Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, east London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris.

The band have released 37 albums, including 15 studio albums, 11 live, 4 EP’s and 7 compilations

Current members:• Steve Harris• Dave Murray• Adrian Smith• Bruce Dickinson• Nicko McBrain• Janick Ger

Former membersVocalists:

Paul Day – lead vocals (1975–1976)Dennis Wilcock – lead vocals (1976–1978)Paul Di'Anno – lead vocals (1978–1981)Blaze Bayley – lead vocals (1994–1999)

Guitarists:Terry Rance – guitars (1975–1976)Dave Sullivan – guitars (1975–1976)Bob Sawyer – guitars (1977)Terry Wapram – guitars (1977–1978)Paul Cairns – guitars (1978–1979)Paul Todd – guitars (1979)Tony Parsons – guitars (1979)Dennis Stratton – guitars, backing vocals (1979–1980)

Drummers:Ron "Rebel" Matthews – drums (1975–1977)Thunderstick – drums, percussion (1977)Doug Sampson – drums, percussion (1977–1979)Clive Burr – drums, percussion (1979–1982)Keyboardist:

Tony Moore – keyboards (1977)

• Since the return of lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson and guitarist Adrian Smith in 1999, the band have undergone a revival in popularity

• Their latest, The Final Frontier, peaking at No. 1 in 28 different countries and receiving widespread critical acclaim.

• Iron Maiden achieved success during the early 1980s.

• After many line-up changes, the band went on to release a series of US and UK platinum and gold albums

• Their music features a lot of guitar solo’s, slightly growly/shouty music and harmonies with other back up vocalists.

Nico Mcbrain Adrian Smith Janick Gers

Steve Harris Dave MurrayBruce Dickinson

Iron Maiden: Then and Now-

As you can see with these members of the band, their image is very similar with the exception of Dave Murray and Janick Gers. However with these pictures it is difficult to know whether they had chosen their career paths at the time of the photographs, but in Janick Gers case, it seems unlikely.

Bruce Dickinson was diagnosed with cancer a few years back, but on the 19th May 2015 he went for a routine and was given a routine check up.

• The band adopted a different style for their 1986 studio album, entitled Somewhere in Time, featuring, for the first time in the band's history, synthesised bass and guitars to add textures and layers to the sound.

• The release charted well across the world, particularly with the single "Wasted Years", but no writing credits from lead singer Bruce Dickinson, whose material was rejected by the rest of the band.

• This suggests that there was a kind of ‘bad blood’ between the members of the band, which is a possibility supported by the fact that there have been 17 former members in the band.

Apart from members leaving and others joining, the band’s music has pretty much stayed the same, which brings us onto the star image.

The Star Image

Every fan in this picture that we can clearly see is wearing Iron Maiden merchandise showing that their star image has extended to the ‘walking advert’ aspect of it.

They are still very popular amongst heavy metal fans, with their last tour having been in 2014 at 19 venues. Their worldwide popularity is shown through the amount of countries they visited in the 2014 tour, which was 17.

Since the band was former in 1975, their image has been one typical of heavy metal artist’s, with long hair, tattoos and vests.

The Star ImageIron Maiden rely on live performance extensively in the creation of their image. For example, they used Eddie as their mascot.

The image of Eddie himself is one that has connotations of death as we see him to be a zombified character, and in this particular picture he is carrying a blood stained axe, which further enhances the idea of death.

Furthermore, they use the face of Eddie in their live performances by putting a 40 Ft Robot of him on stage.

As you can see, they have done this a number of times with adapted figures of the same idea, Eddie.

The Star Image: Conventions of heavy metal and Iron Maiden

In heavy metal, instruments are vital to creating a good metal band as instrumental solo’s are what people associate with the genre, especially the guitar, plus many fan members will probably play an instrument them selves. The electric guitar is the main instrument in the genre as it is the main sound that the audience can hear, and is synonymous with heavy metal because of the noise it can make.

This picture shows lead guitarist, Adrian Smith who’s guitar, the Signiture SDX in Ghost White has become iconic to fans.

The Look!

The look that heavy metal artists have tends to include black or dark clothing, usually full of rips, tears and signs of wear, long rock-star hair, piercings, tattoo’s, vest, and big clunky shoes. This look implies a form of rebellion, which links to the music, which is rebellious in it self as it challenges the social norm of mainstream music.

In the case of Iron Maiden, they follow many of the typical conventions of heavy metal music. Especially with the actual music, which contains guitar riffs and loud vocals, which is heavy and aggressive. Iron Maiden introduced heavy metal to the UK, which gave them the ability to create pretty much whatever image they wanted.

The Star Image

In terms of the image that they create through their album artwork is all of Eddie, their mascot, and in all 37 album covers, not once do the artists feature on the cover. This shows that for them, it is all about the music. However, this also allows them to create their image through computer generated images of a zombified figure. This again presents their image of aggression, hell, death and anarchy.

The Star ImageIron Maiden have taken the typical conventions of heavy metal and amplified them to create something so full of energy and passion that flows through the fans. They have done this through elevated live performance, like Bruce Dickinson jumping around stage, Adrian Smith’s physical guitar solo’s and the rest of the bands movement throughout their live performances. Nico’s drum solo’s are adored by fans due to their energy and rhythm.

Their 5 most popular songs are here:

The Number Of The BeastThe Number of the Beast · 19824:58

Run to the HillsThe Number of the Beast · 19823:54

The TrooperPiece of Mind · 19833:59

Phantom of the OperaIron Maiden · 19807:02

Hallowed Be Thy NameThe Number of the Beast · 1982

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMm6HOnqoM4

Here is a link to all Iron Maiden songs in the 1980-2003 period.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dqWnmxNpv0

Here is another link of the Top 30 song by Iron Maiden of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJvht0bqhsM

Nico Mcbrain’s live drum solo in 1987

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDwGFJzhZo8

Iron Maiden live performance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vD6OimPl1U

Live guitar solo, Walking on Glass