For my 666th post I decided to make an Iron Maiden thread. As most of you know I am a very big fan of them. Isn't it obvious from my username? And let me explain that; Powerslave isn't even my favorite song or album, nor is it one of my favorites. It's just a cool word and I suck at making up nicknames so I decided to pick that one when I registered to GAF hehe.
I am as you call it, a new fan. I discovered Maiden through GTA Vice City, featuring 2 Minutes to Midnight a couple of years back, but that wasn't the moment I got hooked on them. The V-Rock radio station got me interested in Heavy Metal, so I logged on the net and asked for Metal recommendations. I always had a thing for Metal without realizing it I guess. The Power Rangers themesong is an example of this, years back. Now that was Power Metal
After listening to a couple of songs by a few bands I stumbled onto Maiden. So I went on and got a few tracks by them and thought they were great. However, it was the song Afraid to Shoot Strangers that pushed me over the ledge. It's a song that starts slow and progresses towards an emotional guitar solo, following by a fast part. That middle section was the part I loved so much.
Gradually I got more and more songs and after a while I realized that they didn't have a single bad song. I liked everything I heard. And there were lots of times where I disliked a song at first, and months later it would become one of my favorites. Like Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Love the melancholic mood of this one.
It's the general consensus that the Bruce Dickinson-Maiden era is the best, and I agree with this, but the first two albums with Paul Di'Anno doing the vocals are good as well. The style was more 70's punk-ish. Now while this is great and all, if Iron Maiden didn't go in a different direction with a different style of singer, they wouldn't have became the legends that they are now. They developed their own unique sound when Dickinson joined. And the galloping guitar/basslines is now their trademark.
The following five albums are all considered classics. The Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind, Powerslave, Somewhere In Time and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.
Mindblowing how they kept the quality persistent and even rising at times instead of having frequent up and down moments like most other bands. Of course their next two albums, No Prayer for the Dying and Fear of the Dark are considered one of the worst they did for most, but it was also in a period where Bruce wanted to leave Maiden to develop his own sound for his solo-career. And so he did.
I even like the oh-so-hated Blaze Bayler era in the mid 90's where Maiden was in a slump and almost on the verge of being extinct. Lots of dark and broody songs during this time and fortunately that's right "up my alley". This was during 1995 and 1997.
Blaze Bayley is gonna kill youBruce Dickinson rejoined the band in 1998 and released Brave New World. The "reunion album" with it's awesome cover art:
Yeah, it's a well known fact that Maiden's album cover arts are amazing. It's all designed by Derek Riggs, who stopped working for the band after Brave New World (please come back
)
This album is more heavy and faster paced than anything they had ever done before.
One of the reasons why I like Iron Maiden so much is because they are a melodious band. I can't even consider them 'Metal' because they don't sound like any other band in the genre. It's much more accessible for everyone I think and that's why I want more people to listen to them. I'm seriously convinced that they are the most underrated musicians ever. They are big in the Metal scene itself, yeah. But really, when was the last time you've ever heard about this band? They don't appear anywhere, not on tv, in movies (except Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
) or on music channels. While shitbands who are dying out and release crapalbums all the time like Metallica are very famous.
But as far as I can tell, Maiden's popularity has been rising these last few years and they even made comments about this themself.
"MAIDEN is an unique band. You could say we're one of the last of the originals. If anything, the fan base has regenerated. There's a whole new generation — two new generations — of kids turning up. We played Sweden and filled 50,000-seat soccer stadiums. We never filled a soccer stadium in the mid-'80s. You look now and the first 50 rows are 16-year-olds. On our last tour we were able to play a new album (the 80-minute 'A Matter of Life and Death') in its entirety, and still sell out a worldwide tour of arenas. The fans are attracted to us because we are still an active musical force." - Bruce Dickinson interview Sep. 21, 2007
I've seen Maiden twice this year. The first one was a year back, end of November, on their A Matter Of Life And Death Tour. And last summer, on a festival with pretty much the same setlist, but 5 songs of the new album were replaced with classic songs from older albums.
Snapped a few pics on the last one:
Currently they are planning their Somewhere Back in Time tour, which is basically a recap of the gigantic 1 year long World Slavery tour they did back in '84-'85. They will be rebuilding the whole Egyptian themed set with pyramids and mummies and all and perform songs from the Piece of Mind-SSOASS albums. It's basically a history tour. They did the first one in 2005 where they only played songs from the first 4 albums, but that was on a really small scale. This will be a grand world tour spanning over 6-7 months in various countries, including ones they have never been to before yet.
What I would like from you guys, if you care enough, is to listen to a couple of songs to get a feel of the band. Now normally one would recommend the most famous songs to help somebody get into a band, but fuck it, I'm not gonna do that. I want you to listen to the more obscurer songs, most of them my personal favorites. And if you feel like it, comment on them:
- Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
- To Tame A Land
- Only The Good Die Young
- The Nomad
- The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
- Mother Russia
btw I think this thread will get maybe a few replies at most, but I guess that's just my fate here at evilbore.
Oh and before I forget... the band itself!
From left to right: Adrian Smith, Janick Gers, Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson, Nicko McBrain and Dave Murray.
