Iron Maiden ROCKS! Top 10 Songs and Albums of All-Time
Iron Maiden is one of those few bands that almost needs no introduction. Almost everyone young and old has heard of their music, or at least heard of them. They are one of the most original and iconic symbols of heavy metal today. They were pioneers along with the likes of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. Named after a famous torture device after he watched an old film version of The Man in the Iron Mask. They have released almost 40 albums since 1978, as well as have played live shows ever since the beginning. That says a lot because they’ve gone through numerous line-ups and band members. The old lead vocalist and guitarist rejoined in 1999, and they’ve gone through a lot to earn their top ranking as one of the richest heavy metal bands, despite never being actually inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (they’ve actually refused to be from the beginning). And before you can judge them, Evil Eddie, the band’s iconic mascot will probably both scare you and kick your rear end at the same time!
Their net worth between gigs, videos, live shows, and even world events that have made them worth around $125 million, although each of them collectively have a net worth together of more than $230 million altogether, excluding Janick Gers net worth, since he’s been so secretive. You can calculate that he’s worth about $6 mill of the band’s actual net worth, but nobody knows exactly how much he makes individually. That’s not what this article is about though. What we’re going to do though, is give you the top 10 iron maiden songs out there. We’re going to go from the greatest iron maiden song of all time from numerous sources down to 10, and then show you the best albums.
#1 – Hallowed Be Thy Name (The Mark of the Beast, 1982)
This song is ranked number one across numerous boards as the top Iron Maiden song listened to even now. The song is about a man on death row who’s about to be exterminated. It puts the lyrics into the mind of the man as his life is flashing through his mind. While many of Iron Maiden’s songs tell a story, this song tells a realistic one that showed that Iron Maiden’s album was on a very serious note about darkness that is reality all around us.
#2 – The Book of Souls (The Book of Souls Remaster, 2015)
Many articles have proven their opinion on what they think the number two song out there is, well more than anything, we’re going to pit it against statistics. According to the Billboard charts, this is the second most played Iron-Maiden song and actually made it to number four, selling over 70,000 copies. It’s actually a very nerdy song, as it’s based primarily on the early Mayan culture, and the royalty. It was about how the Underworld was there and that their souls could be lost into it. The album this song is on has now been released as the tracks were remastered.
#3 – Satellite 15… The Final Frontier (The Final Frontier, 2010)
This song is about a man who ends up stranded in space, waiting to transition into a double meaning reference also talking about the transition from life to death in his last moments. While it’s a very dark song, It’s one of the most popular songs out there to this day.
#4 – Dance of Death (Dance of Death, 2003)
While the song is basically about a man who takes a trip to hell so he can dance with the dead, it’s still one of the band’s most iconic songs. The song was inspired by an old “B-Movie” called The Seventh Seal and tells a tale, and the song is supposedly loosely based on what many believe to be Voodoo folklore lyrically.
#5 – No Prayer for the Dying (No prayer for the Dying, 1990)
This song was written with the emergence of guitarist Janick Gers, and even though many fans didn’t like this album, as it was a somewhat different experimentation of vocal styles by the lead singer, it is still one of the most popular songs on this list because it was the best song of this “flopped” album. It was actually written about very popular questions about the meaning of life. It’s also very interesting because there is some reference about asking God for the answers (mind you the song doesn’t answer ANY questions about the topic).
#6 – The Trooper (Piece of Mind, 1983)
This song has made countless top 10 lists for Iron maiden’s songs, right there with “Run to The Hills”. The song is about the Crimean War, and how a mistake by the cowardly British Lord Cardigan led to the death of over 500 British soldiers in which they lost nearly the entire Light Brigade. So, there’s another important moment in history fact that you didn’t know about huh?
#7 – Fear of the Dark (Fear of the Dark, 1992)
This is one of their biggest songs on the album. It tells the story of a man who’s constantly fearing that something or someone is going to jump out of the dark because he’s constantly watching scary movies and studying things like witchcraft. It is the title song of the album with the same name, and it shows just how doing things like this can lead to paranoia, or even Nyctophobia (fear of the dark).
#8 – Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, 1988)
This song is inspired loosely on the novel Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card. It is about the birth of a boy who doesn’t know about the superbly paranormal and superhuman powers he received. He has healing and clairvoyance capabilities, and the song and it’s about how even though he could be an instrument for either good or evil, he has the right to choose which he can do. While there are no lyrics to this song, it’s by far one of their best instrumental songs out there.
#9 – Caught Somewhere in Time (Somewhere in Time, 1986)
According to the lyrics in the song, it’s about a man who has the constant necessity and feels like they need to sell their soul, but never actually says what for. Many people think that it’s based on a movie and book written by none other than H.G. Wells (famous for his science fiction writing and movies back then), which came out in 1979. Neither the fans, nor the band can confirm any of these facts though.
#10 – Different World (A Matter of Life and Death, 2006)
This song, along with the entire album was a statement that was to point a message towards all of the death, war, and human massacres. This song is about how everyone perceives things differently all around us. This means there could be literally billions of views on life according to the population of the world. And that if we actually accepted these views and let people believe what they wanted to, then we would have far less wars. Therefore, this is a very anti-war song and album.
The Top 10 Albums
Obviously, the top 10 albums were where the top 10 songs have come from, and in literally just about the same order, except for the first two. Despite the track Book of Souls being their number one album based even on sales for the Billboard charts. And they’re still not finished. They’re still out there performing fan favorites, and more importantly preparing for a new album as soon as possible.
Our Conclusion?
This article was based on detailed and lengthy research, done because every article seems to have “they’re own opinion” on what the best songs and albums were. This article was based on popular decision, and whether you’re an Iron Maiden fan or not, it can definitely be seen that while some people in the world thinks that heavy metal is all about screaming, guitars, sex, drugs, and rock and roll, there is a lot more to it. Instead of telling fictitious tales all the time, Iron Maiden actually uses a lot of real-life events that inspire their music, and not just their own individual stories.
This is something that many artists just simply don’t do, as most artists write music solely based on their own experiences, or those who are close loved ones (or ones they’ve heard of). Iron Maiden breaks the mold when it comes to heavy metal bands, because they tell stories primarily about history. So, if you ever need a life lesson, or a lesson about something in history, simply look up what an Iron Maiden song is about and check into the story that it’s based on. You may be surprised, as some of them haven’t even been told in World History books to this day! Who knows? Maybe you can use one of these awesome music-inspiring events on one of your next term papers in the future!
