iron maiden

Maiden are one of the most successful of all heavy metal bands and have sold over 100 million albums worldwide. The name Iron Maiden was taken from an old torture device of the same name and the band actually formed on Christmas Day 1975. The group went through many band changes over their first few years of gigging and it wasn't until they signed to EMI in December 1979 that they started to record their work seriously. The self titled debut album Iron Maiden was released in 1980 and rose to #4 in it's first week in the charts. The same year Iron Maiden went on tour of the UK and opened for Kiss and Judas Priest which helped to give them public notice.

The studio Iron Maiden albums released since 1975 until 2010 now number 30 in all comprised of 14 studio albums, 4 extended plays (EPs), 5 compilations and 7 live albums. With such an impressive collection of albums to its name, the band has been cited in many music industry rankings including the VH1 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, the MTV Top 10 Greatest Heavy Metal Bands of All Time and the Ivor Novello Award for International Achievement, amongst other accolades heaped on the band.

Iron maiden have released several albums since (Dance Of Death, Death On The Road and A Matter Of Life And Death) and still continue to tour. Iron Maiden have influenced many bands and won the Ivor Novello Award for international achievement in 2002 and were also inducted into the Hollywood Rock Walk in 2005.

As the fans always say in greeting and farewells, up the irons!