Why the name Iron Maiden?

A

Anonymous

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Hey, maybe this has already been asked but I didn't find a topic related, why did the original line-up decided to name themselves Iron Maiden??
 
From Mick Wall's official Iron Maiden biography, Run To The Hills:

Steve came up with the name of the new band, Iron Maiden (named after a medieval torture device that could be described as a coffin lined with long, sharp spikes), simply because "it just sounded right for the music. I was sitting around at my mum's place, talking about names for the band, and that was the name that was bandied about, and I said, 'Yeah, that's great. I like that.' I don't remember if I thought of it or my mum did or someone else in my family. I can't remember. But I do remember saying it to my mum, and she went, 'Oh, that's good.' I think I had a short-list of four or five names and she said, 'Oh, yeah. That's the best one.'

"The film The Man In The Iron Mask was about at the time and I'd seen that, and I think it probably came from there, although there wasn't actually an iron maiden in the film. I just thought it was a good name for a band. Iron Butterfly were known before that, and funnily enough, when we did our first couple of gigs at the Cart and Horses, we had a phone call behind the bar one night, and still to this day I don't know whether it was a fucking wind-up or what, but someone phoned up and said, 'We're called Iron Maiden and you can't use the name,' and all this, but I just said, 'That's tough shit, because we're called Iron Maiden, so bollocks!' I must admit, I was all bravado on the phone, but when I came away I thought, 'Oh shit,' 'cause if they had registered it – you know, even though we were only playing pubs – then we wouldn't have been able to use it, and by then I was really set on it. But we never actually heard any more, so it might have been one of my mates winding me up, doing a northern accent. I don't know."
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There.  :innocent:
 
but someone phoned up and said, 'We're called Iron Maiden and you can't use the name,'.....But we never actually heard any more, so it might have been one of my mates winding me up, doing a northern accent. I don't know."
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Hmm, the Bolton Iron Maiden perhaps? There must of been some period of crossover as they were, I beleive, winding up when 'Arry was starting off.

I do remember playing Maidens debut at school (many a year ago) and one of the teachers (a Buddy Holly fan) asked who they were. I told him to which he replied "Thats a name of a <a href="http://www.bseps.org.uk/scf2k4/FX6661_scf2k4.htm">locomotive</a>, the name suits the music as it just seems to relentlessly chug along."
 
Albie said:
Hmm, the Bolton Iron Maiden perhaps?
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According to Paul O'Neill, the Bolton drummer, none of the band phoned London, but it's pretty likely that one of their fans did.

Albie said:
Thats a name of a <a href="http://www.bseps.org.uk/scf2k4/FX6661_scf2k4.htm">locomotive</a>
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Are you an anorak or something?  ^_^
 
Maverick said:
Are you an anorak or something?  ^_^
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I guess, by posting such a link, it could be conceived that I spend my time (whilst away from here) armed with my notepad jotting down the details of all such locomotives as and when I see them. I may well be. :-[

More simply, I felt I had to back up the "Iron Maiden as a locomotive" story and if you do a google(.co.uk) on "iron maiden locomotive" and thats one of the top results. But I guess you knew that. ;)
 
Albie said:
I guess, by posting such a link, it could be conceived that I spend my time (whilst away from here) armed with my notepad jotting down the details of all such locomotives as and when I see them. I may well be. :-[

More simply, I felt I had to back up the "Iron Maiden as a locomotive" story and if you do a google(.co.uk) on "iron maiden locomotive" and thats one of the top results. But I guess you knew that. ;)
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Saxon had an old song "Princess of the night" about a locomotive; Certainly fits the "Maiden" gender criteria for
naming them. I also seem to remember one of the old EP's had a photo of the band posing next to an Iron
Maiden- The torture device.
 
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