20 facts you may or may not know about Iron Maiden

Everyone knows Iron Maiden or just Maiden for short to the fans of the world as the band behind "Up the Irons". Whenever you hear this, it's most likely coming from a fan of Maiden. Even if you think you know EVERYTHING about "Up the Irons", there's always going to be something you may or may not know about Iron Maiden.

1

-Iron Maiden formed on Christmas Day in 1975. The next four years were spent hard at work, building the band up through playing gigs at local pubs before EMI finally picked them up

2

-Their famed mascot, Eddie the 'ead, was nothing more than a paper mache head floating above the stage, which also featured their iconic logo

3

-Dave Murray and Adrian Smith, two of Maiden's principal guitarists, were friends since childhood. Adrian bought his first electric guitar for 5 British pounds and when Dave was fired from Maiden in the early days, he went and joined Smith's band Urchin

My sister likes the one on the right. What was I thinking, getting my sister in to Maiden? LOL

4

-The character from "Charlotte the Harlot" from 1980's Iron Maiden appeared later on in songs like "22 Acacia Avenue" from The Number of the Beast, "Hooks in You" from 1990's No Prayer for the Dying and "From Here to Eternity" from 1992's Fear of the Dark

5

-The first singer for Maiden was a guy named Dennis Wilcock, who didn't last long in the band since he was into theatrics and wanted the band to base their image on Kiss

6

-When The Number of the Beast was released in 1982, the background featured a blue sky instead of a black sky. This was due to poor quality control at the printing factory where the artwork was being done. It was corrected in 1998

 

7

-During the recording for The Number of the Beast, producer Martin Birch was in a car crash and his bill came out to 666 British pounds. Fearing the stigma attached to that number, he insisted on an extra pound being added

8

-To this day, Steve Harris regrets putting "Total Eclipse" on the B-side to "Run to the Hills" from The Number of the Beast, instead of "Gangland", which made it on this album

9

-After coming under fire from Christian groups citing the band's music as Satanic, the band recorded a backwards message for the song "Still Life", from Piece of Mind. It was a drunken Nicko McBrain doing a drunken impression of dictator Idi Amin

10

-Depending on the copy of Piece of Mind you bought, the last track of the album will be either "Dune" or "To Tame a Land". This is all down to sci-fi author Frank Herbert not liking heavy metal and not giving it his blessing

11

-Upon a closer look at 1984's Powerslave album cover, among the Egyptian symbols are secret messages, such as "bollocks", "Wot, no Guiness?" or "Indiana Jones was here"

12

-Since Iron Maiden were strongly against the use of synthesizers during the early parts of their career, they decided to use the machines on their Somewhere in Time album, in fact the only song on that album that does not use synthesizers is "Wasted Years"

13

-Former Monty Python member Graham Chapman made his last public appearance in the video for "Can I Play with Madness?" from the band's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album. He played the professor

14

-Prior to joining the Maiden ranks, guitarist Janick Gers was a guitar player in the band White Spirit, a band considered as a serious competitor to Iron Maiden, but White Spirit were best known for their Deep Purple-like sound

15

-Originally, "Bring Your Daughter...to the Slaughter" was supposed to end up on Bruce Dickinson's first solo album. Not only that, Steve Harris thought it would be a perfect song for Maiden and so the band recorded it. This song ended up going on to 1990's No Prayer for the Dying. The original version that Bruce wrote can be found on a compilation called The Best of Bruce Dickinson

 

 

16

-The only album whose cover art was not designed by Derek Riggs was 1992's Fear of the Dark. This macabre Eddie tree figure was designed by Melvyn Grant

17

-Mid 1990's-era Maiden singer Blaze Bayley was famous before joining the Maiden ranks. He enjoyed some success with a Birmingham punk-metal band called Wolfsbane, who happened to be the first UK-based band to be signed to Rick Rubin's Def American label

18

-Ironically, in 1999, Steve Harris was very reluctant to bring back Bruce, especially since things had ended on such a sour note on the 1992 Fear on the Road tour, in support of the band's Fear of the Dark album.

19

-On 2003's Dance of Death, "Journeyman" was the only song on the album completely recorded on acoustic guitars

20

-Bruce Dickinson earned some credit as co-author for the 2008 film Chemical Wedding. This also shares the name with a solo album of his from the 1990s