The early years of Maiden were tough. When you consider not only that they formed just as the spectre of punk loomed large on the horizon but also that heavy metal, and in particular British Heavy Metal was considered to be on its last legs, it is no small miracle that the band survived past ’78.
But survive they did. Their early line-up consisted of Steve Harris (bass), Paul Di’Anno (vocals), Dave Murray (guitar), Doug Sampson (drums) and Dennis Stratton (guitar) and after three years of near continuous touring the band finally set about recording their self-titled debut.
Iron Maiden was nothing less than a statement of intent. Merging heavy metal power and riffs with the energy of punk, this is undoubtedly one of the finest and most important debut heavy rock albums of all time.
Recorded in just a few weeks in January 1980, the record contains more straightforward compositions than fans of their later work may expect. Classics such as ‘Prowler’ and ‘Phantom Of The Opera’ showcased the raw vocal talents of Di’Anno, while the album was a great starting point for main songwriter Harris to hone his skills. The album was an instant smash in the UK reaching number 4 in the charts.
Rather than resting on their laurels, though, the band looked to ramp it up a notch. With a new guitarist on board (Adrian Smith in place of Dennis Stratton) and a renowned hard rock producer Martin Birch (Deep Purple) at the helm, the band’s sophomore album was a much more polished and focused affair.
Killers was released less than 12 months after their debut, but was clearly a huge leap in the development of the band. The new twin guitar attack coupled with Harris’s newfound songwriting confidence combined to produce an energetic and powerful record that practically burst from the record decks. The album was another instant hit in the UK and it even made headway in the US chart – a veritable wasteland as far as British heavy metal acts were concerned at that time.
However, trouble was just around the corner for the band. Di’Anno lived the rock & roll lifestyle too fully for the rest of the band and his problems with cocaine and alcohol forced a “parting of ways” in the middle of a tour in 1981.
Enter Bruce Dickinson
In 1982 Samson were a New Wave Of British Heavy Metal mainstay. They produced fine, if not great material, but as with many of their contemporaries commercial success was lacking. Support slots with Iron Maiden were as mainstream as it got for the band and their frontman, Bruce Bruce.
Of course, this "Bruce Bruce" was better known as Bruce Dickinson and when a support slot with Maiden led to the offer of frontman with the country’s biggest metal band the decision was a no-brainer. The puzzle was now complete.
Work was already underway on the band’s third album, Number Of The Beast, when Dickinson joined in 1982. The album would prove to be their biggest yet, and any fears that the departure of Di’Anno would affect the momentum gathered so far were quickly dispelled.
Number Of The Beast heralded the arrival of the progressive sound that would go on to define the band for years to come. ‘Run to The Hills’ and the title track are now signature tunes for the band at any live show. The album hit the top spot in the UK and went top 40 in the US. It was their first true classic.
Former Pat Travers drummer Nicko McBrain joined the ranks in 1983 to complete the “classic” Maiden line-up that would stay in place until 1990. He joined at the best possible time. The band were unstoppable by the time they released their next album, Piece Of Mind.
The record followed the same pattern of its predecessor despite owing much more to group songwriting than any of the band’s previous efforts. Smith, Dickinson, Harris and Murray all had songwriting credits on this one. The album, which contains the classic tracks ‘Flight Of Icarus’, ‘Where Eagles Dare’ and ‘The Trooper,’ was another huge success and confirmed the band as the biggest heavy metal proposition on the planet.
As a renowned touring band, it was no small miracle that they managed to find time to put out so many albums in such a short time. After Piece Of Mind Maiden managed to fit in two huge world tours, and still find time to record Powerslave in 1984.
While other bands in the NWOBHM scene chased success with bitesize singles and commercialised sound, Maiden went in the opposite direction and embraced a much more progressive approach than they had previously exhibited. The epic ‘Rime Of The Ancient Mariner’ weighs in at just over thirteen minutes, while several others could easily be described as “epic”.
The move paid off – Powerslave was a massive hit. Each of Maiden’s records to this point had outsold its predecessor and this one was no different. This is widely regarded as their classic album by fans and critics alike.
The World Slavery Tour that followed Powerslave lasted from August 1984 to July 1985, and remains to this day one of the longest continuous tours by a rock band. The stage set used on the tour was based upon the pyramid that graced the cover of the album, and is one of the most iconic stage sets ever built. In recognition of this the band have recreated the set for their 2008 World Tour.
A live album, Live After Death, was put out in 1985 and was as close as the band had had to a “Best Of” at that point. Recorded during a four night stint in LA and at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, the album was released as a “thank you” to fans and remains to this day one of the best loved live albums of all time.
When the band returned with yet another new album in 1986 (their 7th since 1980) it took many by surprise. The high watermark set by Powerslave was always going to be difficult to reach, so in keeping with the band’s capacity to surprise they tried something completely new.
Somewhere In Time saw the band embrace synthesisers for the first time, although unlike many other rock bands at that time Maiden didn’t go overboard. The album didn’t quite reach the high critical acclaim of their previous albums but it at did at least lay the groundwork for the band’s next classic.
Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (1988) built on the newly lavish soundscapes set up on Somewhere… but did it better than anyone could have predicted. Seventh Son… is a concept album based upon the story of a prophet trying unsuccessfully to warn a village about an impending holocaust. The record produced four top ten hits in the UK ('Can I Play with Madness?,' 'The Evil That Men Do,' 'The Clairvoyant,' and 'Infinite Dreams') and was one of the band’s biggest worldwide commercial and critical successes to date.
Unfortunately the album also marked the end of an era for the band. A gruelling tour followed the release of the album and it would take its toll. The first member to leave was Adrian Smith in 1989. The band took a year’s hiatus, and despite the addition of Janick Gers in 1990 and the release of the decent, if not groundbreaking, No Prayer For The Dying, Maiden were crumbling.
Dickinson lasted for one more album, the slightly lacklustre Fear Of The Dark (1991) before he left to work on his solo material and a new band. Incidentally the album was still one of the band’s biggest to date and hit the top spot in the UK
It was the end of an era. The rest of the Maiden story is one of line-up changes and reconciliation, and although they still produce fine material even today the band will always acknowledge the 80s as their finest hour – and rightly so. Their achievement was immense.
Maiden had been born in an era where they shouldn’t have survived. They trod a path that others followed. They found success where they shouldn’t and kept on evolving when they did.
A simple test of how important they were to rock music between the years 1980 - 1989 is to try to imagine a world without Maiden. Imagine a world without their iconic record sleeves; without their huge success at home and abroad which paved the way for so many other acts; without their image and their iconic stage shows; without “that sound” and without those bands that tried, and failed, to copy them.
source planetrock.com
No comments:
Post a Comment