With all due respect to the ill-fated Paul DiAnno, Iron Maiden got really lucky and struck the jackpot by choosing Bruce Dickinson as his replacement. It was released in 19-fuckin-82, people! Thrash didn’t exist at that time can you fathom that? It’s mind-blowing! The Derek Riggs artwork is iconic beyond measure, the music within just perfect. Bruce Dickinson’s debut is such a well-rounded piece of work that deserves all and any accolades I can imagine. But then, I can do likewise with those who say this is their best. I can understand and sympathize with those that say that this isn’t Maiden’s best, if they chose any of the four subsequent LPs or all of them instead, or even the preceding Killers. But despite my musical listening tendencies what remains unquestionable is that The Number of the Beast is ONE OF THE GREATEAST METAL ALBUMS EVER CREATED. I don’t listen to Maiden as much as I used to, not that I like them any less (especially their classics). How could I rank it now? Among my favorite 20 metal releases? Top 50s? I certainly don’t know anymore, since I’ve listened to so many great metal records, and every day I listen to something new. The Number of the Beast became one of the most listened albums by me all the late 90s and remained so well into the mid-2000s, when my taste in metal diversified exponentially. The songs from The Number of the Beast became some of my favorites, especially “Hallowed Be Thy Name”.Ī few years later, I had collected all the 80s Maiden classics in CD format, the enhanced 1998 EMI reissues. But then, I listened and purchased Best of the Beast compilation and boy, oh boy! I was blown away. A friend lent me Fear of the Dark and I wasn’t really impressed.
My own first experience of the Irons came a decade and change later, around 1997 when Bruce was not around anymore. Were there many doubts Bruce would fill those shoes? Were those who though and foresaw he might actually surpass DiAnno as THE voice for The Beast? I’ve never chatted with someone who happened to be alive in that situation, but I’d be curious to know. I can only imagine what it means for metalheads who were there, anxious to get it right after listening to the debut and Killers and knowing this band was destined for greatness, even after the departure of its first frontman.
Even when I cannot say I’ve listened to it since when it was originally released, as this great masterpiece of metal precedes my own existence by two years.
Happy 66(6)th birthday Steve! And The Number of the Beast is 40 years old! Unbelievable.
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