Iron Maiden have been around for longer than you think. This British Heavy Metal band has been making waves in the Music industry for a long long time. There’s probably a lot that you don’t know about this band, so today my aim is to change that.
Here are 15 Interesting Facts That You Might Not Know about Iron Maiden
1. Iron Maiden was formed in 1975 in Leyton (on the Eastern side of London) by bassist Steve Harris (who is also the primary songwriter for the band).
2. The current members of the band are Steve Harris (on bass, backing vocals and keyboards), Dave Murray (om guitar), Adrian Smith (on guitar backing vocals) , Bruce Dickinson (on lead vocals), Nicko McBrain (on drums) and Janick Gers (on guitar).
3. Former members include Paul Di’Anno (lead vocals from 1978 to 1981), Blaze Bayley (on lead vocals from 1994 to 1999), Dennis Stratton (on guitars & backing vocals from 1979 to 1980), Doug Sampson (on drums and percussion from 1977 to 1979 and Clive Burr (on drums and percussion from 1979 to 1982).
4. The band has been dogged with accusations of Satanism by religious fundamentalists throughout their career, but a Brazilian priest, Marcos Motolo describes himself as “their number one fan in the world”. He has 162 Iron Maiden tattoos, a son called Stevie Harris and references their lyrics in his sermons.
5. Besides brewing beer, flying Ed Force One and being an author and broadcaster, Bruce Dickinson is also a skilled and enthusiastic fencer who was once listed seventh in the rankings for Great Britain.
6. Steve Harris is an enthusiastic footballer who was offered a trial with West Ham as a teenager. He has a full-sized football pitch in his back garden, which is the home ground of Iron Maiden’s own football team consisting of members and associates of the band.
7. The Iron Maiden mascot, Eddie the Head, was originally a mask at the back of the stage. Blood capsules were fed through the mouth, invariably soaking the drummer with fake blood. Artist Derek Riggs based the first drawing of Eddie, for Maiden’s debut album, on an image he saw of a decapitated head on a Vietnamese tank.
8. Iron Maiden Guitarist Janick Gers has a degree is sociology.
9. They were the first big international metal band to play in India, to over 30,000 people who came from all over India, Bangadesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan.
10. Bruce Dickinson was expelled from boarding school for taking a leak in his headmaster’s dinner.
11. The song “The Trooper” is about the Charge of the Light Brigade at the battle of Balaklava and is based on a poem written by Lord Alfred Tennyson.
12. To date the band have released a total of 17 studio albums. Check out the list of them below:
Iron Maiden (1980), Killers (1981), The Number of the Beast (1982), Piece of Mind (1983), Powerslave (1984), Somewhere in Time (1986), Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988), No Prayer for the Dying (1990), Fear of the Dark (1992), The X Factor (1995), Virtual XI (1998), Brave New World (2000), Dance of Death (2003), A Matter of Life and Death (2006), The Final Frontier (2010), The Book of Souls (2015) and Senjutsu (2021).
13. The band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.
14. The Senjutsu album features songs written by the band’s core songwriting duo of Steve Harris and Bruce Dickinson, as well as contributions from guitarists Adrian Smith and Janick Gers.
15. Two songs from Senjutsu, “The Writing on the Wall” and “Stratego”, were played live on the band’s 2021 tour before the album’s release, marking the second time Iron Maiden has debuted new songs this way.
Well, there you have it, 15 facts about Iron Maiden. If I left out anything important, feel free to comment here below. Feedback is appreciate and welcome here.
Before you leave us, watch Iron Maiden playing their song “The Trooper” at a concert in Chile to improve your day
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