A Few Retro Facts About Iron Maiden You May Not Have Known

Iron Maiden is one of my favorite bands of all time. I remember the first time I saw them it was on a VHS tape my Dad had that had Twisted Sister Stay Hungry Live, Heavy Metal Mania, Measure Of Metal, and Iron Maiden's Live After Death. I loved it. My Dad saw that I loved it and gave me his Iron Maiden Live After Death t-shirt. With this explanation out of the way, here are a few retro facts about Iron Maiden you may not have known.

1. Iron Maiden formed on December 25, 1975.

2. Maiden guitarists Adrian Smith and Dave Murray were childhood friends and Murray was the one who sold Smith his first guitar.

3. The video for Can I Play With Madness was Graham Chapman from Monty Python's last acting performance before he died.

4. The song The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner was based on the 1962 film of the same name.

5. The song To Tame A Land is based off the book and movie Dune. It was originally supposed to be titled Dune but the author did not allow them to use it.

6. The song Man On The Edge is based off the film Falling Down.

7. During the recording of The Number Of The Beast album Iron Maiden and Scorpions played a soccer/football match. They tied.

8. The pub/bar appearing on the cover of the album Killers is the Ruskin Arms which is one of the first venues Iron Maiden began playing when they started.

9. The songs Back In The Village and The Prisoner are both based off the 60's British TV show The Prisoner.

10. The song Where Eagles Dare is based off the 1968 World War II movie of the same name.

11. The song The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner is based off a poem of the same name by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

12. The song The Trooper is also based on a poem about the Charge Of The Light Brigade written by Lord Alfred Tennyson.

13. The album The Number Of The Beast was the first album to go #1 in the charts in their home country of England.

14. After Bruce Dickinson left the band in 1993, they auditioned hundreds of vocalists, both unknown and famous (among them Doogie White of Rainbow), and even offered the position to James LaBrie of Dream Theater, but he declined. They finally chose Blaze Bayley in 1994, formerly of Wolfsbane. Bruce Dickinson eventually returned in 1999.

15. The song Aces High was inspired by the Battle Of Britain, the first battle to be fought solely in the air.

16. The song 2 Minutes To Midnight is based on the Doomsday Clock, which counted down to potential global disaster through political confrontations. Midnight is the symbolic trigger, and the closest the clock has ever gotten to this was in September 1953, when it stood at... 2 Minutes To Midnight.

17. The song The Duelist was inspired by the 1978 Ridley Scott film of the same title. This in turn was based on the 1908 Joseph Conrad novel The Duel.

18. The drummer Nicko McBain's real full name is Michael Henry McBain. As a child he used to have a teddy bear named Nicholas that he carried around so his family lovingly called him Nicky which he later changed to Nicko when he grew up.

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