What makes The Number of The Beast a classic?

nuno_c

nuno_c

A hollow universe in space
The Number of The Beast seems to be the general public's favourite Maiden album, their most recognized one as well.

Of all of Maiden's albums, this one got on the Classic Album series on VH1, etc, etc. So my question is: What exactly, do you think, makes this album such a classic?

Not denying at all the album's merits, because it is a great album, but personally i think there's better ones in the band's catalogue. What makes this album standout so much as being THE band's classic?
 
Several factors. It was the debut of Bruce and marked their breakthrough. It has a couple of major hits (title track and Run To The Hills) as well as the song that many fans consider Maiden's best (Hallowed).

Plus, we can't underestimate the "devil worship" controversy in the US. It gave Maiden extra attention and the album is remembered for it. The album cover art contributes as well.

Of course, if the album didn't contain more good songs, it would've been forgotten. But it has plenty of good songs. My favourites being Hallowed, Children of the Damned, and The Prisoner.
 
First uk number one album and the band's biggest hit Run To The Hills. I know lots of singles charted higher, but the amount of copies sold to get to number 7 in 1982 was way higher than the numbers of copies the other singles sold.
 
I think the reason is simple. Energy and superb production.
 
What really interests me is the fact that there are way better albums from this band but somehow TNOTB seems to get all the praises, you know?

It's in that sense that i wantes to create this debate, because i genuinely want to understand this album's popularity
 
Seriously though.
The songs, vocals and production are all amazing.
Hallowed, TNOTB, RTTH etc are all classic Maiden songs.
 
It's got 3 of Maiden's most popular songs (NOTB, RTTH, HBTN), and the others are far from shabby. In particular, these songs are the ones massively popular with metalheads as a whole rather than just Iron Maiden fans. It's the oldest one with Bruce, and generated a lot of controversy. It is probably the most likely one fans are to be introduced to first due to getting a lot of steam from top 10 lists and recommendations.
 
Bar gangland I would say every song on NOTB is a stone cold classic and yes I'd include invaders in that :)

In all seriousness it's easy to see why this is the most revered album by maiden. It's got the best selling singles for a start, it's Bruce's debut and the album that turned them into proper arena headliners and propelled them onto what they would become, the biggest metal band on the planet.

It's the album that's most known by casual fans too. I remember when I got into metal way back in the deep and murky past (25 years ago) I was blasting some maiden one afternoon when my mum came into my room and said "I didn't know you liked these". She then came back into my room a few minutes later and handed me a copy of run to the hills, 7inch vinyl single. I was gobsmacked as I'd only ever heard her play paul Young and Phil Collins lol.

Any non metal fan over the age of 40 or casual iron maiden fan will know NOTB. It was the bands first British number one and back then before the Internet they would have been plastered all over the press and music programs like top of the pops in the UK.

It's the same with thrash metal and slayers reign in blood, or prig rock and dark side of the moon. Some albums are just right there at the right time with the right ingredients to make it an instant classic. I love the album but prefer piece of mind :)
 
I change my mind often, and I go through stages where my favorite is Powerslave or Somewhere in Time or the debut, but I actually think Beast is objectively Iron Maiden's best album. Even the so-called "filler" like Gangland and Invaders is pretty good. Long-time Maiden fans are understandably tired of Run To The Hills, but it really is one of the band's best single-length rockers. The Prisoner and Children of the Damned are top 100 all-time metal songs, title track is probably in the top 10, and of course Hallowed is arguably the greatest metal song ever. No other Maiden album has that many iconic songs -- two or three, perhaps, but not five. Plus, it is the only album to feature my favorite band lineup, with Clive Burr on the drums. Nicko is technically more skilled, but Clive rocked harder, and I love how Martin Birch produced his drum sound. Speaking of Birch, Beast may be the best-produced and best-engineered album of the bunch, too.
 
Because media love to give their attention to one album. Easier for marketing. Why this one? Certainly not because it is the best. The album contains Clive's relatively dullest drums and Adrian Smith's worst guitar solos.

This was their world wide breakthrough album, in a time when Maiden literally conquered the world on stage, with a young excelling Bruce. The band made a huge impression that lasted.

Still, media have been lazy because have not looked further. They didn't do any update since. If classic means best, then certainly: continue listening to rest of the discography and see what happens.

Personally, I prefer both Di'Anno albums over this one, for various reasons.
 
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1.Run to the hills, what a way to introduce your new vocalist! RTTH is such a catchy song and it is a perfect live song. And a awesome video in the middle of the MTV era.

2. Opening for bands in America and also headlining a leg(?), headlining Reading festival, headlining in Europe, also touring in Japan and Australia. They played many shows!

3. Many fans ultimate favorite Maiden song: Hallowed be thy name. A great produced record with many great songs that was regulary played live during the 80's
 
It captured the imagination at the time - music, artwork, band image, charismatic new singer, exposure...the minor controversy can't have done it any harm. And since then it's become an iconic symbol of the era. How non-Maiden fans know of POM or Powerslave, by way of comparison?
 
Forostar said:
Because media love to give their attention to one album. Easier for marketing. Why this one? Certainly not because it is the best. The album contains Clive's relatively dullest drums and Adrian Smith's worst guitar solos.

This was their world wide breakthrough album, in a time when Maiden literally conquered the world on stage, with a young excelling Bruce. The band made a huge impression that lasted.

Still, media have been lazy because have not looked further. They didn't do any update since.
Click to expand...

That's just your gloss because you disagree with what the "media" thinks. The music and mainstream media (print, radio, Internet) haven't failed to take notice when an artist surpasses or matches a previously lauded effort. Examples: Fair Warning, Sign o' the Times, Achtung Baby, Metallica (black album), Nirvana MTV Unplugged, Dave Grohl's entire Foo Fighters career -- heck, even Piece of Mind. Occam's Razor supplies a simpler, more plausible explanation for the enduring "classic" status of Number of the Beast: it's fucking awesome. And you're just flat wrong about Clive. :D
 
I was going to write a lot of things here, but others already have so I'm going to focus on one factor - the controversial aspect. We're talking a piece of popular culture that was loved by many young people, and not understood/hated by a large part of established society. It's the discussion that was spawned by that controversy that made it larger than any other of the album they've done. Some people still think Iron Maiden are devil worshippers because of that record. '666 Number of the beast' scribbled on the wall of a stinky toilet, does anything they have beat that in pure recognizablity?

'Wooooooah!'

...Oh! It's "The Trooper" by Iron Maiden! Don't tell anyone.

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son doesn't have that impact. A concept album based on... what? Even most fans are not quite sure what it is about. Somewhere in Time is a cool album art - but is it shocking? Nah, to most people it's just another sci-fi inspired picture, and those are everywhere. No controversy, no discussion. Great music, sure - but we have lots of that, and people who don't like heavy metal wouldn't care even if they wrote a masterpiece that Mozart would be proud of.

Now, I'm not saying that people understand more of The Number of the Beast than they understand Piece of Mind. Few people beyond the fans know that the title track is about a dream Steve Harris had. But the difference here is that it conveys a striking picture, and a lot of associations that makes it memorable way beyond the other albums they, or most other bands, have done.
 
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