Iron Maiden- Legends of Heavy Metal
To this very day, many new bands revere Iron Maiden. This is only natural. The band has after all, been around for more than thirty years and continues to generate sales of its top selling albums and music merch.
To date, Iron Maiden is credited for having sold records numbering 75 million. Because of their enduring music and pronounced influence, they have been deemed worthy of occupying a spot on the Hollywood RockWalk. As proof of its widening scope of influence, the group continues to be notably featured in movies, games and songs by other artists.
Band History
It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Iron Maiden especially when it comes to band lineups. Steve Harris started the group in 1975, taking the name from the iron maiden torture tool featured in The Man in the Iron Mask. Harris who is the bassist and studio keyboardist is joined by guitarist David Murray as the only two members who have endured the longest with the band.
Michael Keeny joins the group as keyboardist on live performances. Other current band members are lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson; guitarist Janick Gers; guitarist and backup vocals Adrian Smith and drummer and percussionist Nicko McBrian. The change in lineup wasn’t always a smooth transition. Some of the past members or the group had to leave due to disagreements and some were even fired outright. Nonetheless, hardcore fans still consider Doug Sampson, Clive Burr, Paul Di’Anno, Paul Day, Dennis Wilcock and Dennis Stratton as important former parts of the band.
Studio Albums
The studio Iron Maiden albums released since 1975 until 2010 now number 30 in all comprised of 14 studio albums, 4 extended plays (EPs), 5 compilations and 7 live albums. With such an impressive collection of albums to its name, the band has been cited in many music industry rankings including the VH1 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, the MTV Top 10 Greatest Heavy Metal Bands of All Time and the Ivor Novello Award for International Achievement, amongst other accolades heaped on the band.
It’s impossible to describe here in detail all of Iron Maiden’s significant works. Here are among the most notable:
• Iron Maiden released in 1980 is the self-titled album that carries such popular pieces as The Phantom of the Opera, Sanctuary and the self-titled song Iron Maiden
• The band’s highest selling album Number of the Beast came out two years later with Bruce Dickinson on vocals and is thought to be one of the top influential albums of all time in the genre of heavy metal, having sold more than 14 million copies
• Seventh Son of a Seventh Son was a 1988 release and is regarded as a lyrical composition focusing on mysticism, reincarnation and the afterlife
• The Final Frontier is the most recent body of work that is scheduled to come out this year some time in summer
The group is definitely not in danger of disappearing from band posters any time soon. As the fans of Iron Maiden always say in greeting and farewells, up the irons!
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