Iron Maiden (Official Thread)
- Thread starter LG
- Start date
Vehicle
Aging Metalhead
If they wanted to torture them, they should of played The Plastic Ono Band
METALPRIEST
Senior Member
30 Years Ago: Iron Maiden Release ‘Piece of Mind’
SOURCE LINK
As of today (May 16, 2013), it’s been thirty years since Iron Maiden’s lovable mascot, Eddie, lost his mind (not to mention his grizzled mane) and heavy metal fans across the globe lost theirs over one of the most beloved heavy metal albums of all time — 1983’s ‘Piece of Mind.’
In fact, for many American fans in particular, Maiden’s fourth studio album remains a sentimental favorite, being the first piece of new product they experienced after learning about the group during their tour in support of 1982′s watershed ‘The Number of the Beast’ LP.
For the members of Iron Maiden, ‘Piece of Mind’ was instead a pretty pivotal, pressure-packed album, coming as it did on the heels of such a well received predecessor (though members of the clergy may beg to differ), yet another lineup re-shuffling (a curious obstacle shared by every Maiden album until then), and the everyday uncertainties associated with rock and roll careers.
All of which pays high praise to the remarkable consistency with which the British quintet set about, methodically writing heavy metal history as they grew from strength to strength throughout the first half of the ’80s.
As usual, it was band leader and bassist Steve Harris who led the creative charge behind ‘Piece of Mind,’ single-handedly crafting its rousing, semi-speed-metal opener, ‘Where Eagles Dare,’ its majestic closing epic, ‘To Tame a Land‘ (based on Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ novels), its relentlessly galloping centerpiece, ‘The Trooper,’ and the comparatively modest ‘Quest for Fire.’
Luckily Harris was now able to count on more significant help with these songwriting chores, thanks to the steadily increasing contributions of guitarist Adrian Smith and the emergence of vocalist Bruce Dickinson, who had joined too late to add his ideas to ‘Beast.’ Smith and Dickinson penned ‘Piece of Mind’s’ breakout single, ‘Flight of Icarus,’ a serviceable album cut in ‘Sun and Steel,’ and also collaborated with Harris on the clever, future live favorite, ‘Die With Your Boots On,’ while Dickinson showed what he was capable of on the multi-faceted ‘Revelations.’
Founding guitarist Dave Murray pitched in by co-writing the interestingly nuanced, lyrically inspired ‘Still Life‘ with Harris – complete with faux-Satanic backward messages for an intro so as to freak out all those who wanted to freak out over such things.
Finally, ‘Piece of Mind’ signaled the arrival of new drummer Nicko McBrain, who not only filled the rather large shoes left by the much-loved Clive Burr (R.I.P.) with greater technical proficiency (in place of the Burr’s celebrated “feel”), but did so without sacrificing his personal, virtually unique, jazz-tight drum sound, which several critics of the time actually deemed “not forceful enough” for metal.
Indeed, no one could have known at the time, but Iron Maiden had at last secured the “classic” lineup that would remain unchanged (including the vital support team of strong-armed managers Rod Smallwood and Andy Taylor, producer extraordinaire Martin Birch and even faithful cover illustrator, Derek Riggs, among others) for their decisive, glorious push towards universal recognition over the next five years.
And to think it all began with the simple decision to lobotomize their mascot.
Sox
Avoiding The Swan Song
^^^It's my favourite Iron Maiden album all in all.
Where Eagles Dare
Where Eagles Dare
METALPRIEST
Senior Member
Can we believe it's been 10 Years already for the Dance Of Death??
Sweaty
ThE OtHeR rAmOnE
Time flies when your having fun, great album
No More Lies
No More Lies
METALPRIEST
Senior Member
Iron Maiden Played to More Than a Million Fans on 2013 Tour
If you managed to catch Iron Maiden on the band’s 2013 world tour, you were in some pretty good company.
The British metal legends wrapped up their latest global trek on Oct. 2 with a massive show in Santiago, Chile, drawing more than 60,000 fans and breaking a record for the largest crowd that a U.K. band has ever assembled in the country. As Blabbermouth notes, this is more than a little ironic, considering that Iron Maiden were banned from playing in Chile in 1992, yet they’ve returned repeatedly over the years, even going so far as to record the live DVD ‘En Vivo!’ in the country in 2011.
The Santiago concert ended things on a fitting high note, considering the massive success the 2013 tour enjoyed all over the globe. According to a Facebook post from the band’s tour production manager, “Since rehearsals started 131 days ago with one band and 102 crew, there have been 46 shows, 1,175,714 Maiden fans, 45,350 miles traveled, 44 cities in 25 different countries on three continents, 3,853 hotel rooms, 71,579 pounds of air freight, 2,576 stage hands, 350 lighting fixtures, 330 sets of guitar strings, 2,000 picks, 184 drums sticks, 600 rolls of gaffer, 400 rolls of tape, 598 tanks of CO2 gas, 278 tanks of propane, 3,380 dinners, 96 cheese wheels, 5,646 bottles of Trooper beer, hundreds of miles walked by Hackers … and we have made it to the end of another tour.”
So what’s next for the band? Not much, according to guitarist Dave Murray. In a new interview quoted in Blabbermouth’s tour report, Murray joked that the band is content to let its Trooper beer do the touring for now and added, “We’ve been out on tour quite a few months this year. So when we finish, we’re actually going to go and head back and take a break, really … We’re just gonna spend some time off recuperating. So I’m not quite sure what’s gonna be happening next year. It’s all up in the air.”
If you managed to catch Iron Maiden on the band’s 2013 world tour, you were in some pretty good company.
The British metal legends wrapped up their latest global trek on Oct. 2 with a massive show in Santiago, Chile, drawing more than 60,000 fans and breaking a record for the largest crowd that a U.K. band has ever assembled in the country. As Blabbermouth notes, this is more than a little ironic, considering that Iron Maiden were banned from playing in Chile in 1992, yet they’ve returned repeatedly over the years, even going so far as to record the live DVD ‘En Vivo!’ in the country in 2011.
The Santiago concert ended things on a fitting high note, considering the massive success the 2013 tour enjoyed all over the globe. According to a Facebook post from the band’s tour production manager, “Since rehearsals started 131 days ago with one band and 102 crew, there have been 46 shows, 1,175,714 Maiden fans, 45,350 miles traveled, 44 cities in 25 different countries on three continents, 3,853 hotel rooms, 71,579 pounds of air freight, 2,576 stage hands, 350 lighting fixtures, 330 sets of guitar strings, 2,000 picks, 184 drums sticks, 600 rolls of gaffer, 400 rolls of tape, 598 tanks of CO2 gas, 278 tanks of propane, 3,380 dinners, 96 cheese wheels, 5,646 bottles of Trooper beer, hundreds of miles walked by Hackers … and we have made it to the end of another tour.”
So what’s next for the band? Not much, according to guitarist Dave Murray. In a new interview quoted in Blabbermouth’s tour report, Murray joked that the band is content to let its Trooper beer do the touring for now and added, “We’ve been out on tour quite a few months this year. So when we finish, we’re actually going to go and head back and take a break, really … We’re just gonna spend some time off recuperating. So I’m not quite sure what’s gonna be happening next year. It’s all up in the air.”
