Iron Maiden
Biography
Known for such powerful hits as "Two Minutes to Midnight" and "The Trooper," Iron Maiden were and are one of the most influential bands of the heavy metal genre. The often-imitated band existed for over 30 years, pumping out wild rock similar to Judas Priest. Iron Maiden have always been an underground attraction; although failing to ever obtain any real media attention in the U.S. (critics claimed them to be Satanists due to their dark musical themes and their use of grim mascot "Eddie"), they still became well known throughout the world and have remained consistently popular throughout their career. Iron Maiden were one of the first groups to be classified as "British metal," and, along with Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and a host of other bands, set the rock scene for the '80s.
Iron Maiden were first formed in 1976 by bassist Steve Harris, who would soon join up with rhythm guitarist Tony Parsons, drummer Doug Sampson, and vocalist Paul Di'Anno. Before finally obtaining a record deal, the group played in local areas throughout the '70s, receiving a fair amount of London airplay. Parsons replaced Dennis Stratton, and the band made its record debut in 1980 with the self-titled Iron Maiden album. Although the release was recorded in a hurry, it was nonetheless a hit in the U.K. due to the single "Running Free." Iron Maiden's 1981 follow-up, Killers, displayed a harder approach to their music than before, and also saw the replacement of Stratton with Adrian Smith. Due to his uncontrollable alcohol addiction, Di'Anno was forced to part company with the group and would soon be replaced with vocalist Bruce Dickinson in 1982 for the band's groundbreaking Number of the Beast. This album, boasting such songs as the title track and "Hallowed Be Thy Name," would come to be known as one of the greatest rock recordings of all time. Since the unexpected worldwide success of Beast made Iron Maiden international rock superstars, they changed very little of their style for their next album, Piece of Mind. They undertook two major tours before recording 1983's Powerslave, which would go on to be another cult hit. The product of Powerslave's 11-month tour was 1985's Live After Death, a double live album that featured all of their biggest hit singles.
By the release of Live After Death, Iron Maiden had already established themselves as a powerful and unique metal band. Their long-awaited 1986 supplement album, Somewhere in Time, showed a bit of departure from their past releases, showcasing the use of synthesizer guitars and songs more relevant to the same themes. Released in 1988, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, a concept album like its predecessor, featured the singles "The Evil That Men Do" and "The Clairvoyant," and soon became Iron Maiden's most critically acclaimed album since Number of the Beast. After another exhausting tour, Smith departed and the band took a one-year hiatus. With new guitarist Janick Gers, the band resurfaced with No Prayer for the Dying in 1990, a record that returned to the classic sound the group used when recording its earlier releases. One of the album's singles, "Bring Your Daughter...to the Slaughter," was granted the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Song of the Year, but it nonetheless gave the band its first number one U.K. hit. By the time the group finished its 1991 tour, Dickinson expressed desire to leave and work to promote another band he had founded, the Skunkworks. Fear of the Dark, the band's last album with Dickinson, debuted at number one on the U.K. charts and became one of Iron Maiden's biggest-selling albums to date. After their supporting tour, two live albums were released in 1993: A Real Live One, which contained live versions of their newer hit singles, and A Real Dead One, which featured the more "classic" Maiden songs live.
Dickinson's replacement, Blaze Bayley, marked his debut in 1995 with The X Factor. While the record failed to chart as well as some of its predecessors, it was still a minor success in England. Iron Maiden marked the end of 1996 with Best of the Beast, a double compilation album. In 1998, little interest in the Virtual XI album prompted Bayley's termination; Dickinson and Smith returned to the band for a tour in 1999, and a new album, Brave New World, emerged the following year. The band toured throughout the early 2000s, releasing the live Rock in Rio and the greatest-hits collection Edward the Great in 2002, followed by a new studio album, Dance of Death, in 2003. They followed DOD with the Rainmaker EP, as well as the live DVDs History of Iron Maiden, Pt. 1: The Early Days and Raising Hell in 2004. Sanctuary put out the two-disc The Essential Iron Maiden in 2005 to coincide with the group's co-headlining Ozzfest tour with Black Sabbath, a tour that found Maiden pulling out due to a series of confrontations with Ozzy's wife/manager, Sharon Osbourne. They released the live CD/DVD Death on the Road in September of 2005 and a collection of new material, Matter of Life and Death, in 2006. In 2009 the band released the soundtrack for the film Flight 666, a documentary/concert film recorded in 16 different cities during the group's first leg of their 2008 "Somewhere Back in Time World Tour". ~ Barry Weber, All Music Guide
Selected Discography

The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg
2006

The Essential Iron Maiden (CD 1)
2005

Death On The Road (Live)
2005

Dance Of Death
2003

A Real Live One (Live)
2002
How a band manages to make soooooo many badass songs is beyond me.
UP THE IRONS!!!! \m/ |
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I like Iron Maiden. Can I f**k myself anyways? :P
Evil Allmusic... they probably didn't put Powerslave on there because the "essential stuff was on their Greatest Hits compilations anyways", or something like that. Oh well. |
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IRON MAIDEN easily beats the s**t out of every other band there is and anybody who dissagrees can go f**k off.
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huh, i'd never heard Maiden pre-Dickinso n guitar works is decent but Bruce is such a better fit, i f**king love his vocals, epic s**t that you just have to raise a fist or point to the crowd for.
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What's up with Powerslave and Live After Death? Both of those tapes rocked. Why aren't they on the list of albums?
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somewhere back in time would be the best album ever if it had one more song...fear of the dark!
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up the irons !!! still the best metal band of all time !! and now the best movie doc, flight 666
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Just saw Flight 666 last night. Awesome! I was at the Camden, New jersey show that was shown in the film. Best show I ever saw bar none. They played all the songs you always wanted to hear in concert but though you never would. Loved it.
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Maiden rocks always have always will!! They are true leaders in this genre. Flight 666 shows how great this band is.
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hey gonna bash ur band real bad--shut up u obviusly dont kno good metal if u dont like maiden & motley crue f*&^@ u
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Iron maiden is better than those glam 80's bands.Not everyone's taste but they're still great for what genre they play.The world is full of different tastes so stupid people need to stop wasting space ranting about how much they hate certain tastes.
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"hate to admit", yeah right GBYBRB.can't believe I found your queer a** on this page.You willow,tsar all need to take your marital issues somewhere where they matter.Pando r a users don't care about who's getting more sex, more head or who's getting it rougher.Go have a train and shoot up till you rot..f**kers ! ! ! !
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"The often-imitat e d band existed for over 30 years, pumping out wild rock similar to Judas Priest." Existed? Excuse me, but they still exist and just finished another world tour. Saw them both visits to L.A.. Maiden always have and always rock. Can't wait until the new album comes out. Up The Irons!!!!!!! !
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Very exciting new band... just got turned on to the guys. You can tell they definitely took influence from older bands like the Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganza
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They did it without the main stream media thats how bad a## they are! and have sold over 70 million albums!!
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Actually H.I.M would sound like Iron Maiden if Iron Maiden sucked!!!Als o Iron Maiden were around way the f**k before that crap!!!
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Wow I am amazed at how much these guys sound like H.I.M...tota l l y awsome!
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iron maiden kicks judas priest a** everyday all day!
haha ACES HIGH!! |
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first off fiendjesterc h a o s . u must be def man. u can hear that dickson was what made maiden big like it is today. if paul was still with them no one would like maiden. like they do today. iron maiden is the best band there has ever been and the best thing they ever did was get rid of paul. up the irons the dickinson years
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Maiden Rules!!! They are the best and will NEVER be replaced. Best album Number of the Beast however, you would have a hard time finding an album in their hefty catalog completely devoid of good music. Worst album I would have to say is No Prayer but Mother Russia is memorable.Up the Irons!!!!
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Iron Maiden is my favorite band of all time. This is one of the few where every band member are allways important in every song and never left out.
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