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Iron Maiden Radio Show II

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Intro

      Welcome to Andy See’s (mostly) Rock N’ Roll Variety Show!  Last year, I did a lot of second shows because I didn’t have many ideas for new bands or artists.  This year, every musician I have presented so far has been new to this show.  In fact, today’s band is the only one making a return appearance.  This band happens to be Iron Maiden.  Last time, I talked almost exclusively about their 80s songs.  This time, I’m going to be more diverse.

Wrathchild

      Our first song has a somewhat familiar subject.  It’s about a boy looking for his father because he presumably wants to kill him.  The boy was born to a father who’s likely a criminal of some sort and a mother who I think is a prostitute.  The Johnny Cash song (written by Shel Silverstein) A Boy Named Sue had this subject, but that boy wanted to kill his father specifically because of his name.  This boy simply seems to have evil on his mind.  The song is called Wrathchild.

      The man you heard was Iron Madien’s first vocalist Paul Di’Anno.  Since I didn’t play any songs not sung by Bruce Dickinson on my first Iron Maiden Radio Show, I wanted to give both Di’Anno and Blaze Bayley a song apiece.  Other great songs on “Killers” (the album Wrathchild was on) include the title song, Purgatory, and Twilight Zone.

Flight of Icarus

      We now move to the 1983 album “Piece of Mind”.  By this point, Bruce Dickinson was most certainly the singer and I have previously played The Trooper from this album.  Icarus is one of those myths most people know.  It’s about a father and son trapped in a prison, they craft wings to free one of them, Icarus flies around but gets too close to the sun.  At that point, the wax that held his wings together melted and he drowned.  This is the story of Flight of Icarus.
      Editing Note: I was going to play the original version of Flight of Icarus on my show, but I ended up playing the live version from "Live After Death".  Iron Maiden themselves were unsatisfied with the original version and ended up recommending live versions of the song.

      Other great songs on “Piece of Mind” include Where Eagles Dare and Revelations.

The Evil that Men do

      Our final 80s Iron Maiden song today comes from the album “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” (I would play Two Minutes to Midnight, but I don’t have enough time for three songs that are six minutes or longer).  The name of this song comes from Marcus Antonius’ speech after Julius Caesar’s murder in the Shakespeare play about the latter man.  The lyrics deal with the upcoming birth of the Seventh Son.  It seems counterproductive to have half of a concept album happen before the title character is even born, but I’m not Adrian Smith, Steve Harris, or Bruce Dickinson so I don’t know what their mindset was when they wrote this album.  The song is called The Evil that Men do.

      I played the songs Can I Play with Madness and The Clairvoyant on my first Iron Maiden radio show.  Other great songs from “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” include Moonchild and The Prophecy.

Bring your Daughter…To the Slaughter

      In 1990, Iron Maiden released a back to the basics album called “No Prayer for the Dying”.  That album’s biggest hit started as a Bruce Dickinson solo song for the soundtrack of A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child.  Dickinson said this was about a girl’s first period and her blooming sexuality as a teenager, but the former subject seems to be missing from the lyrics.  From what I can tell, this is sung from the perspective of a pickup artist getting his way with a young woman.  In any case, the song is called Bring your Daughter…To the Slaughter.

      Despite a subject matter controversial enough to get banned on the BBC (or perhaps because of it), Bring your Daughter…To the Slaughter was Iron Maiden’s only #1 hit in the U.K.  Other great songs on “No Prayer for the Dying” include Tailgunner and Holy Smoke.

Be Quick or Be Dead

      “Fear of the Dark” was Iron Maiden’s ninth album and last with Bruce Dickinson singing for the next eight years.  This song is named after a bible passage that says “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom…”.  The song itself is about how the democratic system can become corrupt through rich non-politicians convincing actual politicians to exploit the stupidity and trust of poor people.  The song is called Be Quick or be Dead.

      Be Quick or be Dead went to #2 in the U.K. and was Iron Maiden’s second #1 hit in Finland.  They had six #1 hits in Finland which is likely due to Scandinavian countries be more accepting of heavy metal.  This also wouldn’t be the last time Iron Maiden commented on controversial sociopolitical events.  Other great songs from “Fear of the Dark” include From Here to Eternity and the title song.

Man on the Edge

      After Bruce Dickinson left to further his solo career, Blaze Bayley was brought in to replace Dickinson.  The next album Iron Maiden released was called “The X Factor” which was named because it was their tenth album and X is ten in roman numerals.  The lead single is a retelling of the 1993 movie Falling Down, to the point that that title is the hook of the song.  The movie is about a man who leaves his car in a traffic jam and walks across Los Angeles trying to make it to his daughter’s birthday on time.  Along the way, there are sardonic takedowns of life, poverty, the economy, and commercialism at the time.  The song is called Man on the Edge.

      Should you watch Falling Down?  On the one hand, it has a 73% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 6.7 out of 10.  On the other hand, Falling Down is directed by Joel Schumacher who has also directed St. Elmo’s Fire, Batman and Robin, and The Number 23 all terrible movies (I’m also pretty sure that the 2004 version of Phantom of the Opera is bad as well).  Then again, maybe Schumacher is capable of directing a good movie.  After all, my dad went into Titanic ready to hate it because it was directed by James Cameron and he ended up enjoying it.  Another great song on “The X Factor” is The Aftermath.

The Wicker Man

      Dickinson returned for Iron Maiden’s 2000 album “Brave New World”.  The opening song and lead single from that album was called The Wicker Man.  You may know that as a movie in which Nicholas Cage loudly declared his fear of bees.  However, not only was that remake was still six years away, the original 1973 British movie is considered a horror classic.  Of course, this song isn’t even about that movie.  It’s about our apathy for the world and the important events until something bad happens to us and it leaves us astonished.

      Other great songs on “Brave New World” include the title song and Blood Brothers.

The Longest Day

      Since I already played both Wildest Dreams and Rainmaker on my first Iron Maiden Radio Show, I’m skipping “Dance of Death” and going straight to the 2006 album “A Matter of Life and Death”.  While Iron Maiden had made songs about war before (like The Trooper and Aces High), “A Matter of Life and Death” was a whole album about war.  I could play Different World, but it is the only song on that album below five minutes and thus not representative of the album in general.  A better song to represent the album would be one about D-Day from World War II in 1944.  Anyone who knows anything about World War II (besides Hitler) knows that D-Day was intense, even by the standards of the time. In fact, the song itself is named after a 1962 movie on D-Day.  The song is called The Longest Day.

      Other great songs on “A Matter of Life and Death” include Different World, Brighter than a Thousand Suns, and The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg.

El Dorado

      In 2010, Iron Maiden released their 15th album “Satellite 15…The Final Frontier”.  While the album’s title suggested an interstellar theme, our next song is both historical and relevant to this day.  I have this song on my April Fool’s Day playlist and for good reason.  The song was inspired by the immoral bankers who caused the recession of 2008 and got away with it.  It’s about someone who promises people a city of gold and they fall for it while the perpetrator gets away with their money.  It even mentions snake oil and being a “jester with no tears”.  The song is called El Dorado.

      Other great songs on "Satellite 15…The Final Frontier" include the title song (which I played on my Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls show) and Coming Home.

Speed of Light

      Iron Maiden’s latest album is 2016’s “The Book of Souls”.  It’s also their first double album, although it’s not that much longer than “Satellite 15…The Final Frontier”.  Our final song sounds like it should have gone on the previous album due to its theme about going faster and farther in space than anyone has before.  The song is called Speed of Light.

      I like the music video for Speed of Light as well.  It’s about Eddie (a zombie who is Iron Maiden’s mascot) going through the history of video games.  Unfortunately, too much time is spent in the transitions between segments.  I really wish they could fit in more genres. Anyway, other great songs on “The Book of Souls” include The Red and the Black, the title song, Death or Glory, Tears of a Clown, and Empire of the Clouds.  Iron Maiden have spent over 35 years defining the genre of heavy metal and they’re still at it today.

Next Week’s Show

      We’re going from one band that has been around since the 80s to a band that ceased to be shortly after the 70s ended.  They did however leave behind a legacy of Jazz Rock songs with hidden double meanings just below the surface.  I’m playing Steely Dan next week on Andy See’s (mostly) Rock N’ Roll Variety Show.
Let's just get to the bonus songs

Killers www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xozYK…
Purgatory www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th16vN…
Twilight Zone www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAnGqt…
Where Eagles Dare www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAYOmJ…
Revelations www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOzxZW…
Flight of Icarus (original version) www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4w2BZ…
The Trooper www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4bgXH…
Aces High www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg9aQv…
Two Minutes to Midnight www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qbRHY…
Moonchild www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oS6VB…
Can I Play with Madness www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvqr36…
The Prophecy www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ0I_f…
The Clairvoyant www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcxD9L…
Tailgunner www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW0Uym…
Holy Smoke www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOfF5q…
From Here to Eternity www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhUUTv…
Fear of the Dark (live) www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_hMZY…
The Aftermath www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGFn6N…
Brave New World www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_FDjD…
Blood Brothers www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve8Pyt…
Wildest Dreams www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX5aMv…
Rainmaker www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQS5G4…
Different World www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvnfCf…
Brighter than a Thousand Suns www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuPIEi…
The Reincarnation of Bejamin Breeg www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmx1us…
Satellite 15...The Final Frontier www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dix29c…
Coming Home www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPlCp-…
The Red and the Black www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoynC3…
The Book of Souls www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMwz87…
Death or Glory www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6ajBx…
Tears of a Clown www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jef77j…
Empire of the Clouds www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsM6wp…
A Boy Named Sue (live) - Johnny Cash www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gbtm-…
Bring your Daughter...To the Slaughter - Bruce Dickinson www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDCYv4…
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