Iron Maiden

British Heavy Metal legends have been having hits for nearly 40 years but long out-grown the NWOBHM tag. They scored their only UK #1 single 25 years ago this week, which sets them above almost all their Heavy Metal rivals. Here are a few of their finest moments:

Run To The Hills

The Number Of The Beast

Can I Play With Madness?

Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter - this was their #1!

From Here To Eternity

Iron Maiden: Rock In Rio
Long-lasting heavy metal legends treat a mammoth crowd to a run-through of most of their bigger and better numbers over an hour & a half. From around 2006.

Iron Maiden: Behind The Beast / En Vivo!
Firstly, a doc about their 2011 tour in which their plane, Ed Force One, allowed them to travel to shows in Australia, Indonesia, South & Central America and the USA. The one spot they had to cancel was in Japan, as that was when they had their tsunami. Second, an hourlong live show from Santiago, with many familiar numbers, some I even recognised.

Iron Maiden - Live After Death
A change there, this was a concert from their World Slavery Tour in 1985, a show from Los Angeles. Maiden remain a steady and rewarding live act, and an impressive band.

Iron Maiden - Flight 666 : The Concert
A compilation of performances from gigs on their Somewhere Back in Time Tour from 2008/9, thus featuring long-standing favourites like The Number of the Beast and Fear of the Dark, before ending on Hallowed Be Thy Name. A good show, of course.

World's Greatest Albums: Iron Maiden
Intriguingly, this plumps for the metal legends' first album, made with Paul Di'Anno on vocals, and notable for the title track, 'Running Free' and 'Phantom of the Opera'. Di'Anno himself was interviewed, thus raising the quality threshold way above the inclusions of Malcolm Dome, Geoff Barton and Mick Wall. Is it a fair judgement on the album? At least it poses the question.

Iron Maiden - The Men Behind The Mask
2/3 of this covered their first 2 albums, as original vocalist Paul diAnno was present, and even early players like Dennis Stratton and Tony Moore had plenty to say. Mick Wall filled in much of the rest of the narrative, which only covered their work up to the end of the 80s. But a decent story of Heavy Metal world conquering all the same.

Discovering: Iron Maiden
The heavy metal legends have a new album on the way, and this was quite a generous appraisal, crediting Bruce Dickinson for lifting the band after the exit of Paul DiAnno, but when he felt disrespected by Steve Harris, Bruce left. Despite an interlude with Blaze Bayley, they completed the parallel with Genesis (or Judas Priest) by getting Bruce back. His health seems to be improving after a recent cancer battle, so there's probably still life left in Eddie and the boys.

Bad news for Ed Force One:

Two people have been injured after Iron Maiden's Ed Force One plane was badly damaged in a smash on an airport tarmac.

The Boeing 747 was tethered to a tow truck prior to refuelling when a steering pin is believed to have fallen out and left the jet out of control on the tarmac.

The aircraft smashed into the ground tug, which tore into the plane's undercarriage.

Two ground tug operators were injured and have been taken to hospital.

Ed Force One is the metal band's own chartered airplane which they first used in 2008 and takes the band around the globe on world tours.

Oh dear

misery guts wrote:Iron Maiden - Flight 666 : The Concert
A compilation of performances from gigs on their Somewhere Back in Time Tour from 2008/9, thus featuring long-standing favourites like The Number of the Beast and Fear of the Dark, before ending on Hallowed Be Thy Name. A good show, of course.

Flight 666
This was an accompanying documentary about this tour, which was quite good value, really, as the band are all interesting guys, and it was made by Sam Dunn, who did the mammoth Metal Evolution series. The reactions of the locals to the band in places like Costa Rica or Colombia means the show doubles as interesting social commentary, too. There are nice moments of the band on their days off, some of which lead to added peril, such as Nicko's golf leading to a wrist injury that nearly doomed their Costa Rican gig.

Classic Albums - The Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden
How the London heavy metal band moved from their early NWOBHM phase to breaking the glass ceiling with the help of new singer Bruce Dickinson. The assorted band members, plus drummers old and new, and their long-standing manager Rod Smallwood, all chipped in with the story of key tracks from this 1982 career highlight, and Bruce helpfully went to Portmeirion to relate how Patrick McGoohan gave them rare permission to lend a quote to their track The Prisoner.

Iron Maiden - Rock Case Studies
From the same school as the one on their 1st album, this is heavily discussing their Paul diAnno period, followed by a sudden rush through their albums from the rest of the 1980s. diAnno remains interesting to listen to, as do early guitarist Dennis Stratton, and short-lived keyboardist Tony Moore. Archive footage of the band with Steve Harris interviewed, and Danny Baker doing the commentary is probably some of the best coverage they've ever been given.

Iron Maiden go to war with ticket touts

Rock band Iron Maiden are introducing a series of measures, including paperless tickets, in an effort to combat touts on their forthcoming UK tour.

It means that fans will not receive printed tickets - but will have to present photo ID and a credit card when they arrive at the venue.

The band say they hope it will stop tickets changing hands for "ludicrously inflated" prices on resale websites.

Can't help spotting this as a sideways bit of promotion for them being on tour. I'm sure they're mostly on tours, but with zero airplay or news coverage otherwise, then it won't hurt to present a story like this which will get them attention.

What Does This Button Do?, by Bruce Dickinson
Oddly, I spotted a biography on him in a shop in March just before the lockdown and rued not picking it up. Then I got this in August or so. Bruce is a lively and humorous narrator on the music, on his increasing pilot works, and his battle with cancer. He also scotches the myth that he only left the band to get a haircut 

Scream For Me, Sarajevo
A neat follow-up to his book, this 2016 doc looked back to December 1994, where Bruce together with bassist Chris Dale, and others, accepted the chance to perform for the beleaguered people in Sarajevo. The early part sees Bruce interviewed from what could easily be a room in his home, whilst others from the concert revisit Sarajevo, which has improved massively since the war there ended. However in the final part of the film, Bruce does go back, and it's all very moving.

Download 2022
Hours of coverage of this metal festival, which featured all manner of bands from Black Veil Brides, Biffy Clyro, Alestorm, Wargasm, Skindred, Those Damn Crows, Black Label Society, Monster Truck, Deftones, Volbeat, Bury Tomorrow, Rise Against, Shinedown and KoRn, not to mention it being KISS' final ever UK shows. But Iron Maiden featured plentifully, opening and closing the coverage with newer tracks like Stratego, and more sturdy classics like The Number of the Beast.

Frontman Bruce Dickinson released another solo album this week - The Mandrake Project entered the UK chart at an impressive #3 

misery guts wrote:Frontman Bruce Dickinson released another solo album this week - The Mandrake Project entered the UK chart at an impressive #3 

Arts24: Bruce Dickinson
Marjorie Hache interviewed him about the album, from a fencing studio in Paris. He talked about the ideas for the album, and did mention that Iron Maiden would be touring in the summer anyway. He mentioned his book and his health battles, and being grateful for still being well enough to record and tour.

Original singer Paul diAnno has died at 66; he'd suffered with health battles in recent years. RIP