Hi, I'm Pete, and I'm an Iron Maiden fan.
It all started in 1981, when "Killers" was released. I wasn't that familiar with their music (not many radio stations in my little slice of Texas featured "Wrathchild" on their playlists), it was just hard for a 12-year old horror freak not to think the artwork was wicked cool (admittedly, I thought Eddie was a girl at first). Besides, Bruce Dickinson had yet to join, and I know that I wouldn't have taken to them as well with original singer Paul Dianno.
"Number of the Beast" came out in 1982, and the album cover held the #1 spot all year as favorite verboten item to pass around at school (narrowly edging out Chinese jacks). If you were a junior high male that year, you had little choice but to be entranced by it, for not only did it depict Satan cackling over a sea of the damned, but Eddie manipulating Satan like a puppet. These guys didn't just have the devil on their albums, they controlled him. Gnarly!
"Number" was also the first Maiden album I bought, and as soon as "Invaders" kicked in I was hooked. Bruce Dickinson has the perfect 80's metal voice: Dio without the vibrato; operatic without being, you know, opera. They played fast but weren't exactly speed metal. Objectively, it's an adequate album. I liked it, but didn't love it the way that makes you play something start to finish a dozen times. That would be the next album.
The high point of my Maiden fandom came with 1983's "Piece of Mind." It was the whole package: straight ahead metal ("Where Eagles Dare"); cheesy prehistoric tales ("Quest for Fire"); and slower, guitar-centered pieces ("Revelations"). "Piece" also featured two of the finest metal songs of the 80's: "Flight of Icarus" and "The Trooper" (the latter, I'd argue, is one of the best songs of that decade, period). It didn't hurt that "Flight of Icarus" gave them their greatest period of MTV exposure.
Maiden fandom wasn't that risky, to be honest. I got harassed more for my glasses than for the crude Eddie-with-an-axe sketchwork on my book covers. We in the elite Dungeons and Dragons-playing junior high cabal were of like minds, and howled gleefully along with "Die With Your Boots On" while taking turns at "River Raid" on the Atari 2600.
Nothing good lasts. "Powerslave" was a bit of a letdown, and I was getting into punk by then. The Circle Jerks and the DKs started taking up most of my listening time, and their haircuts were easier to imitate anyway. I enjoyed "Live After Death," and I still think 1986's "Somewhere In Time" is a fine album (it's one of the few cassette tapes from that era that survives). In 1983 however, metal was on the verge of splitting into "hair" and "speed" varieties. Metallica's "Kill 'Em All" had just come out, and it signaled the beginning of a more punk-influenced metal sound.
I suppose the title of this entry is a bit misleading: I'm not ashamed of being a Maiden fan ("Maidenhead?"...I think "Trooper" is the official term). Good metal, like good cheese (stay with me), ages well. There are any number of craptastic "metal" bands from that era that are nigh unlistenable today (see Grim Reaper). Iron Maiden is still in my rotation, and I can wail along to "Wasted Years" in my car along with the best of 'em.
Besides, what other metal group has an all-female tribute band?
Okay, besides Sabbath. And KISS. And AC/DC.
ooooooooooo - we have the same taste in music ...
I kinda miss those days, nobody makes music like that anymore *cries*
I was always partial to AC/DC, myself. And gangsta rap.
Southern rock is unfairly maligned. I'm a big Skynrd fan.
And if you like Molly Hatchet you should check out the Drive-By Truckers: they have a good modern take on the genre.
Good God. You people are freaking me out.
Whenever I think I have put those days far behind me, along comes someone who isn't appropriately embarrassed of their junior high 80's metal "experimentation"...and my haircut comes back to haunt me.
Once, my nose began to bleed while I was singing the Number of the Beast - I couldn't decide if it was a sign of God's disapproval or overly enthusiastic head banging.
I successfully transitioned into punk rock before too many incriminating pictures entered the yearbook archives. Thank god I, unlike my friend, didn't get the Eddie tattoo.
During the era u describe through today, I remain a complete metal head (Metallica's show this summer was a classic). My mother was not a fan of the Eddie poster I had on my bedroom door growing up, but hey - - she got over it.
Maiden is a terrific band, such a unique sound. Steve Harris was wicked quick on the bass; might have been the first bassist I really paid attention to.
I had the priviledge of seeing them at the Houston Summit back in 12/87 - - heck of a show, 4th row. Even took home a few guitar picks and a sweatband (yes, I still have them).
While never a huge metal fan, this posting reminded me of what a huge Molly Hatchet goober I was in the early 80's. And not just for the cover art, either; I was deeply into the music and can still sing Flirtin' With Disaster without missing a beat.
Not unlike Pete, at some point I transitioned to punk, which was quite a leap from southern rock. At some point my therapist will help me recover from the shock, but for now it's enough to retreat into my Happy Place and hum the guitar line to Fall of the Peacemakers.