Most Underrated Maiden song?

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Alexander the great, for me is the most underrated song.

I think the song is one of Maiden's best, it's both powerful and epic, and the long instrumental part has something that I could only describe as spirit of eternity in it. Every time I listen to that song I think-This is truly a piece of music worthy of Alexander.

And Steve spent weeks writing the words for it.
And yet they have never played it live.
 
Urizen said:
Alexander the great, for me is the most underrated song.

I think the song is one of Maiden's best, it's both powerful and epic, and the long instrumental part has something that I could only describe as spirit of eternity in it. Every time I listen to that song I think-This is truly a piece of music worthy of Alexander.

And Steve spent weeks writing the words for it.
And yet they have never played it live.
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I don't think it's underrated, I think there are a lot of members here who consider it a fave.  A piece of music worthy of Alexander?  What do you mean exactly? 
 
By worthy of Alexander I mean that the song is glorious and powerful like Alexander the great was.
And also that the text gives you a short tale of his life and deeds, and the lyrics are sung in a way that is just brilliant. Because vocalist genius Dickinson sung them, of course.
I mean the song is so great-when I listen to it I just go back to Alexander's time.
They should've put it in the movie "Alexander",don't you think?
 
Alexander the Great is nowhere to the 'poppie' sound that most mainstream movies require.  Besides I hear the movie was aweful.  It is better then that the song was not on it.  ;)

To Raven: All those songs -- The Fugitive, Judas Be My Guide, Childhood's End are definitely under-appreciated.  I never knew this CD was considered 'below average' until I became a member of this board.  I've heard all the CDs up to Brave New World at the same time, so to me there were no 'great' albums or 'inferior' albums -- just great songs and songs not quite as good as others.  A lot of songs from No Prayer for the Dying and Fear of the Dark could be considered underrated.  I agree with your reasoning of why they're underrated.  The Fugitive is even atmospheric, simple, yet atmospheric, especially the opening and the first verse.  It is sad that many of those songs were never played live? 

I think there is a general stigma, in all music, if an album does poorly or is considered to be poor that all songs must by association be just as bad.  That's simply not true.
 
Urizen said:
By worthy of Alexander I mean that the song is glorious and powerful like Alexander the great was.
And also that the text gives you a short tale of his life and deeds, and the lyrics are sung in a way that is just brilliant. Because vocalist genius Dickinson sung them, of course.
I mean the song is so great-when I listen to it I just go back to Alexander's time.
They should've put it in the movie "Alexander",don't you think?
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So you think he is a person worth admiring?  Because I think he was just a prat with good military knowledge,  who considered fun to go to war! 
 
So you think he is a person worth admiring?  Because I think he was just a prat with good military knowledge,  who considered fun to go to war! 
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Oh no, he was much more than that. There is an excellent biography of him in the Plutarch's "Lives", read it and you will see what I mean. And Plutarch's writings are very interesting even if you're not into history, because he mainly concentrates on anegdotes and statements and those little gestures of a person in subject. That, he believes gives a much better view of a character in question than a battle with thousands of casualties.
 
SneakySneaky said:
So you think he is a person worth admiring?  Because I think he was just a prat with good military knowledge,  who considered fun to go to war! 
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No, he was much more than that, as Urizen said.  He was gracious to his enemies in defeat, accepting of their cultures (to the point where he was openly criticised by his leading generals) and a brilliant statesman.  He single-handedly forged Greece from a dissarray of warring city-states into a single hegemony under his command.  True, to do so he agreed to win back captured Greek territory in Asia Minor and finally finish the old conflict between the City States and Persia, but for an outsider to keep rebellion down (with the minimum of terror) while waging war on one of the greatest empires of 4th Century B.C. Europe...one can only wonder what would have happened had he not died 12 years after ascending the throne. 
 
Gracious?  Really!  He was gracious to any cities that surrendered without a fight and left their gates open for his army to come in.  Should a city not surrender,  he'd burn it down.  So,  it's a good thing he united the whole of Greece,  but to go to war??  It's been clear that war is brutal,  and "sometimes" a necessary evil.  Why was the war against the Persians a necessary evil?  They weren't (Greeks) defending their kingdom,  they wanted to expand it!  That is NOT a necessary evil!
 
Sneaky, if Alexander had'nt done what he did, the european-western civilisation would'nt emerge at all.
Now, unless you are a devoted follower of Zoroastranism or don't care about democracy, reasoning... I think you should be glad he did all those things.

He did ravaged some cities, but you can't make an omlet without breaking some eggs.
Seriously now, he destroyed Thebes because he needed to prove to everyone that he's capable of fighting Persia.
He couldn't say "Hey, I'm gonna conquer the mightiest empire of the world" with a rebelling city-state in his own backyard that should've been on his side in the first place.
When he conquered Persia  and Egypt he introduced cultural exchange unknown 'till his time. So much so, that he was heavily criticised even by his Macedonians, and his lifelong friend and teacher Aristotle. So you see he did all that with a much bigger picture in his mind.



And Raven, bravo for the displayed knowledge. Keep on with the intellectual life.
 
I must disagree with you Urizen.  I'm not a devoted follower of anything actually  ;) (what's with that reference anyway).  Believing that his intentions were to civilize the world,  is like believing that Bush's intention to go to war was to establish democracy in Iraq!  Do you honestly believe that? -_-
 
Sneaky, Urizen and Raven - not been one renowned for their historical knowledge, I ask a simple question:

Is this difference of opinion due to how the man's (Alexander) history was taught in your respective countries, or am I been a little naive?
 
SneakySneaky said:
I must disagree with you Urizen.  I'm not a devoted follower of anything actually  ;) (what's with that reference anyway).  Believing that his intentions were to civilize the world,  is like believing that Bush's intention to go to war was to establish democracy in Iraq!  Do you honestly believe that? -_-
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No I don't believe he's there to establish democracy. He's there for the oil.

As for the reference, I'm just saying that Persia was a land where only one man was truly free-the Emperor, therefore it didn't deserve any better. And don't get me wrong, I respect all cultures and Persia just needed to step down to make room for the next step in the development of civilisation.
Albie said:
Sneaky, Urizen and Raven - not been one renowned for their historical knowledge, I ask a simple question:

Is this difference of opinion due to how the man's (Alexander) history was taught in your respective countries, or am I been a little naive?
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Alexander was a controversial figure, and there are different opinions. Best thing for you and everyone else interested is to read about him and figure out for yourselfe. Read the text of Maiden's song, if you value Steve's opinion that is.
 
Albie said:
Sneaky, Urizen and Raven - not been one renowned for their historical knowledge, I ask a simple question:

Is this difference of opinion due to how the man's (Alexander) history was taught in your respective countries, or am I been a little naive?
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Due to the fact that I am Greek,  do you think that they taught me what I'm now saying?  Everytime I say this they look at me as a "heretic".  So you may be a little naive in my case at least  :P
 
SneakySneaky said:
Due to the fact that I am Greek,  do you think that they taught me what I'm now saying?  Everytime I say this they look at me as a "heretic".  So you may be a little naive in my case at least  :P
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I take your point.
 
I just discovered that I haven't posted on this thread...incredible. :blush:

I agree with Raven and Genghis Khan, The Fugitive, Judas Be My Guideand Childhood's End(one of my favorites!) are definitely under-rated. Fortunes of Waris also under-rated in my opinion, as is Don't Look to the Eyes of a Strangerand Lightning Strikes Twice. As a matter of fact, I think many songs from Virtual XI are under-rated, probably just because its Blaze singing and not Bruce. Wasted Years and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner from Somewhere in Time are also under-rated, I have no idea why, I love 'em both! I agree with Perun on Mother Russia, it is absolutely under-rated and for no good reason at all, the musicianship is superb. Seriously, I get shivers down my spine every time I listen to it. The riff that starts at around 1:00 is a stroke of brilliance, it transports me straight to St. Petersburg in mid-winter (not that I've ever been there, but it feels like I have been). Have any of you ever listened to this song while reading Crime and Punishment? I recommend it, it really adds to the atmosphere of the novel, even the lyrics (very thought-provoking) do. "Can you be happy now your people are free?" - Can you indeed?
 
I agree mostly with people about Total Eclipse and Mother Russia. Total eclipse has great drumming in, and as mentioned the lyrics are brilliant. Mother Russia is a different song IMO for Maiden, but it is powerfull and has great guitar work.

Judas Be My Guide and Invaders are also 2 very underated songs and again I love them both. Reasons why??? anything Iron Maiden is fantastic.
 
The Aftermath. That clean intro is creepy in a good way. And I love that kind of 'bobbing/plodding' riff. It gets me in a Black Sabbath way.

Honorable mention goes to Edge Of Darkness. I didn't used to like this song much until I actually listened to it instead of just putting it on and not paying attention. The tempo changes in this song are slick, the riff makes me feel happy, and the part at about five minutes in 'and now I understand WHY THE GENIUS MUST DIE!' is easily my favorite part of any Iron Maiden song ever. It's just so... slick!

Another honorable mention goes to Como Estais Amigo. It just sounds so... sad. In retrospect, it almost sounds like a personal goodbye from Blaze, which makes it even better. And that lead riff at 2:55 gives me goosebumps.

...what? No, I'm not unfairly biased towards Blaze! Fine, I'll pick a Bruce song too. How about Face In The Sand or The Nomad? I hardly hear anyone ever give credit to those two, and they're awesome. Face In The Sand has an intro to die (with your boots on) for, and that chorus is sweet. The part at about 1:30 is wonderful. After Paaschendaele (which is unfairly awesome) and Journeyman (go figure; one of my favorite songs by such a heavy metal legend is really not a heavy metal song at all!), Face In The Sand is easily my favorite song off Dance Of Death. Nomad is admittedly a little weak on the lyrical side but I love that intro riff (even though it reminds me of Metallica's I Disappear...) and the backing music on the chorus is smooth as silk.
 
Legionnaire said:
Caught Somwhere in Time (though admittedly slightly too long)
Murders In the Rue Morgue (A lost Di'Anno Classic thats is often given praise yet never played live)
And Speaking over never being played live I feel the entire SiT album doesnt get much airing at live events or on compilation CD's with the excpetion of Heaven Can Wait.
And Finally Judas Be My guide, one of the few grains of wheat in a chaff filled album called Fear of the Dark
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Actually Murders in the Rue MOrgue has been played live numerous time under the Early days/Eddie rips up tour.Great song by the way love the solo too.

Ok here we go.....
The most underrated song got to be Montsegur. I cant understand it! Its a great song with nice riffs and great solo, was my favourite maiden song when i got DoD actually :)
 
Blimey, I didn't realise a full-blown discussion about Alexander was going on in this thread!

Just to clarify, the reason Alexander went to war with Persia was to expand his own Empire, true, but the thing you have to remember is that Greece had been at war with Persia on and off for many years.  There were many Greek colonies in Asia Minor which had been under Persian dominion, and which the Greeks believed they should free.  This was a long-standing grudge, and not some frivolous conquest-without Alexander's war on Persia, it's likely that the two states would have been in war long into the rule of the Roman Empire.

And looking at his campaigns in Persia, considering that he had the 'enemy of all Greeks' in his hands, he was blessedly merciful.  Which is perhaps more than you can say for the conquest of Rome...they had a long-standing grudge against Carthage, and completely destroyed it in 146 B.C., along with Corinth.  And that's not to mention the (approximately) 1,000,000 'Barbarians' Ceasar killed in his Gallic campaigns.  For a general of his time, Alexander was very lenient.

EDIT: How stupid of me.  Corinth was subjugated in the same year, but a mere 500,000 of its citizens were enslaved...it wasn't destroyed. :blush:
 
Moonchild93 said:
Actually Murders in the Rue MOrgue has been played live numerous time under the Early days/Eddie rips up tour.Great song by the way love the solo too.

Ok here we go.....
The most underrated song got to be Montsegur. I cant understand it! Its a great song with nice riffs and great solo, was my favourite maiden song when i got DoD actually :)
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I think the reason many do not like Montsegur is because of the "happy" feeling when Bruce sings "As we kill them all so God will know His own,
The innocents died for the pope on his throne".  This is the same accusations against songs like Holy Smoke.  Why do I keep coming back to this song these last couple of days?  :innocent:

Monsegur is one of my favourites and it has a rating of 4.00 out of 5.00.  Unless, you think it deserves a full 5.00, I can't see that it is that underrated.
 
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