Number of the Beast from Guitar Hero 3. I slowly started listening to the rest of their stuff, but Dance of Death from DOTR is what really blew my mind.
Similar to mine, except it was with The Trooper and Guitar Hero 2.
Back in 2006, I joined all of my friends at the start of the guitar/music genre of gaming and impulse bought Guitar Hero 2. I had enjoyed music up until then, listening to various groups such as Rammstein, Quiet Riot, Metallica, you know, all of the "popular" names at the time. But I had never really settled on a favorite or experimented. Just kind of went with the flow.
One of the final songs in Guitar Hero 2 was "The Trooper" (looking back now it's funny because it wasn't even the Maiden version, but a cover). But i remember loving the lyrics and Bruce's "Ohhh oh oh!" part during the chorus. This song, along with "The Number of the Beast" in Guitar Hero 3 and "Run to the Hills" in Rock Band (2007) finally made me want to venture into who exactly this band Iron Maiden were. Because I thought the songs were absolutely killer.
I didn't have to go far. My dad grew up through the 70's and 80's and so when I went to him and asked him about Iron Maiden, he immediately gave me the Live After Death CD he owned. This is when I really got into the band. I bet I listened to Live After Death on loop several times a day, every day a week, up until I obtained the albums Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind, and Powerslave from him. It skyrocketed from there.
After weeks/months of listening to those albums, I sat down with my dad and we watched the Rock in Rio 2001 DVD. My 17-year-old mind was blown away by the performance I saw on that disc; the energy the band put out, the newer songs I hadn't managed to explore yet, the sick guitar solos, Bruce's unrivaled vocals. That was the day I became a man.
From then on, I was obsessed. I binge listened to all of their albums I hadn't tried yet, starting with Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son, and going up through Brave New World (the songs of which I loved from Rock in Rio), Dance of Death, and A Matter of Life and Death. When I wasn't at school or eating dinner, I was listening to Iron Maiden or watching their concerts on DVD.
In May 2008 I discovered that they were playing in Chicago (the closest location to me) the next month. It took a lot of convincing, but my parents finally granted me permission to travel the 300 miles to go and see them. Since it was very last minute, I had to settle for nosebleed seating, but I didn't care. On June 11, 2008, I saw them live for the first time and it was a night I will never forget.
This would all take a turn for the worse as my mom died suddenly and unexpectedly just three days after the Chicago concert and I lost my dad another couple of years later. It was a very dark time of my life that I still haven't recovered from even to this day. But my love for Iron Maiden has persisted, perhaps grown stronger as I've bonded with the music over time. While I am still the super fan I was ten years ago, I am more mature now and look at it more in a musicianship way. I started learning how to play guitar back in 2011, and have gotten good to this day because of my idols Dave Murray (love Adrian and Janick too, don't get me wrong!). They've also opened my mind to expand to all music and I now appreciate any music genre (even though there are some I still don't like, just personal preference).
I am not content with my life as it is right now, but Iron Maiden remains the most important thing to me. Seeing them, to me, is like the Disneyland vacation most other families get to take, for example
Thanks to everyone who has commented, I've read every single one of these.
