It's one I hated for years but when it clicked, it went right to 5/5. All of their eighties album, with the exception of Piece Of Mind (3/5), are 5/5 albums. As CE and opline have mentioned, some of their heaviest moments are on that album, as well as some of their most melodic.

SIT was excellent, obviously, but Powerslave was heavier.

SIT and SSOTSS became more appreciated over time. I never got why so many fans disliked them at the time. They are both loaded with great songs and catchy melodies.

POM > Powerslave.

The dreaded S word.
The word that drove fear into the hearts of many an '80s Metal fan.

Synthesisers.

I was pretty dubious about them at first, and they might have contributed to my initial dislike of SIT, but I loved SSOAS from the off and eventually came around to SIT after ignoring it for years. SSOASS is a top three Maiden album now.


Fuck off.

Well that's not very festive.

True. I definitely enjoy them more now than then. SSoaSS especially - the title track is outstanding.

No mystery as to why they were disliked by some at the time. It was the clear dip in quality from earlier stuff. And also the general pop-iness and lightness of both. Then there was the failed attempt to incorporate what was trendy i.e. synths. Absolutely unforgivable for many at the time and dated and weak sounding even now.

Seventh Son went straight in at #1. It clearly wasn't disliked

Yeah I agree. I was huge fan at the time & I don't recall too many people disliking either album.

Nah, all the wrong sort of people bought it.

When did keyboards become a negative in metal? All the great 70s bands like Sabbath, Purple, Heep, Rainbow, KISS, etc., used them. Why and when did they suddenly fall out of fashion?

About 1987.

No synths, no pedals, no wimps
Just Power, Metal and Might

I used to know a guy who HATED SSoaSS, reckoned it was Maiden's attempt to disappear up their own arses.

It was on No Prayer I reckon the wheels fell off.

Yes, absolutely. The '90s were a total write-off for Maiden. Thank christ Smith (and later, Dickinson, of course) came back into the fold.

I've been listening to this show on Youtube for a few days now and it's just phenomenal. Glad that I saw them during this period because on this evidence they were clearly at an absolute peak both in terms of live show and songwriting [I rate AMOLAD very highly].

If Harris has any sense he'd release this recording as an official live album. The band are just playing with total conviction here.

I'm bored so I've gone back to Mali's original 'history of Maiden' post and done a little re-working here and there to bring it in line with reality.


A brief history of Iron Maiden.

1976 - 1980 - Steve Harris and the boys build the foundations of one of the world's biggest ever bands.

1980 - Maiden release their debut which while hampered slightly in the production department is a strong start and a classic of the heavy metal scene, featuring great songs like Transylvania, Phantom Of The Opera and the title track. Adrian Smith joins on guitar not long afterwards.

1981 - Despite great artwork, an improved production and a few classic tunes such as the title track and Wrathchild, Killers marks a definite step down from the debut. As is noted several times on the Internet and in the official biography of the band, many of the songs on it are the lesser ones from Maiden's early repertoire, most of the best ones having been put on to the debut instead. Combined with its lack of an epic song, this makes it Maiden's low point in terms of their studio output, but it is still a reasonable album.

1981 - 1984 - Things improve massively, however, when singer Paul DiAnno is replaced by Bruce 'Air Raid Siren' Dickinson and Maiden produce a string of classic albums. Their live form is top notch as well, as evidenced by the gem from the archive that is Beast Over Hammersmith.

1985 - Maiden release Live After Death, a great live album and a brilliant general introduction to anyone wanting to get into Maiden, although upon closer listen one can tell that the strains of endless touring are beginning to show here and there, which is why Beast Over Hammersmith is better. Nevertheless, to say that any KISS live album is better than this is just silly.

1986 - Maiden return with their strongest and heaviest album to that date, despite the lack of Dickinson in the song writing process.

1988 - Maiden release several decent singles, which promptly hit the charts and propel them further than ever into the mainstream. The album that they are from proves to be another classic, if a little too polished in the production department. Nevertheless, it's a deserved high seller worldwide apart from in America where the record buying public are more interested in stuff like Bulletboys. Maiden then headline Donington for the first time, helpfully using Kiss (at their worst) to disguise the fact that they aren't as good as they used to be in a live sense, and (perhaps through nerves) promptly deliver an absolute stinker of a performance which for some reason people seem to hail as a pinnacle of their career.

1990 - Oh dear oh dear oh dear. The artwork is fine, but the production is an embarrassment for a band of this stature, and The Assassin is the worst Iron Maiden song of all time. Still, despite the loss of Adrian Smith, No Prayer For The Dying has a clutch of reasonable tracks. On a plus side, the live form is massively improved by Smith's replacement Janick Gers and his insatiable energy and playing.

1990 - Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter confirms that Maiden really can still write great singles.

1992 - A much better and more varied album than most people realise goes to number 1 in countries worldwide, followed by a second Donington appearance, where they make amends and deliver a fantastic performance that Harris then completely fucks up in the mixing stage when releasing it as a live album, although strangely the video mix is fine.

1993 - Bruce overthinks things, gets a bit lost in his own head and bails, leaving Harris to hunker down and steer the wounded ship Tony Iommi style through the 90's.

1995 - The X Factor marks a dramatic new shift in the Maiden sound, but it works. New singer Blaze Bayley's voice suits the material's darker tone well, and in Sign Of The Cross Maiden produce their finest ever song.

1998 - Virtual XI sounds cheap and looks rushed. Ghastly artwork and poor production go hand in hand with a decline in song writing to produce one of Maiden's shakier offerings, although some classics still can be found here and there, so it's still better than Killers. Bayley struggles on the tour for the album and starts to have more and more off nights, not helped by the band thinking it's a good idea to get him to sing Dickinson material which is completely out of his register.

1999 - Time to re-build the band. Nu-metal has laid waste to the heavy music scene, and Dickinson and Smith, reinvigorated by some excellent work of their own in the late 90s, rejoin the fold.

2000 - Maiden release their first new album with Bruce in 8 years, and it's their best since 1995. Critics and fans rush to praise it while throwing copies of VXI in the trashcan, unaware of the irony that quite a lot of the Brave New World material was originally written for VXI but not used because Harris decided to dominate the song writing on the previous album.

2001 - Maiden triumphantly headline Rock In Rio and record the results to produce one of their best live albums.

2003 - Despite a laughably shit cover (which could have been good had Dave Patchett been allowed to properly paint something), Dance of Death turns out fantastically and is an instant classic. Maiden continue to play to HUGE crowds the world over.

2006 - And then it all goes to another level. A Matter of Life and Death divides opinion, with small minded people among us holding it up as drivelly toss, while right minded people hail it as a masterpiece. Which it is. By this time the band are perhaps at their absolute peak in terms of performance and song writing, and they decide to acknowledge this by playing the whole album live.

2010 - The Final Frontier is still good, but a step down from AMOLAD, feeling more like a collection of songs than a full cohesive album. Maiden tour it everywhere and release another live document.

2015 - Despite Dickinson being hampered by illness (although he only found out after it was made) Maiden produce another studio album much to the surprise of a few people who think that they perhaps should have called it quits with regards to new albums after AMOLAD, because that record quite frankly can't be topped. The Book Of Souls is good, but it's still a step down by Maiden's standards, and it is further weighed down by the decision to make it a double album, resulting in a handful of great songs sitting alongside some OK ones and a couple of bits of complete padding. Still, it all sounds pretty good live anyway.

I didn't know you wrote humorous fiction, CE. Well done, it gave me a good chuckle when I was in a bad mood.

Some truths.
But mostly bollocks