Iron Maiden

In 1979 Iron Maiden added guitarist Tony Parsons for their featured tracks on 'EMI's' Metal For Muthas II compilation record (1980), but soon after he would depart, making room for Dennis Straton; Doug Sampson would also be replaced at this time by Clive Burr (ex-Samson). 'EMI', who was hot on the lookout for NWOBHM bands, would subsequently sign them in 1980.

Their debut single, Running Free, gave them a UK 34 and a spot on the TV program Top Of The Pops, and they were the first band since The Who in 1973 to play it live instead of mime the lyrics.

Iron Maiden (1980), their debut LP, reached 4 in the UK It was a raw and roughly produced record which would later show its age leaving only three songs fit for play at concerts in later years, but it was not a bad start. Running Free was one such song which became dated quickly despite its catchy beat, Iron Maiden was a simple almost silly song with simple lyrics but again was a catchy tune, and The Phantom Of The Opera, a piece which still receives praise gave them some small notoriety. The 1981 follow-up, Killers, saw Stratton replaced by Adrian Smith and a superior production quality to the former album.

After the completion of Killers, Iron Maiden would enter its most popular period and its classic line-up when ex-Samson vocalist Paul Bruce Dickinson replaced D'Anno. 'Bruce Bruce', as he was known previous, went only with Bruce Dickinson for his tenure with Iron Maiden. Now Iron Maiden was complete and ready to take on the world. With the work of manager Rodney "small wallet" Smallwood and their mascot "Eddie", they would arouse deep devotion from heavy metal fans and set the standards for heavy metal music in the 1980s. D'Anno would go on to form Battlezone and Killers.

Number of the Beast (1982) was the most important release of their career, for it was here that NWOBHM was fused with the energy of punk; Dickinson's versatile voice was shining though and the press coverage received by various churches condemning the band for the lyrics "666 The Number of the Beast..." gave them the boost that would set their career and place them into history. The album sailed to the lofty 1 position in the UK.

Piece of Mind (1983) continued this trend and broke them in the USA (at number 14), and Nicko McBrain would replace Clive Burr. (McBrain had previously been hired by the band way back in the days of the Killers tour to be a devil character on stage). Two huge tours commenced shortly after. The follow-up album, Powerslave (1984), was another attempt to continue with this trend, but it ended off leaving critics complaining that Iron Maiden were locking themselves into a standardized formula. The fans, on the other hand, didn't mind the style for they forced the single spin offs of the tracks Two Minutes To Midnight and Aces High into the charts.

The follow-up, Live After Death (1985), was recorded on their 11-month world tour that followed, and was their first live recording.

Reaching 11 in the US, 1986's Somewhere in Time featured their first use of guitar synthesizers, a move to which even fans complain about today, but it didn't harm the quality of the music nor its sales for it was another million seller with the hit singles Somewhere in Time, Wasted Years and Stranger in a Strange Land resulting. A huge 7-month tour would ensue. Since the early part of their career their live shows were increasingly more elaborate and spectacular and the Somewhere in Time Tour, to date, was the most spectacular of them all. Iron Maiden, it seemed could do no wrong. They were at the height of their career. From this point on their shows would feature a huge Muppet 'Eddie', selected fans coming to the stage to sing, huge poster backdrops, Bruce Dickinson in an array of fancy costume dress, elaborate light shows and more.

Can I Play With Madness, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son and The Clairvoyant helped make the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988) album another classic and gave it a 1 UK chart position (12 in the US). It remained commercially savvy and on the idea of a concept album, like its predecessor. But after the huge world tour that followed the band called a sudden and extended vacation; this led to fears that they were ending their career.

Dickinson's solo project, Tattooed Millionaire (1990), and children's book The Adventures of Lord Iffy Boatrace (which 'Maiden fans put into the best seller list by buying them all up; he would publish two more books and a total of 5 solo albums), as well as 'EMI' releasing the entire EP and singles catalog again on 12", kept them in the spotlight during their down time.

By the time No Prayer for the Dying was released in 1990 the band had taken a few turns; Adrian Smith was out due to differences with Harris, and Janick Gers (ex-White Spirit/ex-Gillan) was in. (Adrian Smith would have a solo career in his own A.S.a.P. (Adrian Smith And Project) who's only minor hit would be the single Silver And Gold from the album of the same title; he would then go on to found Psycho Motel).

Iron Maiden would now strip down their performance and keep away from the grandiose concept albums. It was clear that the fears of Iron Maiden disbanding were unfounded. No Prayer for the Dying was considered one of the worst by many fans but in fairness, it did yield some hit singles like Holy Smoke and Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter; the former was recorded for the 1989 film A Nightmare On Elm Street Part 5 and won the Golden Raspberry in the "Worst Song" category; the song was on the movie soundtrack but ended off not being featured in the film. Again, that didn't stop the buying public who, that Christmas, gave Iron Maiden their first UK 1.

Be Quick Or Be Dead from the 1992 Fear of the Dark album would give them a #1 charting in the UK Soon after, however, Dickinson would leave. Dickinson chose to continue in his solo career after the two live albums, A Real Live One and A Read Dead One (1993; later released together as A Real Live Dead One) were released respectively. More rumors of the band's demise thrived before a replacement in the form of ex-Wolfsbane singer Blaze Bayley would be found.

The X-Factor (1995), with the hit single Man On The Edge (based on the Hollywood movie Falling Down), the "best of..." compilation Best of the Beast (1996), and the follow-up Virtual XI (1997), their 11th studio recording, would follow. On the former and latter account the band would loose none of their heaviness but the albums, by both fans and critics, didn't pass the test and were dismissed as dated and flat. The populace at large did not like Bayley and internal struggles with the band membership made it a relationship doomed to failure.

In 1999 Bruce Dickinson would rejoin Iron Maiden along with Adrian Smith. Blaze Bayley would leave to go solo, simply to be known as Blaze. Now the band had three guitars and the largest band membership it had ever saw. They immediately went on tour to announce the big news. They then promptly released the album Brave New World (2000) to mixed reviews. The disc was an attempt to return to their classic 1980s days in both style and lyrics. The album was followed with a double set compilation in support of Muscular Sclerosis (MS), a human neurological disorder that eventually renders its victims bound to wheelchair or dead.The album was a live set called Rock In Rio (2002). The band felt it necessary to do so when long-time loyal friend and former member Clive Burr was diagnosed with it in 2001.

For sometime now, the act were forced to return to clubs but Iron Maiden were once again on stadium tours with elaborate stage shows like the days of old while their sense of humor raged on by adding dancing 'Eddies', kicking soccer balls into the crowd and even resorting to playing a recording of the Monty Python version of Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life at the end of the shows. Following the release of the Edward The Great compilation in 2002, 2003 would see Iron Maiden in the news again with their release of Dance of Death, an album harping back to their styles of the early 1990s circa Fear of the Dark and the lot. The compilation Death on the Road arrived in 2005 with a full studio album finally appearing in 2006 with A Matter of Life and Death.2007 was an interesting year for on the 5th of September 2007, the band announced their Somewhere Back in Time World Tour, which tied in with the DVD release of their Live After Death album. The set list for the tour consisted of hits ranging from the 1980s, with emphasis on the Powerslave era for set design. The first part of the tour started in Mumbai, India on February 1, 2008. This segment consisted of 24 concerts in 21 cities, traveling nearly 50,000 miles in the band's brand new private airplane, "Ed Force One" (Bruce Dickinson has a professional pilot's license). During the tour, they played their first ever concerts in Costa Rica and Colombia and their first shows in Australia and Puerto Rico since 1992.

The tour led to the release of the compilation album, Somewhere Back in Time, including 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 in the summer of 2008 with two further parts in the US and Europe using a more complex stage-set, including elements of the original Live After Death show. This would be the first time the band would headline a stadium in their own country; that show would take place at Twickenham Stadium. The last part of the tour took place in February and March 2009, with the band, once again, using "Ed Force One". The final part of the tour included the band's first ever appearances in Peru and Ecuador, as well as their return to Venezuela and New Zealand after 17 years, as well as India. The three 2008 legs of the tour amounted to the second highest grossing tour of the year for a British artist.

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.

The Final Frontier (2010), the band's fifteenth, was released on August 16th to critical acclaim; the album would prove to be the band's greatest commercial success in their history, reaching #1 in 28 countries worldwide. Although Steve Harris had been quoted in the past as claiming that the band would only produce fifteen studio albums, band members have since confirmed that there will be at least one further record. The promise of that record came true in September of 2015 with the release of the 2 CD set, The Book of Souls. After Bruce Dickinson fought a bout with tongue cancer to which the therapy was successful, a world tour supporting the album followed in 2016 with The Raven Age, a thrash metal band founded by Steve Harris' son, George.

The Book Of Souls: Live Chapter would be released on November 17, 2017, with Nights of the Dead, Legacy of the Beast: Live in Mexico City following in 2020.

After being on hold for two of the six years, Iron Maiden's next studio album, Senjutsu, would finally follow in 2021. The album received multiple critical acclaims and soared to number one in 23 countries, as well as being their second studio double album, and their first studio album since Powerslave to have no songwriting contributions from guitarist Dave Murray, as well as the first since Virtual XI to feature multiple songs written by bassist Steve Harris alone. The name of the album is rendered on the right side of the cover art by the actual vertical Japanese spelling of "Senjutsu" (loosely translated as "tactics and strategy"), and on the left side by a font reminiscent of Japanese characters. Although it is not a concept album, doom is a recurring theme throughout. Deluxe versions were sold with an accompanying full color booklet. Interesting to note when reading the copyrights that 'Sanctuary Records Group', Iron Maiden's own record label was now a subsidiary of 'BMG'.

Iron Maiden has proven to be an essential element in heavy metal. Most people who do not even know much about heavy metal will recognize the name 'Iron Maiden'; like 'IBM' or 'Ford', it is a name you can easily match a product to, and know the reputation of that product. If it wasn't for them much of the NWOBHM movement would not have started - leaving the thrash and death sub-genres to never rise and also leaving metal to die before its time. Iron Maiden, widely considered "thinking man's metal" because of the subjects discussed discreetly in their music, live on to set examples and show would-be metal musicians how it's done.