Iron Maiden used their charismatic stage presence and their freakish mascot, Eddie, to take over the British metal scene. In this aftershow, J and Brady discuss Maiden’s success, Eddie’s relevance, common rock rivalries, and the creative choices of the metal genre.
After Show // 1980 // Iron Maiden // The Head
Tags:aftershow
Great conversation! One correction: Iron Maiden did have a song on radio and MTV: Flight of Icarus. J, Powerslave is one of my favorites too. I fluctuate between that and Piece of Mind. 🙂
I saw them live a couple of times in the 80’s and then in 2010 (I took my son). Their show hadn’t changed a bit! Steve Harris was still center stage with his foot on the speaker, playing his bass and singing along, while Bruce ran around on the risers from one end of the stage to the other. It was a huge crowd too, even after all those years.
Listening to Iron Maiden as a teenager actually got me into the Romantic poets. I didn’t know anything about them until I heard Rime of the Ancient Mariner. After listening to that song, I sought out the poem and fell in love with the Romantics. Iron Maiden introduced me to something new.
There may have been a rivalry between Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, but I loved them both (Judas Priest edging out Maiden). The Judas Priest Hellion image was pretty iconic and they used it in their stage show, which was awesome, BTW. But it’s no where near as iconic or well marketed as Eddie.
About the riff–I love the little gallop. If it’s inspired by Iron Maiden, it has to have the gallop. Nicely done.
True. Wasted Years got decent airplay too.
I’ve always preferred Maiden over Priest but I totally respect JP.
I’ll tell Brady you liked his riff. Metal isn’t really his thing but I thought he did a good job with that one.