What is Maidens signiture Sound and Song?

My name is Harvey Milk, and I'm here to recruit you to listen to Iron Maiden.

The signature IM song has to include:
1) the "gallop"
2) Sing along parts (lyrics or melody)
3) Lyrcis that touch on an existential dilemma
4) Sets an atmosphere
5) Is clearly Maiden and no other band (see point 1)
6) Has to be f'n brilliant

Dozens of songs fit some of those bills, but The Trooper, Hallowed Be Thy Name and Fear of the Dark have them all in spades. That being said, I have trouble limiting myself to the 80 minutes on a CD-R when trying to introduce someone to Maiden.

I disagree with Run to the Hills, as it's just not that great of a song (in terms of Maiden) I'm sure most of you can list about 25 songs you like better than Run to the Hills.
 
Habberdasher said:
, I have trouble limiting myself to the 80 minutes on a CD-R when trying to introduce someone to Maiden.
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Burn them as MP3's. I have all my Maiden (all the studio albums minus Virtual XI) in two MP3 discs.
 
i don't think anyone  has mentioned the fantastic guitar harmonies that appear in so many Maiden songs. To me that is just as much a  signature of their sound as the aforementioned gallop.

If I had to choose one song that to me summed Maiden up it would have to be Phantom. It basically has it all. Great riffs, harmonies, change of tempos and the song hasnt aged one bit, you cant believe it's nearly 30 years old.
 
Back in the Village said:
i don't think anyone  has mentioned the fantastic guitar harmonies that appear in so many Maiden songs. To me that is just as much a  signature of their sound as the aforementioned gallop.
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Good point. That's absoluterly their trademark. They were not the first but they certainly have popularized that aspect.

Back in the Village said:
...Phantom...  ...you cant believe it's nearly 30 years old.
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That's a coincidence. A collegue of mine, around 50 years old (or in his mid forties), likes a lot of old and new rock/metal bands, but he admitted that he never seriously listened to Maiden. We decided that he can borrow from me all the studio albums, chronologically, to see how Maiden has evolved. After hearing the first 3 he confessed to me that he had missed a lot and that he likes their energy. All in all he was really enthousiastic. Still, after he heard the 4th, yesterday he said he is terribly curious for their current sound.

He thinks those older albums "sound so typically from that time" (when they came out). "But I see through that" (basically telling me that he still enjoys the stuff).

First I didn't exactly know what to reply because to me this has never been such an important issue, besides, I thought he was used to other old bands. When it comes to Maiden, I actually had never thought that much about it. I find these old albums classics in the metalgenre, thus timeless.

But he meant the production, the way it sounds, not the music itself. I guess that lately he listens to a lot of modern metal bands with a broad full production and heavier sound. So I told him that he got another thing coming (AMOLAD). ;)

Anyway, until here my mumbling, initiated when I read that someone else can't believe that Phantom is so old. :)
 
It makes sense that the production sounds representative of that era. Martin Birch produced a slew a classic albums (Deep Purple, Sabbath, Fleetwood Mac, etc) before (and after) producing Killers through Fear.
GuineaPig said:
I think he meant so as to play them in a CD player.
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Despite a slew of new technology, burning a cd (preferable WAV files) is still the best way to share music. Esp if you want it to play on your car stereo.
 
That depends on what your car stereo has for input, doesn't it?  I'm hoping we see stereos with flash slots soon.
 
I'm sure we'll see the flash slots soon. Unfortunately I drive a car from a time when dinosaurs walked the earth, the land was swamp and caves were home.
 
My next auto will have an iPod connector.  I'll never have to remove a cd from my house again!
 
LooseCannon said:
That depends on what your car stereo has for input, doesn't it?  I'm hoping we see stereos with flash slots soon.
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They're already available. I know that, for example, the Fiat 500 has a USB port for a USB drive chock full of MP3's for ones listening pleasure.
 
Wasted CLV said:
My next auto will have an iPod connector.  I'll never have to remove a cd from my house again!
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Highly recommended.  I just got a new car and it has an iPod adaptor, and I can now navigate through the artists/songs/playlists/etc. using the stereo's display screen and a few buttons on either the console or (joy!) the steering wheel.  It is awesome -- much easier than using the iPod via a cassette adaptor like I did in my previous car, and sounds much better too.  This feature is becoming more and more prevalent in new cars, at least in the U.S., if not in the base models, then as an option.  I drive about 45-60 minutes round trip to and from work, so it's definitely worth it for me. 

LC:  My car also has a flash slot, as well as an internal hard drive to store CDs (like iTunes), but neither is as easy to use as the iPod adaptor. 

Back on topic:  It's Hallowed.  The signature sound is the galloping triplet, and it is found in many songs (The Trooper is worthy of note). 

Haberdasher/Harvey Milk: If MP3s are not an option, and you're looking for a one-disc (i.e., ~70 minutes) mix of Iron Maiden songs, might I suggest the following:

Aces High (live, with Churchill's speech at beginning)
The Trooper
Number of the Beast
Run to the Hills
Infinite Dreams
Fear of the Dark
Phantom of the Opera
Paschendale
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Hallowed Be Thy Name

Those 10 tracks (11 if you count the Churchill intro) will fit on a single disc, I believe.  (There may also be another thread on this, possibly in the Best of/Polls board.  If not, let's start one -- what's the perfect one-CD "Best Of" songlist?) 
 
LooseCannon said:
That depends on what your car stereo has for input, doesn't it?  I'm hoping we see stereos with flash slots soon.
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They already exist, my buddy has one in his truck, plugs in his USB flash drive with 250 songs and that's it. My car stereo can play MP3 cds and most new cars now include either Ipod connectivity or an AUX input jack.
 
cornfedhick said:
If MP3s are not an option, and you're looking for a one-disc (i.e., ~70 minutes) mix of Iron Maiden songs, might I suggest the following:

Aces High (live, with Churchill's speech at beginning)
The Trooper
Number of the Beast
Run to the Hills
Infinite Dreams
Fear of the Dark
Phantom of the Opera
Paschendale
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Hallowed Be Thy Name

Those 10 tracks (11 if you count the Churchill intro) will fit on a single disc, I believe.  (There may also be another thread on this, possibly in the Best of/Polls board.  If not, let's start one -- what's the perfect one-CD "Best Of" songlist?) 
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I've been listening to Maiden since '83, but I have 2 much younger cousins (like 13 and 16) who I have been recruiting over the last few months. My tact has been not to blow the wad in one disc, but get a good variety of songs/styles on each disc, including some rarer and less well-known songs. I have also found that these "younger" blokes (I realize many of you reading this are more than a decade younger than me) latch on to the newer stuff (Rainmaker, Wicker Man, Wildest Dreams, Different World) a little quicker.

This mix was received pretty well:
-Wasted Years
-Rainmaker
-Different World
-Wicker Man
-Evil That Men Do
-That Girl
-The Prisoner
-The Trooper
-Still Life
-NOTB
-Hallowed
-Fear of the Dark
-Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Like I said, not greatest hits per se, but enough to whet the whistle and keep the quality up for the ensuing 3 or 4 mixes.
 
Maiden on one CD??? You people are insane.

I posted my Maiden CD lineups a few years back when I made them. I'll repost them now. It's a 3-CD set, and I think the total time on each CD is over 78 minutes. (But under 80, of course.)

Very important note: these were made before AMOLAD came out. If you want to fit some of that album in here, you'll have to drop some other songs somewhere.

CD 1:
Prowler
Remember Tomorrow
Phantom Of The Opera
Sanctuary
Wrathchild
Murders In The Rue Morgue
Killers
The Prisoner
22 Acacia Avenue
The Number Of The Beast
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Where Eagles Dare
Revelations
Die With Your Boots On
The Trooper

CD 2:
Aces High
2 Minutes To Midnight
Powerslave
Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
Wasted Years
Heaven Can Wait
Stranger In A Strange Land
Moonchild
Infinite Dreams
Can I Play With Madness
The Clairvoyant
Run Silent Run Deep
Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter

CD 3:
Be Quick Or Be Dead
Afraid To Shoot Strangers
Fear Of The Dark
Sign Of The Cross
Lord Of The Flies
Futureal
The Clansman
The Wicker Man
Brave New World
Dream Of Mirrors
Rainmaker
Paschendale

I never updated for AMOLAD because I got a new car after I made these CDs, and the new car plays MP3 CDs.

And I haven't even played MP3 CDs in the car since I got Sirius. "Jam On" (a Sirius station) is the perfect driving music.
 
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