After being eligible for 17 years, Iron Maiden are finally one of 2021 nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with Jay-Z, Foo Fighters, Tina Turner, Mary J. Blige, LL Cool J, Todd Rundgren, The Go-Go's, Rage Against The Machine, and New York Dolls, among others. So I thought I'd dig in and build on my love of "Run To The Hills" and listen to a bunch of albums with Eddie on the cover.  

Iron Maiden deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):

1. Iron Maiden

2. Phantom Of The Opera

3. Wrathchild

4. Drifter

5. Hallowed Be Thy Name

6. 22 Acacia Avenue

7. Children Of The Damned

8. Where Eagles Dare

9. Die With Your Boots On

10. Back In The Village

11. Flash Of The Blade

12. Heaven Can Wait

13. Only The Good Die Young

14. Tailgunner

15. Childhood's End

I've always had a complicated relationship with metal. I love loud rock music, and I love aggression of the heaviest punk rock and the complexity of prog, and '70s hard rock and proto metal is very much my bread and butter. But that point where heavy metal really started to get codified into its own thing in the '80s, I've always found a lot of that music hard to love or listen to in anything but small doses and short sittings. But I've started to appreciate metal more, particularly NWOBHM stuff, in recent years, kind of seeing where these bands picked up where Led Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy left off and took things further. I also really dig that super dramatic Bruce Dickinson/Ronnie James Dio school of metal singers.  My brother-in-law and bandmate John loves Iron Maiden so he's played me stuff and gotten me more curious about the band, and I've been really digging the band's first decade lately. 

Iron Maiden was already on its 3rd lead singer by the time they recorded their first two albums with Paul Di'Anno. But the band had to cancel gigs because of Di'Anno's drinking and drug problems, and eventually replaced him with Samson singer Bruce Dickinson, who quickly became the definitive Iron Maiden frontman. But those first 2 albums are pretty good, and feature several songs that remained concert staples for decade, including "Iron Maiden," "Phantom of the Opera" and "Wratchchild." But the original versions of those songs still get more streams than the live renditions with Dickinson vocals on the platinum live album Live After Death. Bassist Steve Harris was always the primary songwriter, so they probably would've released "Run To The Hills" and "The Trooper" and become a huge band even if Di'Anno was still singing, so he really blew it on a monumental, near Pete Best level. The band actually bought him out with a lump payment when he left so he doesn't even receive royalties for those first 2 albums. 

A lot of Iron Maiden's perennial live favorites were the epics that were too long to be radio singles, like the 7-minute "Hollowed Be Thy Name" and "Heaven Can Wait." But I left off some longer ones like the 13-minute "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" just because I like to make these relatively digestible 80-minute playlists, and I could only fit in 15 songs as it is. I think my favorite song on here is "Where Eagles Dare," the instrumental section kicks so much ass and it really exemplifies how Iron Maiden's rhythm section could still really swing where later generations of metal bands rarely did. "Flash Of The Blade" is one of my favorites from a guitar standpoint, and "Only The Good Die Young" has an awesome full minute arena rock finale .I also kind of think Guns N' Roses probably copped the ending of "Mr. Brownstone" from "Back In The Village." 

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