dave murray

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 18: The X Factor with Jake (Not From State Farm)

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 18: The X Factor

With special guest Jake (Not From State Farm)

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #109

For weeks we have been building to this moment.  The Fear of the Dark era ends, and a new singer is required.  After considering Doogie White, who went on to success with Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, Iron Maiden chose Wolfbane’s Blaze Bayley as their new lead singer.  While Blaze had a connection opening for Maiden, his selection was a surprise to some.  A power baritone, Blaze was not an operatic singer like Bruce Dickinson.  Nor was he a complex punky shouter like Paul Di’Anno.  What would the new Iron Maiden sound like?  We tackle that subject and much more on tonight’s epic episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden.

For the first time since No Prayer for the Dying back in the beginning of June, Harrison and I are joined by a special guest to dissect this album.  You may know Jake (Not From State Farm) from his appearance with me on John Clauser’s Music Corner.  Jake asked for these episodes (the pair of Blaze studio albums) because of his deep love for this era.  Both Jake and Harrison come at this album from the perspective of having a special connection with the music of Blaze.  Mike on the other hand is more simply an Iron Maiden fan, and provides a sense of balance.  We hope.

This is the longest episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden to date!  Why?  Because we have so much to discuss:

  • 14 original studio songs including three Japanese bonus tracks (B-sides elsewhere)
  • Two cover songs (B-sides:  The Who and UFO)
  • The cover art by Hugh Syme (two versions)
  • A deep analysis of the lyrical themes
  • Our personal stories and connections with The X Factor
  • Facts and trivia
  • The tour and setlist
  • The Blaze Bayley interview tracks (B-sides) of which we have five segments to play for you

As usual you can expect us to be comprehensive, and we do not disappoint in this episode.

We hope you can make the premiere tonight where I always try to interact in the comment section!  Up the irons, and into the unknown!

 

Friday July 18 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T.  Enjoy on YouTube.

* I wanna shoot myself for saying the “STATE” of Quebec instead of “PROVINCE” in this episode. UGH. What a mis-speak. So embarassing!

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🅻🅸🆅🅴 50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 17: Raising Hell – Bruce’s “Final” Show

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 17: Raising Hell – Bruce’s “Final” Show

A special 🅻🅸🆅🅴 episode

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #108

Scream for me, YouTube! For the “Final” time, Bruce Dickinson takes the stage with Iron Maiden, at Pinewood Studios in the UK.  It was a big pay-per-view worldwide TV broadcast.  Recorded 28 Aug 1993, the Air Raid Siren bid farewell after 11 years in Iron Maiden.

Released on VHS on 5 September 1994, the Raising Hell show is controversial for one main reason:  Simon Drake.  A “horror magician” that was invited not to open the show, but to perform alongside and during the show, Drake’s “magic” was a unique addition to Iron Maiden.  Drake had his own segments on a side stage, but also interacted with the band on “From Here to Eternity” and other segments.

Even watching the show without Drake’s segments, it’s an odd one for Iron Maiden.  A smaller stage inside a studio is an unusual place to see an Iron Maiden concert.  Still, history unfolded that night, and Harrison and I are here to tell you all about it.  And show you, too:  we will run a selection of the Simon Drake bits for you to…enjoy?

Tonight’s episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden ends the reign of Bruce, as we soon embark on the era of Blaze.  Tune in tonight and join the comments!

 

Friday July 11 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T.  Enjoy on YouTube or Facebook.

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🅻🅸🆅🅴 50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 16: Live At Donington & A Real Live Dead One

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 16: Live At Donington & A Real Live Dead One

A special 🅻🅸🆅🅴 episode

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #106

Scream for me, YouTube!  Harrison and Mike will be live Friday evening, July 4, for our next episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden.  This period is a busy one in Maiden history.  The 1992 Fear on the Road tour resulted in a live album, 1993’s A Real Live One, which contained no overlap with previous live album Live After Death (ignoring Maiden England for this comparison).  The point was value, but was that a good idea?  The intention was always to follow it with A Real Dead One, but Bruce’s announcement that he was leaving Iron Maiden in 1993 put the dampers over the whole affair.  After Bruce had played his final show and was diving into making his solo album Balls to Picasso, Iron Maiden released a double live Live at Donington to commemorate the significant 1992 live gig with Bruce in the band.

There was also a VHS release of Bruce’s final show called Raising Hell, but we will tackle that subject in the next live episode.  For this week, we are covering 4 CDs of live Maiden, plus all the B-sides.  That means you’re getting A Real Live One, A Real Dead One, Live At Donington, plus the live singles for “Fear of the Dark” and “Hallowed Be That Name”.  Every song – that is how we do it here on 50 Years of Iron Maiden.

Artwork is an interesting subject to tackle when it comes to these albums.  Derek Riggs was back after a one-album absence, to provide artwork on A Real Live One and A Real Dead One.  Donington was issued with a simple white “bootleg” cover, the Maiden logo stamped in black, and no booklet.  Some consider this release to be an early form of an “official bootleg” release.   All these albums were reissued in 1998 with some changes.  A Real Live One and A Real Dead One were combined into one, and Donington was given actual cover art this time by Marillion artist Mark Wilkinson, featuring a demonic bat-Eddie 1992 concert goers would recognise from the show.  Mark will reappear in this series down the line….

Harrison and Mike will attempt to digest all of this live Maiden tonight, live.  Join us in the comments!

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50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode: Collections! Stories! Maiden on Vinyl, Bottlecaps & More!

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode:
Collections! Stories! Maiden on Vinyl, Bottlecaps & More!

With special guest Aaron “Mr. Books” KMA and Jex Russell

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK bonus episode

Originally run:  June 16 2023.  Now edited with new content.

This special bonus episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden may be an old show from 2023, but most Maiden viewers never saw it, so I re-edited it and we’re running it again!  This episode was a special fun one that we did with Aaron “Mr. Books” KMA, showing off parts of our Maiden collections.

Aaron, being Mr. Books, had one of Bruce Dickinson’s novels on hand.  He also had a near-mint collection of Trooper beer bottle caps, and a rare Iron Maiden menu from Toronto.  Harrison tended to focus on CDs.  He had some rare bootlegs, including a DVD.  For myself, I was eager to show off my Maiden vinyl collection at the time, including coloured vinyl, picture discs, some sealed records, and much more.  Early on, Jex Russell showed up just to crash the party!

Speaking of books, we also took a look (for the very first time) at a Maiden book that features Mike himself.  Chances are, you’ve never seen this book before.  You definitely have never seen it on 50 Years of Iron Maiden before.

This was the infamous night that Jen had a seizure, fell, and almost broke her jaw.  I’ve edited most of that stuff out but some remnants remain.

Friday June 27 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T.  Enjoy on YouTube.

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50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 15: Fear of the Dark

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 15:  Fear of the Dark

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #105

In the spring of 1992, Iron Maiden returned with new music, less than two years since No Prayer for the Dying.  Album #2 for Janick Gers, and final album (for a long time) with Bruce Dickinson.  It was also the final production before retiring for longtime Maiden compatriot, Martin “Black Knight” Birch.  An historic album, significant in the discography, but of mixed reception.  We tackle Maiden’s direction(s) on this album, the first of the “grunge era” which found bands like Iron Maiden with diminishing sales.  We also had to address the new artwork by Melvyn Grant, the first Maiden album cover without Derek Riggs.

Eeeeewhhh-ZACH!  Maiden began to explore current events in their lyrics, along with some different musical directions, from ballads to Zeppelin-like dirges.   Were they chasing trends?  Harrison makes some arguments for this, while Mike bluntly states what he likes and does not like about each of the 12 album tracks.

There are more than just the 12 album tracks to discuss:  a variety of B-sides are included, such as covers of Montrose, Budgie and Chuck Berry songs.  There are comedic novelty songs (plural!) for fans only, and there are live tracks, plus one rare remix.  We tackle all of them.

As usual, Harrison discusses the tour, and how many of the songs were actually played live.  You can count on us to give you a complete picture of every era of Iron Maiden, and Fear of the Dark is one that makes for good deconstructing.  You can also count on our honesty, and Fear of the Dark is an album that divides fans…again.

Tell us what you think tonight on 50 Years of Iron Maiden.

 

Friday June 20 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T.  Enjoy on YouTube.

BONUS!  We also unboxed Martin Popoff’s new book HALLOWED BY THEIR NAME: THE UNOFFICIAL IRON MAIDEN BIBLE in a bonus episode earlier this week!

 

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50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode: Unboxing Martin Popoff’s Hallowed By Their Name: The Unofficial Iron Maiden Bible

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode: Unboxing Martin Popoff’s Hallowed By Their Name: The Unofficial Iron Maiden Bible

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK bonus episode

Welcome to a special “teaser” episode!  At long last, Martin Popoff’s Unofficial Iron Maiden Bible, called Hallowed By Their Name, has arrived at Grab A Stack HQ!  Check out this monstrosity in the bonus video below.

This is a gorgeous book, and heavy as the metal it represents.  Looking much like an actual hardcover bible, this book covers the entire 50 year history of the band, with loads of full colour pictures and 666 fully loaded pages.

Check out the unboxing video and let’s look forward to talking to Martin about this incredible book in the future.

Video is up now!   Enjoy on YouTube.

 

 

 

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50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 14: No Prayer for the Dying featuring Reed Little

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 14: No Prayer for the Dying

With special guest Reed Little

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #104

Change.  Though nobody could predict what the 1990s would bring, for hard rock and heavy metal, changes were afoot.  In Iron Maiden’s case, the changes began with No Prayer for the Dying, the first album since the debut without Adrian Smith on guitar.

Enter:  Janick Gers, former Gillan guitarist, but more importantly, an alumni of Bruce Dickinson’s Tattooed Millionaire band.  Even with a familiar face on board, Iron Maiden were bound for change.  Shorter songs.  Less progressive elements.  Stripped back music, artwork and stage show.  And one massive hit single.

Harrison, Mike and special guest Reed Little came at this album with different perspectives.  Therefore, more than any prior episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden, our opinions differ from one another.  This makes for a rousing, fun episode!  As an added bonus, we have some 1990 Nicko McBrain footage talking about how feels about the “new” album.

As usual can you expect Harrison to go through the tour and setlist in detail.  We will also discuss the four single B-sides:  “All In Your Mind”, “Kill Me Ce Soir”, “Communication Breakdown” and “I’m A Mover”.   We will also appraise the cover art, both the original and reissue Derek Riggs paintings.

Holy Smoke, I can’t believe we have already finished the entire decade of the 80s and are moving into the 1990s!  Be sure not to miss this important episode, and the changes to follow!

Friday June 6 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T.  Enjoy on YouTube.

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50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode: Run For Your Lives setlist analysis

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode

Run For Your Lives setlist analysis

A few months ago, Harrison and I sat down and did our wishlists and speculation on the 2025 Run For Your Lives tour.  With the first two shows in Budapest completed, Harrison and I reconvened to discuss the actual setlists in this special bonus episode.

Yes, there will be two episodes of 50 Years of Iron Maiden this week!  We will also be back this Friday to talk about the one album they ignored on this tour…

With an eye towards a deep analysis, Harrison and I went through the entire set track by track.  Harrison touches on the performances and Bruce’s voice, while I focused more on my satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the songs selected, based on the parameters set out by the band themselves.  Of course, we also have to address the “new guy”, Simon Dawson, which we do!  And what about poor Janick?  Find out….

This episode is live now, June 4 at midnight, so check it out.

Airing Wednesday June 4 at 12:00 A.M. E.S.T.    Enjoy on YouTube.

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50 Years of Iron Maiden: Yes, we will be talking about the setlist…

Happy Friday everyone!  As mentioned on last week’s episode, Harrison and I are taking this week off.  Instead of an episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden tonight, we are re-running the debut MarriedandHeels episode, in solidarity with our friend and former co-host who needs some support today.

The topic everyone is talking about is the new Iron Maiden Run For Your Lives tour setlist.  Harrison and I are itching to talk about it with you, and we will.  Soon, we’ll be recording a bonus episode to talk about this new set.

I hope everyone else is doing well this week, and we’ll see you soon once again on 50 Years of Iron Maiden.

See below for our fun and frivolous “setlist speculation” episode from a few months ago.

Past episodes:

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A Far-Ranging Chat: The First Ten Years box set and More…

I’m a bit of a perfectionist.  I felt our episode on The First Ten Years box set by Iron Maiden was longer and more comprehensive.  Harrison also felt the episode deserved some expansion.  That’s why we did a live post-show chat after 50 Years of Iron Maiden last night.

An informal but semi-formatted chat, Harrison and I showed off a Japanese printing of the Purgatory / Maiden Japan CD that we forgot to show on the actual episode.  We also brought you some interesting facts from the fine people at Reddit.  This live bonus chat really is an essential part of the actual bonus episode.  That sounds confusing, but you know what I mean.

We also delved a little into the solo careers of Blaze Bayley (thank you @darcyska for the question) and Bruce Dickinson.   That tangent took us to the Ripper era of Judas Priest, and a discussion of the bleak 1990s.  We foreshadowed some coming episodes in 50 Years of Iron Maiden.  Next week will be a live show, and the first 50 Years of Iron Maiden episode to come to you live from the cottage.  We are doing Maiden England next.

As an added bonus we, re-told the story of how I acquired this holy grail of a box set.  We also ran a clip (Inception-style) that didn’t make it into our 100th episode, and finally a very special video showcasing the comedy of Jex Russell.

Thanks for watching, a shout-out to Henry Wright, John Clauser, Chris Sarre, Melissa Nee and D’Arcy Briggs for the comments.  We’ll be back for more soon.

Check out the full show below.

In 1990, Iron Maiden reissued all their 20 singles/EPs (except The Soundhouse Tapes) individually, on CD and vinyl.  Each CD and record held two singles/EPs.  The only missing track was “Wrathchild” from Maiden Japan, which will be discussed in the episode.  But what about the box itself?  You could send away a special coupon for the box that holds them all, for either CD or vinyl formats.  As the fortunate owner of this box set, we has to cover it in this bonus episode.

 

 

 

 

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“Running Free” & “Sanctuary”
1. “Running Free”
2. “Burning Ambition”
3. “Sanctuary”
4. “Drifter” (Live in 1980)
5. “I’ve Got the Fire” (Live in 1980) 3:14
6. “Listen With Nicko! Part. I”

“Women in Uniform” & “Twilight Zone”
1. “Women in Uniform”
2. “Invasion”
3. “Phantom of the Opera” (Live in 1980)
4. “Twilight Zone”
5. “Wrathchild”
6. “Listen With Nicko! Part. II”

“Purgatory” & “Maiden Japan (EP)
1. “Purgatory”
2. “Genghis Khan”
3. “Running Free” (Live in 1981)
4. “Remember Tomorrow” (Live in 1981)
5. “Killers” (Live in 1981)
6. “Innocent Exile” (Live in 1981)
7. “Listen With Nicko! Part. III”

“Run to the Hills” & “The Number of the Beast”
1. “Run to the Hills”
2. “Total Eclipse”
3. “The Number of the Beast”
4. “Remember Tomorrow” (Live in 1981)
5. “Listen With Nicko! Part. IV”

“Flight of Icarus” & “The Trooper”
1. “Flight of Icarus”
2. “I’ve Got the Fire”
3. “The Trooper”
4. “Cross-Eyed Mary”
5. “Listen With Nicko! Part. V”

“2 Minutes to Midnight” & “Aces High”
1. “2 Minutes to Midnight”
2. “Rainbow’s Gold”
3. “Mission From ‘Arry”
4. “Aces High”
5. “King of Twilight”
6. “The Number of the Beast” (Live in 1983)
7. “Listen With Nicko! Part. VI”

“Running Free” (Live) & “Run to the Hills” (Live)
1. “Running Free” (Live in 1985)
2. “Sanctuary” (Live in 1985)
3. “Murders in the Rue Morgue” (Live in 1984)
4. “Run to the Hills” (Live in 1985)
5. “Phantom of the Opera” (Live in 1984)
6. “Losfer Words (Big ‘Orra)” (Live in 1984)
7. “Listen With Nicko! Part. VII”

“Wasted Years” & “Stranger in a Strange Land”
1. “Wasted Years”
2. “Reach Out”
3. “Sheriff of Huddersfield”
4. “Stranger in a Strange Land”
5. “That Girl”
6. “Juanita”
7. “Listen With Nicko! Part. VIII”

“Can I Play With Madness” & “The Evil That Men Do”
1. “Can I Play With Madness”
2. “Black Bart Blues”
3. “Massacre”
4. “The Evil That Men Do”
5. “Prowler” (1988 Version)
6. “Charlotte the Harlot” (1988 Version)
7. “Listen With Nicko! Part. IX” McBrain

“The Clairvoyant” (Live) & “Infinite Dreams” (Live)
1. “The Clairvoyant” (Live in 1988)
2. “The Prisoner” (Live in 1988)
3. “Heaven Can Wait” (Live in 1988)
4. “Infinite Dreams” (Live in 1988)
5. “Killers” (Live in 1988)
6. “Still Life” (Live in 1988)
7. “Listen With Nicko! Part. X” McBrain