New Celebrity Sightings

To this very day, many new bands revere Iron Maiden. This is only natural. The band has after all, been around for more than thirty years and continues to generate sales of its top selling albums and music merch.

Iron Maiden has sold over 75 million records, has been inducted into the Hollywood RockWalk, and has been hailed as one of the most influential rock bands in music history. The band has also been prominently featured in films, video games and songs by other groups, all in acknowledgement of its musical influence. Indeed, Iron Maiden is a legend in the making, if the band is not already one.

Band Story

Iron Maiden has had its fair share of ups and downs in line-up changes. Steve Harris formed the original group on Christmas Day 1975 with the name being taken from the iron maiden torture device seen on the movie The Man in the Iron Mask. Harris (bass, backing vocals and studio keyboards) and David Murray (guitar) are the longest-standing members of the group.

Presently, band members include Bruce Dickinson on lead vocals who is joined by Janick Gers on guitar; Adrian Smith on backup vocals and guitar and Nicko McBrian on percussion and drums. Michael Kenney takes on the keyboards for live performances. Former members include Dennis Stratton, Dennis Wilcock, Paul Day, Paul Di’Anno, Clive Burr and Doug Sampson. As with many other bands, not all former members left in good standing with the group. Some had to be forced out or had to leave due to professional altercations.

Albums Released

Iron Maiden has had an outstanding thirty releases spanning more than three decades of their music career. Of this number, fourteen are studio albums, four are EPs, five are compilations and seven are live Iron Maiden albums. Their work has led to the band’s inclusion in numerous charts and lists including the Ivor Novello Award for International Achievement, the VH1 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock and the MTV Top 10 Greatest Heavy Metal Bands of All Time.

It’s not possible to gulp down every piece of work associated with Iron Maiden in one sitting. Here are only some of the albums released by the group.

• Iron Maiden (1980)- This is the eponymous debut album of the band, which contains classics like The Phantom of the Opera, Sanctuary and, of course, Iron Maiden

• The Number of the Beast (1982)- Widely considered as one of the most influential albums in the heavy metal genre, it is also the band’s highest-selling album with worldwide sales of over 14 million, not to mention that this is also the debut of Bruce Dickinson as lead vocalist

• Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)- Probably the most lyrical of the group’s body of work, it centers on topics like mysticism, prophecy, reincarnation and the afterlife

• The Final Frontier (2010)- This is the band’s latest and fifteenth album slated for release in late summer and is gearing up to be yet another reason to worship at the altar of the Iron Maiden

The group is definitely not in danger of disappearing from band posters any time soon. As the fans of Iron Maiden always say in greeting and farewells, up the irons!