 5 July 1985... |
193 | ||||||
| Sep 1986 – May 1987 | Somewhere on Tour Somewhere On Tour The Somewhere On Tour was a concert tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 10 September 1986 to 21 May 1987.-Tour dates:-Setlist:# "Intro: Theme from Blade Runner"# "Caught Somewhere In Time"... |
157 | ||||||
| Apr 1988 – Dec 1988 | 7th Tour of a 7th Tour 7th Tour of a 7th Tour The 7th Tour of a 7th Tour was a world tour conducted by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden in 1988 and was the last tour to feature Adrian Smith until 1999.- Opening bands :... |
101 | ||||||
| Sep 1990 – Sep 1991 | No Prayer on the Road No Prayer On The Road No Prayer on the Road is a concert tour by the British Heavy Metal Band Iron Maiden in support of their album No Prayer for the Dying. It is the first tour to feature Janick Gers, who replaced leaving guitarist Adrian Smith.- Opening bands :... |
J. Gers Janick Gers Janick Robert Gers is an English musician, best known for being one of the three current guitarists in Iron Maiden, along with Dave Murray and Adrian Smith, as well as his earlier work with Gillan and White Spirit.-Career and Personal Life:... |
118 | |||||
| Jun 1992 – Nov 1992 | Fear of the Dark Tour Fear Of The Dark Tour The Fear of the Dark Tour was a concert tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 3 June 1992 to 4 November 1992.-Dates:-Setlist:# Be Quick or Be Dead # The Number of the Beast... |
68 | ||||||
| Mar 1993 – Aug 1993 | Real Live Tour Real Live Tour The Real Live Tour was a concert tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 25 March 1993 to 28 August 1993. It was the last tour which featured lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson before he left to pursue a solo career.- Tour dates:- Setlist :# Intro... |
45 | ||||||
| Sep 1995 – Sep 1996 | The X Factour The X Factour The X Factour was a concert tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 28 September 1995, to 7 September 1996. It was the first tour to feature Blaze Bayley as the lead singer... |
B. Bayley Blaze Bayley Blaze Bayley is an English singer and songwriter. He has been the lead singer of Wolfsbane from 1984 to 1994, and nowadays since their recent reunion. Blaze is however world-known for having been the lead singer of British metal band Iron Maiden from 1994 to 1999... |
138 | |||||
| Apr 1998 – Dec 1998 | Virtual XI World Tour Virtual XI World Tour The Virtual XI Tour was a concert tour by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 22 April 1998 to 12 December 1998. During the American leg, singer Blaze Bayley lost his voice, and the band cancelled 16 shows. The band later made up the Los Angeles and San Diego dates... |
87 | ||||||
| Jul 1999 – Oct 1999 | The Ed Hunter Tour The Ed Hunter Tour The Ed Hunter tour began in Saint John, New Brunswick Canada. Iron Maiden began rehearsals at Harbour Station, the city's largest arena for about a week, then performing there for one night before embarking on the tour... |
B. Dickinson | A. Smith | 30 | ||||
| Jun 2000 – Jan 2001 | Brave New World Tour Brave New World Tour The Brave New World Tour was a concert tour by Iron Maiden which began on 2 June 2000 and ended on 19 January 2001. The tour was in support of the release of their 2000 album Brave New World. In Europe, the tour was called Metal 2000... |
92 | ||||||
| May 2003 – Aug 2003 | Give Me Ed... 'Til I'm Dead Tour | 56 | ||||||
| Oct 2003 – Feb 2004 | Dance of Death World Tour | 53 | ||||||
| May 2005 – Sep 2005 | Eddie Rips Up the World Tour Eddie Rips Up The World Tour Eddie Rips Up the World Tour was a concert tour by Iron Maiden in 2005 based on bringing back rarities from the first four Iron Maiden albums for the younger audience , brought about by the band's DVD The Early Days.The tour saw the band headlining several stadiums and festivals throughout Europe,... |
45 | ||||||
| Oct 2006 – Jun 2007 | A Matter of Life and Death Tour A Matter Of Life And Death Tour A Matter of Life and Death and A Matter of the Beast were two concert tours by Iron Maiden from 2006 to 2007. The first tour was unique, as the set list primarily consisted of the band's most recent release, A Matter of Life and Death, in its entirety, although this got a mixed response from... |
58 | ||||||
| Feb 2008 – Apr 2009 | Somewhere Back in Time World Tour Somewhere Back In Time World Tour Somewhere Back in Time World Tour was a concert tour by Iron Maiden in 2008 and 2009, focussed on the band's 80s material, in particular songs from Powerslave, Somewhere In Time and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son... |
91 | ||||||
| Jun 2010 – Aug 2011 | The Final Frontier World Tour The Final Frontier World Tour The Final Frontier World Tour was a concert tour by Iron Maiden in support of the band's 15th album, The Final Frontier, which began on 9 June 2010 in Dallas, Texas and ended in London, England on 6 August 2011... |
101 | ||||||
See also
- List of best-selling music artists
- List of Iron Maiden songs
- Music in tribute of Iron MaidenMusic in tribute of Iron MaidenThis is a list of albums recorded in tribute to the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden.- A Call to Irons :A Call to Irons is one of the earlier tribute albums released to honour the heavy metal band Iron Maiden...
- The Iron MaidensThe Iron MaidensThe Iron Maidens are an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 2001 as an all-female tribute act to English heavy metal band Iron Maiden...