As a lunchtime treat, please enjoy this blend of Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper” up with the Monkees’ “I’m A Believer.” It’s not perfect (the tweaking on the guitar solo could use some work), but Bruce Dickinson’s raspy yowl does actually do a nice job of mixing in with the Neil Diamond-penned tune’s sunny keyboards. Clip after the jump. More »
The Sanctum Soho–the hotel touted as being “owned by Iron Maiden,” although that title actually goes to the band’s assisting manager–has opened, and a New York Times writer headed in to see if the claims of it being “a celebration of edgy glamour and individuality” were really true. You can probably guess what the answer to that question is (especially if you look at the picture at left), although you may be surprised to know that the hotel’s real crime is its chintzy feel. More »
Now you can figure out that quandary without having to rely on your memory, thanks to MTV’s music site putting together a playlist of the 56 clips that aired during the channel’s first broadcast day, back when “music” was something of a viable strategy. As you might expect, there is lots of rock, both modern (Blotto, Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello) and already-fossilizing (the Who, .38 Special.) Also: Two clips by Iron Maiden! My favorite clip from the playlist is located after the jump. More »
Metal gurus Iron Maiden are opening a hotel in London come March—but before you rush off to book a room at the Sanctum Soho in hopes that you’ll have the most hard-rockin’ business trip ever, be warned that the getaway is a high-end hotel that has today’s new, more sober brand of pop star in mind. Maiden main man Bruce Dickinson does spend his spare moments fencing, after all!
The dudes in Iron Maiden weren’t all that pleased by the recent announcement of nominees for the Vodafone Live Music Awards, the British awards ceremony that reminds the world just how awesome live music is. It would seem that the band was nominated for “Best Live Return,” which is given to the artist that has the greatest comeback show of the year. Only problem? The band never really stopped touring, and as a result Bruce Dickinson & Co. were so offended by being lumped in with such reuniters as the Verve, the Spice Girls, and Led Zeppelin, they actually asked to be unnominated. This resulted in some last-minute scuttling and the following mea culpa from the organizers (via the bad-press-releases clearinghouse Lost In Showbiz):
Iron Maiden plans to release its greatest-hits-of-the-’80s compilation, out in mid-May, as free 320kbps downloads. The catch: the files will be in WMA, not MP3, and they’ll evaporate from your HD after you’ve played them three times. (There will also be a no-DRM option for actual purchase.) More »
Bruce Dickinson, of Iron Maiden, has co-written a horror film. Sadly, it is not an adaptation of Dante’s Inferno with Maiden mascot Eddie as Dante, Lemmy from Motorhead as Virgil, and members of other metal bands as the denizens of hell. It is just something or other about Aleister Crowley. More »
This fascinating 1981 documentary on the New Wave of British Heavy Metal not only has some great Iron Maiden performance footage, but thanks to an interview with a metal DJ, it reveals the earliest links between Judy Garland and Eddie. More »