Eddie Iron Maiden

Eddie, Iron Maiden's mascot started life as an ugly drawing on the cover of their first album, Iron Maiden and evolved into a gruesome skeletal figure that graced all their record/CD covers and became a gigantic stage mascot that danced and leaped around the stage at their concerts when the band went into the intro for "Iron Maiden."

The original Eddie the 'ead was a theatrical mask that was put on stage behind the band - Eddie's face was right next to the band's logo. It was connected to a pump and it would eject various liquids, like food dye and paint - it would drool over Doug Sampson (the drummer at the time). Fans would also try to throw things into the mouth at gigs. Eddie can be seen in some of the band photos on the first album and also on the picture sleeve of the "Running Free" single.

...ok this is a new lens and there is more to come...

Well, Eddie, Iron Maiden's popular visual hook underwent several evolutionary changes in his long history of adorning the covers of their records.

Eddie in picture form started life on the cover of the running free single as a silhouette, created by Derek Riggs.

When the band sat down to debate the artwork for their first album, they liked the picture on the single and got Derek to create the full blown character of Eddie as he was on "Iron Maiden" (their first album). Its the picture on the top of this page (cropped from the album cover). Iron Maiden's next album, Killers saw a big change in the way Eddie looked in the painting by Riggs.

That was the way he would remain until the third album, which marked the band's big change as singer Paul Di Anno left and Bruce Dickenson arrived. Number of the Beast was created and with it, the mould for the band's sound from then on.

Each of the early albums had a nice little quote,

"No sythesizers or ulterior motives"

which was possibly a tongue-in-cheek stab at the change in musical tastes of "popular music" where synths were becoming the instrument every pop band was using to get their sound and the guitar was being ushered into the back room. Well, Eddie and Iron Maiden kicked the door down and stated loudly that the guitar was king and always would be!

Unfortunately, they got as far as releasing that horrible CD "No Prayer for the Dying" in which the sythesizer made an unwelcome appearance. Yuk!

Ok, I'm a guitarist who is a bit of a purist and I loved the music of Iron Maiden precisely because they were so anti-synths and concentrated on playing the guitar based music that I loved. So when this abomination appeared with a synth on it, I trashed the CD!

Ok, it was a bit rash, but then I am what I am. I later went out and bought it again, because I still loved Iron Maiden! What a pillock!

...more to follow

Now this module I want to mention some of the absolutely stunning Iron Maiden artwork that has been created over the past nearly three decades of the band's existence.

What's more there's a lot of it available for download on the Internet - its just a case of finding it and then getting your grubby little hands on it!

Ha!

Well, there are ways and means of doing that and I've discovered a really good resource... but you'll have to come back later for that...

Iron Maiden started out in 1975 with Steve Harris hiring and firing many different members. Dave Murray was around at the beginning too but was actually also fired by Steve for a while. Dave re-joined the band a while later and they went through more line up changes than a baby's nappy, but when it finally came for the band to record their first album, they had settled down a bit.

Well, the line-up for Iron Maiden that began with their entry into the recording world culminating in their first, excellent album with classics like Prowler, Phantom of the Opera, Transylvania, Charlotte the Harlot and of course their signature song Iron Maiden, went as follows:

Paul Di Anno - Vocals
Steve Harris - Bass
Dave Murray - Guitar
Dennis Stratton - Guitar
Clive Burr - Drums

After supporting Kiss on a major tour and also supporting Judas Priest on a few dates (one of which I attended at the Hammersmith Odeon (if I remember correctly - alcohol and other unmentionable substances may have clouded that memory a little...), Stratton left the band and was replaced by Adrian Smith on guitar. They then went on to record their second excellent album, Killers.

In 1981 singer Paul Di'Anno was becoming unsettled especially no thanks to his excessive use of cocaine and was eventually replaced by Bruce Dickenson, formally of heavy metal band Samson. The band went ob to record their third album "Number of the Beast" which gave them their first number one in the UK album charts.