Congratulations
@Jmaster !
And I thought I had made it too easy (see clues 2, 3 and 4)
Clue #1: It feels good when you know you're down
< a line from MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This" // "in the heat of the night I scream "Don't touch!" "
Clue #2:
< "Fear is the Key" is a song about AIDS and the fact that unprotected sex with strangers is not safe any more (rough chronology: AIDS appeared around 1981 but for years, it was vastly considered as a disease concerning only homosexuals and drug-addicts. After Freddie Mercury died from it (Nov 1991), an effort of communication was made at a global scale and things have gradually improved since then, though this disease still kills today. // "sex, sex, sex" on the cover and, obviously, "And it was just lies and lies and lies"
Clue #3: not dark
< the "other song" about fear on the album, not of the dark this time.
Clue #4: Flesh and blood
< the ways AIDS can be transmitted.
Clue #5: The Beast On The Road, US tour 1982
< Bruce and Adrian, at least, have said in interviews how during their first American tour with Maiden, they had indulged in casual sex with groupies their fair share (see the "girl in a cast" anecdote).
Clue #6: of little interest till 1985
< the year one of the first celebrities died from AIDS (in this case, the actor Rock Hudson) // "And nobody cares 'til somebody famous dies"
Clue #7: "I love the smell of napalm in the morning"... or at another time
(PS the song we're looking for is not "The Edge of Darkness")
< "In the heat of the night... bodies aflame"
Clue #8: this song has never been played live
< self-explanatory
Clue #9:
< this is a still from the Buffy episode "The Pack" (Season 1) = some students from Sunnydale High (including Xander) are cursed and infected
with the souls of hyenas - causing them to be particularly mean (which includes eating the principal!
). During a dodge-ball game, Buffy finds
herself the last one to face their team... // "You're outnumbered by the bastards"
Clue #10:
< "the kids have lost their freedom"
Clue #11:
< "I hear your silent cries" (see
scene)
Clue #12:
This song features a guitar accessory that would only be heard again (at least as clearly) 18 years later.
< the bottleneck is rare on Maiden songs, the other time I can think of is during the solo of "The Man Who Would Be King", dated 2010 (on the
Final Frontier).
Clue #13:
This song, not unique as regards the credits on the album, is sometimes said to resemble the title-track of a reunion album by a very influential band in whose family tree one of the co-writers of this song appears.
< I am referring to the song "Perfect Strangers" by Deep Purple, whose singer -Ian Gillan- had played with Janick in his solo band before leaving to Black Sabbath and then reuniting with DP.
Your turn,
@Jmaster !