Did Eddie potentially ruin Maiden for people?

Hahah yeah  -
Thank god it wasn't yellow, not that the colour would have any effect on me getting verbally annihilated @ school from my peers ;P
Probably saved me from gettin called 'Rodders' tho :o
 
I got a bunch of MP3s before I saw any Maiden artwork, so it didn't influence me at all.  Only later did I realise the whole idea of albums and the covers of those albums, but I honestly can't remember how I felt about Eddie when I first found out about him.
 
The first picture I ever saw of Eddie was a poster for the "Can I Play With Madness" single artwork.  And all I thought was....gross.  But my main point in starting the thread wasn't whether we were put off by it, but if we knew someone who had been.  I used my wife as an example.  I think Eddie only adds to the greatness of Maiden.  But i'd still listen to them without Eddie.  My favorite cover will always be SSOASS.
 
Well, the same people who would get "turned off" by Eddie are the kind of people who usually look down on metal anyway. We don't need 'em.


I'll tell you this, I wouldn't of been able to get my brother when he was ten to listen to Iron Maiden without him.
 
Cap Maronis said:
Well, the same people who would get "turned off" by Eddie are the kind of people who usually look down on metal anyway. We don't need 'em.


I'll tell you this, I wouldn't of been able to get my brother when he was ten to listen to Iron Maiden without him.
Click to expand...

Your ten year old brother would only listen to music if it had a zombie on the cover?  That is beast!!
 
Hahahah, well he's 20 now, but the point was that he thought it was WAY cool.


There is no greater hook in rock music than Eddie. He's marketable, but he's still a monster, so all the tough guys don't feel emasculated supporting a mascot that's a zombie. The other thing about Eddie is that, despite some less than great album covers, has never felt forced, and kind of keeps the mythos of a band alive when they've evolved musically in so many ways.
 
Cap Maronis said:
Hahahah, well he's 20 now, but the point was that he thought it was WAY cool.


There is no greater hook in rock music than Eddie. He's marketable, but he's still a monster, so all the tough guys don't feel emasculated supporting a mascot that's a zombie. The other thing about Eddie is that, despite some less than great album covers, has never felt forced, and kind of keeps the mythos of a band alive when they've evolved musically in so many ways.
Click to expand...

Agreed.  In anyone else's hands, a giant zombie coming onto the stage would be laughed right back off of it.  Maiden make Eddie work.
 
I don't exactly remember my first encounter with Eddie, but I do remember being drawn in and very interested in the band after seeing him. As one of the above posters has stated, I think Eddie brought more fans in, rather than repel them. His image is just too cool to pass up.
 
On the contrary, the artwork was part of the appeal of it for me and was for a lot of people that I've brought this up with.
 
I recall hearing Adrian in an interview saying that he wasn't fussed by the album covers and didn't pay them much attention...it was a quote from dance of death or the amolad bonus disc.
 
For me, seeing the Powerslave cover was what led me to choose it as the first album I ever purchased for myself.  I had listened to maiden before but it was just with my dad.  I knew I loved the music, but that album was the first for me.  And they say the first album is your first love.
 
The Mid-Distance Runner said:
I recall hearing Adrian in an interview saying that he wasn't fussed by the album covers and didn't pay them much attention...it was a quote from dance of death or the amolad bonus disc.
Click to expand...

That doesn't really surprise me really.  His job is to create the music, not to worry about the album artworks.  That stuff is mostly for the fans anyway.
 
Reading this thread inspired me to join this forum. Reason being, I'm a new Maiden fan and I can't stop listening to them. I have to admit, I never really took them that seriously partly because of the whole Eddie thing. I always liked what I heard when  they were on the radio etc but I had little knowledge of them otherwise. I thought the Eddie thing was kind of cheesy and it just reminded me of high school metal heads too much. I had a stoner friend that sat next to me in high school and he was always drawing pics of Eddie on his notebook and not paying attention in class. He was all fired up about SSOASS album. I remember the teacher catching him drawing pictures of eddie and asked him why is he doing that during his class presentation? He replied, Because Maiden F-n Rules dude!! The teacher sent him to the office. I was laughing hysterically!!
  To make along story short, I drifted off and got into other bands. Rush, Dream Theater, and Yes have been my 3 favorite bands for years. I am now 38 years old and just now realizing what I was missing out on for years. I am a musician myself and I can't believe Maiden escaped me and went over my head for all these years. I got kick marks on me for missing that boat. I guess I was judging abook by it's cover so to speak which reveals how shallow I was being. I like Iron Maiden every bit as much as the other 3 bands  mentioned. My first cd purchase was Dance Of Death, then BNW and the rest is history. Their older stuff is great too!! I'm really digging TFF right now as well. I have been playing Maiden more than anything else lately. I also saw them in concert for the first time this year in Seattle and I was blown away. Dream theater opened up for them, and they were great too !!
So thinking back, my stoner friend was absolutely RIGHT about Maiden!!!! The eddie artwork is growing on me now as well.
 
Not only is that a great story, but I believe that's the premise of the "Can I Play With Madness" video!  Awesome! :lol:
 
As a 13 yo back in about 1985, I first started listening to AC/DC's Back in Black album and the heavy sound instantly appealed to me. A friend lent me a tape of Metallica's Ride the Lightning, and I just wanted more. I started doing a paper round and every month saved up enough money to go to the record store and by an album. Maiden's artwork fascinated me and just stood out amongst some of the other more lame and morbid album covers. The first album I purchased was Powerslave, and naturally loved it before going on and purchasing all it's predocessors. I have been an Iron Maiden fan ever since and their unique artwork and polished skills with songwriting genius and not to mention the greatest stage show on Earth, they trully are the complete package.
 
I saw my first Maiden album cover while in middleschool.  It was in the posession of a loner type, heavy set Paiute indian girl I knew, and I can remember being surprised that she liked "that type" of music.  It obviously made an impression on me, though, 'cause I can still remember the moment vividly.  The artwork showed the devil being controlled by a demon creature, who in turn was controlling him.  Whoa.  I was curious about it, but never made an effort to actually listen to such a "heavy" band.  I was aware of Maiden peripherally, but yeah, the artwork scared me off from actually going so far as to listen to them.  What a wuss. 

Fast forward years later and I'm at a friends house and he puts on the new tape his older brother bought.  I found the artwork again questionable, but after a couple of listens to Somewhere In Time, I was a goner.  This was what I was scared of?! This was awesome!  When SSOASS came along, it was the first album I ever bought on CD, and I didn't even have a CD player yet!  My mom hated Eddie then, and still shakes her head as in "I don't get it" at him, but at least she never confiscated my albums or forbid me to listen to Maiden.   
 
Loved them up to FOTD, but they haven't really succeeded after that. X Factor is horrible. VXI bad, BNW ok, DOD bad, AMOLAD ok and TFF bad.

The covers are somehow cheesy nowadays. They have grown into opposite direction where the music has gone. Covers have gotten more childish.
 
When I was younger, and not a fan of Maiden, I always thought that the artwork was awesome. Thinking back, I don't realize why I never listened to them; I guess I thought that I wouldn't like the music. Of course, I had heard Can I Play With Madness, Run to the Hills, and The Number of the Beast from radio and games, but I never appreciated them. A little while ago, my friend was telling me how awesome the concert he went to the night before was; it was a Maiden concert. I asked him what the best songs were, and he gave me a list. I looked the songs up, and they were awesome. I then bought Piece of Mind and TNOTB, and now I have almost all the albums (getting the 90's period soon; I like that era a bit more than most of you) So it wasn't the artwork that drew me in, but it is the artwork that adds something truly special to the experience that is Iron Maiden.
 
the first time i saw the album cover to the number of the beast i was hooked. it totally lured me in. a friends older brother had the album and we would listen to his music stash when he was at work. i remember getting totally lost in riggs art work from then on. when powerslave and somewhere in time came out...forget it! eddie got progressively more and more bad ass.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top