Matthew Reine
Following the world tour in support of Killers in 1981, singer Paul Di’Anno was fired from Iron Maiden due to his escalating problems with drug abuse. He would never get to play with the group again but he left his mark on the metal world. A lot of Iron Maiden, and heavy metal fans in general, cite their first two records among the best ever. Di’Anno would go on to front several bands mostly performing tracks from his era in Maiden. I personally thought Di’Anno was a fine singer with a destructive personality like a lot of talented musicians. I wonder to this day what it would sound like if he covered Maiden tunes sung by the man who eventually replaced him.
Left without a voice, the band searched to fill the void left by Di’Anno. Someone whose pipes were just as powerful and would help them garner more notoriety. Enter Bruce Dickinson. At the time, Dickinson was fronting the British band Samson, but as the group crumbled, Dickinson was approached by Iron Maiden’s management to audition to be their lead singer and his voice fit like a glove. His range as a singer was unreal and had an operatic feel to it. He could carry a tune like no other. This is the reason Dickinson is still one of the most influential characters in metal today.
In 1982, the band released The Number of the Beast, their third album and their first with Dickinson. It boasts one of the most iconic heavy metal album covers ever and is widely considered to be Iron Maiden most popular LP. The record’s title track is one of their trademark songs and is often performed during their lives shows along with other classic such as Run to the Hills and Hallowed Be Thy Name.
As I mentioned before, The Prisoner was the first Iron Maiden song I ever heard and I feel it doesn’t get enough love. Excellent intro and chorus. The opener, Invaders, is also overlooked but it’s a really good number to intro a solid record. The Number of the Beast separates from the other Maiden albums with its use of spoken word introductions. The opening to the title track is a quote from the Book of Revelations recited by late actor, Barry Clayton while The Prisoner is introduced with banter reminiscent of classic British television program with the same title. For years, I wondered what the hell that intro was and where it was from. I often played it over in my head though I figured it was from a TV show or movie of some sort.
The group also had its biggest financial and critical success with this album by scoring their first number one album on the U.K. Album charts and peaking at number 33 on the Billboard Top 200. The Bruce Dickinson experiment had worked and the group were as popular as ever.
The subsequent Beast on the Road tour was their biggest tour yet playing all throughout North America, Europe, and Asia with first time shows in Australia. A lot of their success, though, wasn’t painted in a positive light. Without even listening to the lyrical content of the record, several conservative Christian groups painted Iron Maiden as devil worshipers due to the name of the title track (which is actually based on a dream that Steve Harris had) and album cover. Protests were staged against the band along with public decimation of the their records and boycott of their concerts.
The actions from these groups seemed to have the opposite effect on Maiden as it gave them more exposure. Sales of the album and tour were not affected negatively and the members shrugged off the protests as being ignorant for the most part, which they were.
That same year, drummer Clive Burr would abruptly be kicked out of the band and replaced by Nicko McBrain. Dickinson, Harris, Smith, Murray, and McBrain comprise the familiar line-up of today’s Iron Maiden.
In 1983, Maiden would release what I consider to be their finest work. Piece of Mind packed another one of the band’s most popular songs in The Trooper. What got me to listen to this one though was first hearing Flight of Icarus, one of the earliest mainstream hits for them. It was the first non Number of the Beast track I heard (and also the first Iron Maiden music video I ever saw). The album opens furiously with the six minute Where Eagles Dare which, in my opinion, is one of my favorite album openers ever. The cut really hypes the listener up for the rest of the remaining eight tracks with its thunderous drums and three-and-a-half minute instrumental breakdown. There are more precious tunes that never get talked about like Sun & Steel, Still Life, and Die With Your Boots On, the latter of which should have been a huge hit for them.
The Trooper was at one point one of my favorite songs but honestly, I’ve kind of gotten sick of hearing it over the years. Maybe too many sing-a-longs in the car for me.
Maiden continued to climb the charts by reaching number 14 on the Billboard Top 200. Their highest charting North American release thus far.
The band showed no signs of slowing down with the release of their fifth album, Powerslave, in 1984. The album’s cover is one of my favorites of theirs with the great use of Eddie posing as the recognizable Sphinx. The Ancient Egypt theme followed them on the World Slavery tour with elaborate stage design that included pyramids and an entombed Eddie. In my opinion, Powerslave has Dickinson’s most impressive vocal work. His range on Aces High and Flash of the Blade (a song I continuously praised years ago that is just now starting to become more popular today) is damn impressive and it’s astounding how he’s still to able to pull that off live.
The Duelists contains a pretty gnarly multi-minute guitar solo and 2 Minutes to Midnight is always a crowd-pleasing favorite that you can’t help but belt out the chorus every time it comes on.
During the World Slavery tour, Maiden continued to break more ground by debuting in countries like Yugoslavia, Poland, and Hungary.
With three impressive albums with Dickinson at the helm, the band decided to finally take a well deserved break, their first since their formation. When they returned, they decided to try something new rather than record another LP with the same formula.
Don’t forget to check back next week for Vol. 3! The band experiments with a different sound, enters the 90’s, and parts ways with more integral members. Don’t miss out on more Iron Maiden Mania!
Photo credit: www.maidenrevelations.com for Iron Maiden band photo
