Iron Maiden was one of the earliest Iron Maiden songs written by bassist and founding member Steve Harris, who took the band's name and title from a medieval torture device from a film based on Alexandre Dumas's book The Man in the Iron Mask. And 50 years after its creation, it remains one of the most aggro songs committed to tape by the British metal legends.
"It was kind of the attitude we had at the time," remembers Harris. "We were just going to go out there and go for it and basically take no prisoners. We obviously were young and hungry and we had the adrenaline.
"We were just trying to get out there and play fast, heavy music with lots of melody," he adds. "There wasn't really anybody playing the stuff we were playing; we were heavily influenced by people like Wishbone Ash with the very melodic guitars. But we had a fire in it."
By 1977, the band were a quartet, which meant Harris had to embellish the song's twin guitar harmonies with his bass.
"We stayed that way for quite some time," he explained on the band's excellent 2004 documentary The Early Days. "We were always on the lookout for another guitar player, so some of the songs – like, for instance, Iron Maiden, where you've got the answering guitar riff from the other guitar, I'd have to do that on the bass. It worked really well for a while."
The song is responsible for birthing the band's mascot, Eddie, too.
One of their earliest vocalists, Dennis Wilcock, was inspired by the theatrics of Kiss. During the song's climax, he would pop some blood capsules into his mouth and drag a prop sword across his lips to create a gory stage effect. It certainly had an impact when one fan found his gory theatrics a little too much and fainted.
"When [Dennis] left we thought, ‘It’s good for people to come and see that sort of thing’, but we didn’t want it to be within the band itself," said the bassist, and plans were put in place to create a head, or a face, or something, that would spit blood onto drummer Doug Sampson's head for dramatic effect while vocalist Paul Di'Anno sang: "See the blood flow watching it shed up above my head, Iron Maiden wants you for dead!"
Eddie began as a kabuki-style mask, made from a face mould of their lighting tech Dave Beazley. A fish tank pump was attached to the mask and, hey presto, thick, fake blood would ooze from its mouth and directly onto Sampson's long blond hair.
The song itself opened their punchy, raw debut EP The Soundhouse Tapes, which also featured Invasion and Prowler.
Recorded at Cambridge's Spaceward studios during New Year's Eve in 1978 (a cost-effective move by the fledgling band) they released the EP on their own Rock Hard label in late 1979; limited to 5000 copies, the record became something of a Holy Grail for Maiden collectors.
Iron Maiden and Prowler would be re-recorded for their debut. While the quality of the second recording remains a bone of contention for Harris, the 1980 album captures the band's spirit and the raw energy of their legendary club gigs. With an EMI deal in place, the eight-song collection was recorded in London's Kingsway Studios, produced by Wil Malone and engineered by Martin Levan. It reached number four in the UK Albums Chart a week after its release.
The eponymous song, which closes their debut album, remains a live staple to this day. The band's production budget has expanded somewhat over the decades, and now the six-piece are joined by a huge, live-action Eddie.
Setlist.fm has calculated that the band have performed the song at least 2,467 times, followed by The Number of the Beast.
"As long as I can remember, we've closed our set with this song," says Harris. "It's quite simple. The bass line is fairly straightforward as is the drumming. But the guitar is over the top with harmony, and the bass is descending behind it. I think this makes it pretty special."
A fair point, well-made. And remember, wherever you are... Iron Maiden's gonna get you, no matter how far.
