MAIDEN TRIVIA OF THE DAY
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Luisma
Years Wasted
MAIDEN TRIVIA OF THE DAY – ALMOST THE LAST SINGLE WITH BRUCE
28 years ago, the almost last single with Bruce Dickinson fronting Maiden was released.After the Fear Of The Dark album was released, and quickly during the supporting tour for the album, the title track became a massive crowd favourite, with the fans singing along to the intro.
Now, considering that the live rendition of 'Fear Of The Dark' had become such a classic on its own right, it is no wonder that the song was chosen to be the single out of the A Real Live One album, but did you know that…
1. The title track of the Fear Of The Dark (Live) single was recorded at the Ishallen, Helsinki, Finland, on August 27, 1992 and NOT as the back sleeve of the single says (June 5th, 1992).
2. This live rendition has become so famous that when Maiden played in Milan, Italy, on December 3, 2006, the Milanese public sang ALL the intro of 'Fear Of The Dark', even making Bruce's laughter!!!
3. "I can still remember the moment when we recorded the song 'Fear Of The Dark'. We knew right away that it was going to be a standout live track." Bruce comments, "Everything about it – the power, the melodies, the lyrics, the pacing of the song and the way it changes – it really sums up what Maiden is all about. The way the fans sing it when we're playing live, it really has become an anthem for us."
4. As with the live versions of 'No Prayer For The Dying' and 'Public Enema Number One' that can be found on some versions of the From Here To Eternity single, 'Hooks In You (Live)' was recorded at Wembley Arena and was part of the set that would be released on a triple live album that was scrapped by Maiden in the 90's.
5. Since the band already had the mobile unit to record the concerts at Wembley, the 'Listen With Nicko!' series that came with the First Ten Years releases had become so famous, and the band wanted to record something special for the release of the No Prayer For The Dying promo, Nicko went and recorded what is called the 'Listen With Nicko XI' inside the mobile while Anthrax was playing their set.
6. There's an unknown quantity of mispressed Fear Of The Dark (Live) vinyl singles in which the sleeve denotes the B side as being 'Hooks In You' but in fact plays 'Tailgunner'.
7. If you want to know more about this release, with literally more than a thousand trivia facts about this and EVERY release Maiden has put out since the beginning of their career to the date, visit http://subscribepage.com/luisma666
Luisma
Years Wasted
MAIDEN TRIVIA OF THE DAY – 2 SINGERS AT THE RUSKIN!
Maiden had been absent for more than 10 months… no gigs, no sound, no nothing, so people started wondering if the Maiden was gone forever, and then you were handed this cutting, that read, 'Prodigal Sons Return'!Maiden had been re-working their songs, making them tighter, shorter, harder and louder and plotting to come back with a vengeance. For more than 4 months they had been working between Scarf Studios and Hollywood Studios, and after listening to a demo recorded at a certain studio called Spaceward, they had recorded their own demo in order to get gigs.
After distributing the cassettes in various pubs, and waiting and waiting, the first gigs were booked at The Bridgehouse and The Ruskin Arms, thus becoming the new birth places of the NEW Iron Maiden.
The second gig that took place at The Ruskin Arms was to be celebrated, today, 42 years ago, and what a special gig it was… Imagine this, people walked in, and meet Dennis Wilcock, all fired up. Then Steve, Dave & Doug take the stage, while Dennis heads up for the mixing desk! Right away this short haired punk grinning boy takes the mic! Read the rest of the story in EDDIE MADE ME DO IT (THE RISE OF THE BEAST 1975-1987) get it at https://www.subscribepage.com/eddiemadedoit
Luisma
Years Wasted
Born in East Ham, 8th March 1957. Was pulled out of his seat at a pub gig in the East End on Boxing Day 1979 by Maiden to join the band when their drummer left for health reasons. Before this he had nine jobs in a year whilst waiting for a heavy rock band. These included porter at Smithfield market and encyclopedia salesman. Loves fast cars, fast women and tequila sunrise, but can't afford any. Hammers fan and sportsman - has won cups for shooting clay pigeons. Also good at pool, but poor at Space Invaders. Dab hand at impersonations, especially Max Wall and David (Compost Corner) Bellamy. Only plays HM and Zappa. Good-humoured Leytonstonian layabout, who on rarer occasions than the H/Melvin change-over is similarly transformed into the foul-mouthed Kelvin... (when Dave Murray reaches that twilight zone between normality and coma he becomes Nobby Tart, which is self-explanatory). That's how Clive was described in tour programmes and newspapers while he was in Maiden.
When one thinks of Clive is hard to remember that he was, in fact, the last person to enter the band right before they went big in 1980. Clive was a kind spirit and very much a party animal along with Paul Di'Anno. As a drummer he had the philosophy that “drums are meant to be hit hard” thus the inscription in his drumsticks “Hit 'em hard” and really loved to be behind his kit, a fact that came really handy when rehearsing for that first tour and the recording of the first album.
Clive celebrated his birthday on stage with Maiden 3 times, always in the UK (1980 – Leeds / 1981 – Glasgow / 1982 – Portsmouth) and always the party would go on until the wee hours of the next day, but it never affected his drumming skills even if it meant throwing up inside a bucket at the side of his kit.
It is hard to believe that Clive, as Adrian did and still does, enjoyed fishing and there are some stories about Clive fishing calmly in rivers during the Beast On The Road Tour, using bread, pickles, and hamburger for bait, and just in a couple of hours present himself on stage as a maniac hitting everything in his kit. It also hard to think that at first Clive wanted to be a guitarist but changed his mind after realizing that to get a good sound out of a guitar you had to practice for hours, so he first changed the guitar for a bass and then evolved into drums.
When Clive was let go from Maiden, he did have a hard time founding his feet again and ended up working various bands (Escape, Trust, Gogmagog, Elixir and Desperados just to name a few) but as we know, never achieved the same level of success of Maiden, however, as it can be seen and read in various interviews, he always kept fond memories of his time and Maiden and is still regarded by some as the best drummer that Maiden has had.
You could read some Clive interviews, see some very special footage of him playing and not released in the media and, know a lot about his touring days by buying the EDDIE MADE ME DO IT (THE RISE OF THE BEAST 1975-1987) book at https://www.subscribepage.com/eddiemadedoit and joining the MAIDEN IN THE MEDIA group… What are you waiting for?
Luisma
Years Wasted
MAIDEN TRIVIA OF THE DAY – DON'T YOU THINK I COULD SAVE YOU… A LITTLE TIME?
"We did an edit on 'The Angel and the Gambler' because that was written on the album as a long version because it was written as it was a "Live" version. What I mean by that is it was written as how we would do it with a crowd ...... bringing it down quiet and getting the audience involved and stuff like that. So, we could edit that and it wouldn't do the song any injustice at all." - Steve HarrisThe Angel & The Gambler, released today 23 years ago, was the first Maiden CD to bring an enhanced multimedia video. The song, the release of the single and everything around it is pretty interesting because of various reasons.
When asked about the song, Steve commented on one of the first interviews in 1998, "I got the idea from the song while I was driving on the M4 motorway to Wales! Thank God I had a small cassette recorder with me! The idea reminded me of The Who/UFO (go check Lone Heart by UFO) The story is about this these two characters, one who's been a bit of a rogue, a fly by night, and an angel who gets down to try and put him right – except he isn't having it."
After checking various polls through the years, this could be categorized as one of Maiden's least liked songs because of the over repetitive chorus, where the phrase "don't you think..." is repeated 63 times.
Blaze: "The problem with Virtual XI was that we didn't have much time for rehearsals. 'The Angel & The Gambler' for example, is much preferred on the video version, which is a much shorter that I felt that was much more appropriate. I think there's great parts to that song, and in my acoustic sets I often do a version of that, and it's something nice to do, and it's a lot of fun. But the album version of 'The Angel and The Gambler', I just really do feel it's too long."
Before the single was released, the band had agreed that the first single out of the Virtual XI album was going to be 'Futureal', however, Steve changed his idea and decided that 'The Angel…' was a better choice, a thing that even Rod thought was a bad idea.
"I had a bit of a battle with Steve over 'Futureal'" says Rod, "I thought it would have been a much better single than 'Angel…', but Steve put his foot down."
In two different formats was the single released. A 7" picture disc with a very cool Derek Riggs painting, and in CD. CD Version I contained a poster, with the "Virtual XI Fixture List 1998" and the band posing in football gear on one side and with some of their favourite players on the other side (which in reality never met in one place). CD Version II contained 3 postcards of the band members in football gear.
The B-sides (Blood On The World's Hands & The Aftermath) were live versions of the songs from The X Factor, recorded in Kåren, Gothenburg, Sweden, on the 1st November 1995. Both are special because they are the few live songs that have been officially released with Blaze on vocals.
There's so much more to be learn and talked about this single and every Maiden release, go to http://subscribepage.com/luisma666 subscribe and get the info about the only way to have access to exclusive interviews, hundreds of trivia and much more, plus the invitation to join the group where the Maiden trivia of the day is expanded and complemented with videos, interviews and exclusive pictures.
Magnus
Pica Serdica
Speaks volumes, doesn't it...
GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
23 years ago I heard the song and was quite shocked. I remember thinking: “What is this crap?”
Luisma
Years Wasted
If there was ever a time when Rod and Steve didn't agree it was during 1998. I have so many stories about disagrements and discussions between him, Rod and even the rest of the band that I could write about 50 pages just about that.
Luisma
Years Wasted
Yeah well, that intro (which originally didn't feature the keyboards as heard in the demo version) and the over repetitive chorus, is just too much even for a Maiden song which doesn't have a great lyric either.
GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
I wonder if it was then when Rod realised that the end for the hen that laid the golden eggs could be fast approaching.
Luisma
Years Wasted
After playing five different dates in Australia, the last of 'em taking place on March 7, 2011, the band packed their bags and took off for Seoul, Korea aboard Ed Force One the next morning in order to play what would be their first gig in the Country, today, 10 years ago. For many years the band had wanted to play in Korea but because of different reasons hadn't been able until now, so excitement was running high.
"When we were invited to play a concert in Korea, we were thrilled with the opportunity to bring the Final Frontier Tour to Seoul!" says Steve, "It's always exciting to perform in new places and watch the audience's reactions to the music, the lighting, the stage setting and especially their reaction to Eddie! For this tour we really have a spectacular show, some great new songs, and of course a whole bunch of other usual ones that we can't wait to play for our Korean fans for the very first time!"
As it happens every time the band plays in a new Country, where there are fans that have waited all their lives to see the band, as soon as the band touched the stage a huge erupt of screams could be heard. The fans screamed from the very beginning to the very end and sang throughout every song, but what was funny and oddly enough, is that according to official numbers, the night of the concert only about 1,650 people showed up, which lead Bruce to say, "Amazingly enough, this is our first time in South Korea. When we come back next time, call a few friends, eh?"
All in all the concert was a great experience for the band and those who attended and little did they know that in the next days things would take a big turn due to the huge earthquake that unfortunately hit Japan just two days after, but that's a complete different story to write about…
srfc
Ancient Mariner
Most of them are mispressed and play Tailgunner, the ones that play the correct track are the rare ones
Agreed. This seems to be the more recently used one so I closed the other one and put a link to this thread there.
The other thread is still available for your reading pleasure: https://forum.maidenfans.com/threads/maiden-trivia-of-the-day.71584/
The other thread is still available for your reading pleasure: https://forum.maidenfans.com/threads/maiden-trivia-of-the-day.71584/
Luisma
Years Wasted
Luisma
Years Wasted
MAIDEN TRIVIA OF THE DAY – STEVE’S BIRTHDAY SPECIAL!
There is probably very little you can say about Steve Harris that the longstanding Maiden fan won't have heard already. The founding member of the band who first thought of the name "IRON MAIDEN" back in the Seventies when he used to rehearse in his grandmother's front room; the leader of the gang who has led his troops through the ups and downs of a tumultuous 46 year career; the bass player with the sound so distinctive it could be the rattle of machine gun fire as it thunders out of the speakers on album after album of superb take no prisoners rock music; the football fanatic who could have played to his beloved West Ham United (where he was on the books, briefly, as a teenager) before abandoning a budding career as a soccer star for a lifetime of over the top metal mayhem; and a talented songwriter who, alone, is responsible for some of the greatest musical moments in a career over burdened with such jewels from early mould breaking master works like 'Prowler' to latter day creations like the towering 'The Book Of Souls' or, most recently, the anthemic 'The Red And The Black', what is there, at this stage of the game, that I can tell you that most of you don't already know about this hugely charismatic figure? Well, actually there's a lot and is all in the EDDIE MADE ME DO IT (THE RISE OF THE BEAST 1975-1987) that JUST FOR TODAY is gonna be sold at the lowest price EVER! So, go to https://www.subscribepage.com/eddiemadedoit and get yours today!
Luisma
Years Wasted
MAIDEN TRIVIA OF THE DAY – RUNNING FREE WITH 18 LEGS ON STAGE
The NWOBHM, had brought together exponents such as Iron Maiden, Angel Witch, Saxon, Samson, Tygers Of Pan Tang, Diamond Head, and Venom among others, had spilled over the borders and penetrated deeply into France, a country that the NWOBHM bands used to visit and play concerts. These bands inspired a certain group of people (Bernard "Bernie" Bonvoisin (vocals, lyricist), Norbert "Nono" Krief (guitar, composer), Raymond "Ray" Manna (bass guitar) and Jean-Émile "Jeannot" Hanela (drums)) to form a band named Trust.As Maiden did, Trust rose to fame in 1979 with their music, which mixed hard rock influences, acerbic social and political commentary, anarchist undertones and a renegade attitude à la MC5. Trust's success was also due to Krief's stature as a French guitar hero and Bonvoisin's sincere and mature lyrics, as well as his raw energy in live performances.
By 1981, Trust was THE hard rock band of France, receiving praise in Metal Magazines from the UK like Kerrang and Sounds, a fact that the Maiden team had noticed long ago so the smart choice was to recruit them as the support band. It also helped the fact that now sitting in the drum stool was a certain Michael "Nicko" Henry McBrain, who some of the crew and band had met and clicked while he was playing in McKitty in 1979.
Both bands had a lot of fun during that first leg of the Killer World Tour, shared loads of drinking and shenanigans after the gigs, but also on stage, like that time, 40 years ago today, on the final date of the UK leg of the tour at the Hammersmith Odeon, when Trust came on stage and played 'Running Free' with Maiden. Needless to say, the festive spirit that started on stage was maintained all the way to the end of the tour party held at the hotel where the bands were staying near Earls Court and went into the very early hours of the next day, which found the Killer Kew travelling to Lillie with a severe hangover… While Maiden prepared to carry on their tour in France along with another friend from long time ago, but that’s a story to read about on EDDIE MADE ME DO IT (THE RISE OF THE BEAST 1975-1987) https://www.subscribepage.com/eddiemadedoit
Luisma
Years Wasted
MAIDEN TRIVIA OF THE DAY – NOW BRING IN THE BALLROOM DANCERS!
We had driven down from Edinburgh at a ridiculous o'clock in the morning, because Rod thought it a good idea to shoot 'The Number Of The Beast' video there all day, immediately before the show. We brought in the ballroom dancers to use as extras, with 666 pinned to their backs. Anyway, we had to hold the doors because we were still filming half an hour or so before the audience were due to come in. Of course, we were all exhausted. We went on stage, quite a small stage, and Steve and I spent a bad-tempered show like two rutting stags locking antlers. Rod needed to separate us backstage. Bruce Dickinson - What Does This Button Do?
39 years ago, at the Newcastle City Hall, one of Maiden's most famous promo videos, 'The Number Of The Beast' was filmed.
As you have read, because the band just didn't fancy the idea to be featured in the promo video just playing on stage the live clips of the band were interspersed with clips from various horror films including The Return Of The Vampire, Mothra vs. Godzilla, The Screaming Skull, Nosferatu, The Devil Rides Out, One Million Years B.C., How To Make a Monster, The Crimson Ghost, The Angry Red Planet & War Of The Beast.
The video itself, that we did as well, was quite fun to do. We used black-and-white footage and stuff, and the director had the idea to have the dancers on, you know, to spin around would have 666, you know, on the back of ‘em and stuff like that, which was a really good idea and stuff. It was ah… I think a really good video. – Steve Harris – Classic albums: The Number Of The Beast
Besides all these monsters, as I am sure you all remember, Eddie also makes an appearance towards the end of the video, however, believe it or not, when the music video was first shown on MTV, this part was edited out after complaints from frightened viewers! I mean, really, of all the monsters Eddie was the scariest one eh?
Would you like to read the exclusive interview David Mallet, director of the video gave me? It's easy. Go to http://subscribepage.com/luisma666 subscribe and learn how
Luisma
Years Wasted
MAIDEN TRIVIA OF THE DAY – THE EDD-FEST
After a wonderful and heavily discussed tour because for the first time in their career, the band decided to play the entire A Matter Of Life And Death album, the band went quiet for a while, just to announce, on February 13, 2007, that they would be visiting new territories (Dubai, Belgrade and Bangalore) in March.Talking about visiting new Countries, in 2007, the band really considered visiting Beijing and Shanghai in China, however, due to restrictions relating the songs and artwork they decided not to, a thing that stayed that way until 2015 when planning the Book Of Souls Tour.
Now, about the show in Bangalore, which took place today, 14 years ago, Bruce commented at the time, "To say we're all really looking forward to going to Bangalore is something of an understatement. It's very special to us to be able play to new fans in countries we've never been to before, and we hear the Indian fans are very loud and into their metal. The whole trip will be an exciting time for us and we intend to enjoy every moment there. The fans should know that we are bringing the whole stage show we used in Europe and America and that Eddie will definitely be joining us! We are crafting a special set to include both songs from A Matter of Life and Death and a load of other favorites. It promises to be an absolutely amazing atmosphere playing outdoors in front of the palace."
The show in Bangalore was very special not only because it was Maiden first time playing in the County but also because it was the first show ever in India to feature three other acts in addition to an international headliner, plus the first time that Indian fans would see a rock band fronted by a girl, in this case, Lauren Harris, so it was definitely an historic occasion that changed the country's music landscape, and opened the floodgates for international bands.
A pretty cool fact about this festival show is that once Maiden confirmed its participation, the whole thing was rebranded as the EDD-FEST and had a special Eddie drawn especially for the poster, which is featured in this post. Another cool thing is that due to this show, Maiden became aware of a band called Parikrama, a band formed in from New Delhi, that thanks to Maiden played at the Download Festival in 2007.
Extra trivia facts: 1. The whole touring history between 1975 and 1987 is covered in the EDDIE MADE ME DO IT book to https://www.subscribepage.com/eddiemadedoit. 2. The show didn't actually take place in front of the palace as Bruce mentions because the Maharajah of Bangalore had returned to the palace a couple of weeks before the festival took place and told them to move it to another part of the grounds. 3. The band that opened the EDD-FEST, FTN (F*** The Name), got the opening spot by winning a competition called Campus Rock Idol 2007.
Magnus
Pica Serdica
How on earth would Belgrade be a new territory?