I have to confess that I was never a big mark for IRON MAIDEN. I dig “The Flight of Icarus” but I’m not all that familiar with their music. I know about them primarily because they were at the head of the class during the 1980s “Satanic Panic.” Most of the Heavy Metal “Hair bands” were closet Satanists. IRON MAIDEN came right out and admitted it. They released an album entitled “The Number of the Beast”. And just look, said the churchy hand-wringers of the 80s, at their album covers!
In reality, “The Number of the Beast” was inspired by a nightmare the band’s bass player and founder, Steve Harris, had after watching DAMIEN: OMEN II (I once had a nightmare that I was forced to sit and watch this film again) as well as the poem TAM O’ SHANTER by Robert Burns. (The band wanted to get Vincent Price to record the opening for the sing, by the way, but he wanted more money that they were willing to spend. Cheapskates.)
I always like IRON MAIDEN’S mascot, though, even when I was a little kid and folks were telling me how evil they were. “Eddie” is a zombielike wraith designed by artist Derek Riggs who has appeared on all the band’s album covers and about a gazillion T-shirts.