Essential Iron Maiden Songs

Iron Maiden emerged during the "New Wave Of British Heavy Metal" boom in the 1980's that also saw bands like Def Leppard gain popularity. Starting out as a punk-metal band, the "classic" line-up of the band with Bruce Dickinson on vocals would not fall into place until 1983's Piece of Mind, which would rank among my top 3 of Maiden's catalog. Now in Iron Maiden's 4th decade of existence, the band is at 6 members and 16 albums.

10. "Running Free" (Iron Maiden)
From Iron Maiden's debut, which was in the pre-Dickinson era, an era which I almost ignored. When I was diving into Iron Maiden's catalog, I actually skipped the two periods of their career without Bruce Dickinson, since I rarely do conventional things like "going in order" anyway. I didn't listen to these two albums, the self-titled and Killers, until after I'd seen the band live when they closed their set with "Running Free." This debut is rooted more in punk rock than their later leanings toward progressive and epic song structures, and this song definitely stands out for it's galloping rhythm. It's as if I'm really running for my life when I listen to it! 

9. "Wildest Dreams" (Dance Of Death)
 Iron Maiden's songs like "The Number Of The Beast" and their mascot Eddie aren't doing the band any favors when it comes to that stereotype of all metal bands being "satanic." Anyone who thinks of Iron Maiden as being satanic need not judge a book by it's cover though, because many of their songs are based on literature or even try to convey a message with their lyrics. This song is an example of that, as it's a battle cry to those who are trying to better themselves, with the first verse starting, "I'm gonna organize some changes in my life, I'm gonna exorcise the demons of my past. I'm gonna take the car and hit the open road. I'm feeling ready to just open up and go."

8. "Flight Of Icarus" (Piece Of Mind)
This is another song like "Running Free" that feels like I'm in motion. Instead of running, it's more like I'm soaring. "FLY, TOUCH THE SUN!"
 
7. "The Wicker Man" (Brave New World)
This fast and furious rocker kicked off the reunited Iron Maiden's first album together with Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith, as well as launched them into the third decade of their renowned career. It may be blasphemous to many metal fans, but I feel I enjoy this stretch of their career even more than the 'classic' 80's albums. Brave New World is a fantastic album and I had several more songs I tried to fit into this list but just couldn't, like "The Mercenary" and "Ghost Of The Navigator."


6. "Dance Of Death" (Dance Of Death)
I thought this song sounded silly at first, like a heavy metal 'Lord of the Dance', but now that's exactly why I like it.

5. "Brave New World" (Brave New World)
An awesome title track from an equally awesome album from Iron Maiden. However, the version that sticks out most for me is found on the Rock In Rio album. The enormous crowd of Maiden fans sing along to the guitar solos and it's so captivating that I want to sing along too!


4. "Fear Of The Dark" (Fear Of The Dark)
Just like "Brave New World", the live version on Rock In Rio is amazing with the crowd singing along. Finally when I was able to see them live, I wanted to sing along to the guitar solo too, though the American audience isn't as responsive.

3.  "Hallowed Be Thy Name" (The Number Of The Beast)
This is the song that sold me on Iron Maiden! It all started back in early 2009 when I was at a Slipknot concert. I said I'd always wanted to get into classic metal bands like Priest and Maiden, but never knew where to start, and I was told to start here. Later I was given an entire set of burned CDs of all of Iron Maidens album, plus a few live albums, and I've never looked back.

2. "Wasted Years" (Somewhere In Time) 
Iron Maiden can rock but they're also known for a few "ballads" too. This is more in the vein of 1980's power ballads though, with it's lyrics reminding me of several Journey songs like "Faithfully."

1. "The Trooper" (Piece Of Mind)
This song is awesome because there isn't a chorus, it's just Bruce wailing "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH." It's so good that the band chose to name their brand of beer after it, and the imagery of Eddie as a soldier on horseback is an iconic visual for the band.