janick gers

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 29: A Matter of Life and Death with Uncle Meat

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 29: A Matter of Life and Death

With special guest Uncle Meat

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK episode 137

“I love work. I can sit and watch it for hours.” – Nicko McBrain

Our longest episode of the entire series, A Matter of Life and Death is a special album in the Maiden arsenal.  Bringing back one of Maiden’s most popular lyrical topics, the album largely focused on warfare, with a sideline into religion and social commentary.  There might even be an original fictional tale or two here, sprinkled in with the cold historical reality.  A Matter of Life and Death is a high water mark, we will argue, and hope you’ll listen to what we have to say.

Original Grab A Stack of Rock alumnus Uncle Meat returns for an album that he picked, because he was fortunate enough to see this tour.  That will become important later on.  Along with Mike and Harrison, each of the 10 new songs are broken down musicially and lyrically, with historical and personal context added for colour.  An album laden with highlights, we take our time to appreciate the minor details.

We’re only just getting started:  This album has a whopping 11 assorted bonus tracks and B-sides to discuss, plus a vital bonus DVD.  The extra tracks come from many formats:  A magazine CD tribute album to Deep Purple’s Machine Head, a DVD single, several CD singles, a 7″ and 10″ vinyl, just to get all the tracks.  There is also an additional promo CD single to mention, and an exclusive live track that you can’t get anymore because it was a download-only.  Bummer.

When we’re done all that, and have discussed the included documentary DVD in detail, we move on to the tour(s).  And oh, what they did nearly tore fandom apart.  As illustrated on Mike’s bootleg CD, Revenge Is Living In The Past, Maiden played all 10 album tracks in sequence before getting to a smattering of classic hits (including of course “Fear of the Dark”).  Uncle Meat was there when it went down in Toronto, and not knowing what we was in for, he describes his immediate impressions.  As a group, we tackle the tour’s historic importance, and the fallout that came next.  The next time around, Maiden had cut the 10 songs down to just five, and added more classics back into the set.

This 1 hour 38 minute episode includes the last musical B-sides or bonus tracks we’ll get from Maiden, save one RSD picture disc we’ll discuss later on.  The bonus tracks are a wonderful, confounding collection to complete.  We hope you enjoy the level of detail we went into for this episode.  We felt the album deserved nothing less.

 

Friday February 13 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T., 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube.

 

 

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50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode: Reissued Singles with New B-Sides 2002-2005

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode: Reissued Singles with New B-Sides 2002-2005

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK bonus episode

This 22 minute bonus episode finally wraps up some of the loose ends that we skipped over in prior instalments.  We wanted to group these special singles into one episode.

In 2002, Maiden reissued “Run to the Hills” to support a special fundraising gig for the Clive Burr MS Trust Fund.  The first CD single included songs from Beast Over Hammersmith, also released in 2002 on Eddie’s Archive.  This single also supported the forthcoming Rock In Rio album.  A second CD included two tracks from Reading 1982.  Both singles included Camp Chaos videos later released on Visions of the Beast.  “Total Eclipse” is a previously unreleased live version.

In 2005, to support The Early Years DVD, Maiden reissued “The Number of the Beast” on CD and vinyl.  There were new B-sides here as well, from the Clive Burr support gig at Brixton ’02.   The single also included a Camp Chaos video, and a live video from Brixton.

Finally in 2005, supporting Death on the Road, “The Trooper” was reissued on multiple formats.  A highly coveted download-only version of “The Trooper” from Iceland in 2005 remains one of Maiden’s most highly sought rarities, simply because it had no physical release and is no longer for sale on their website.  The singles on various formats included a slew of early tracks from the Eddie Rips Up The World Tour.  Once again the CD version included videos, but no Camp Chaos this time.

Harrison and Mike will go through all the versions of all the singles, in detail tonight.  That wraps up all the loose ends before we get into the next studio album, A Matter of Life and Death.  Don’t miss this special, crucial part of Maiden history.

Friday February 6 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T., 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube.

 

 

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🅻🅸🆅🅴 50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 28: Death on the Road

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 28: Death on the Road

A special 🅻🅸🆅🅴 episode with guest Jex Russell

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #135

Scream for me, YouTube!  We’re back with our first live Maiden episode of 2026.  We try and do the live albums as live episodes, since we love that live show experience so much.  With us this time is a lucky owner of the Death on the Road DVD, Mr. Jex Russell!  We first saw his copy of the DVD back in June 26 on a special episode on our Maiden collections.  That set being such a rarity, we had to get Jex back on board when it was time to talk about it.

The early 2000s were an incredibly busy time for Iron Maiden, and for the first time ever we had two consecutive live albums after two consecutive studio albums.  This leads to natural comparisons with Rock In Rio, which also received CD and DVD releases.

Tonight we go all-in for the live album, breaking it down track by track.  Harrison and Jex will have their DVD copies on hand to detail us on its contents.  All three of us will be live to answer your questions and comments as we go!  Don’t miss this special live episode!

 

Friday January 23 at  7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube or Facebook.

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50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode: The Essential Iron Maiden

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode: The Essential Iron Maiden

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK bonus episode

This week’s bonus episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden falls on a Tuesday.  This is a shorter episode, that we wanted to run mid-week.

On 12 July 2005, Sony released The Essential Iron Maiden in North America.  As Maiden’s fourth compilation (and third multi-disc compilation), it was interesting for several reasons.  First and most obviously, there is no Eddie on the cover.  Second, it was released as part of Sony’s Essential series, and we’ll look at another disc from that series for comparison.  Third, it is again mostly reverse-chronological, almost like an updated Best of the Beast without the rarities.

We’re calling it the “weirdest” Iron Maiden best of album for these reasons and more.  Would you buy it?  Have a watch and let us know about this truly un-essential Essential release by Sony!

Wednesday January 13 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T., 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube.

 

 

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50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 27: The Early Days DVD

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 27:  The History of Iron Maiden Part 1:  The Early Days

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #133

Buckle up, for tonight is one of the most detailed episodes of 50 Years of Iron Maiden to date!  In 2004, Iron Maiden went out on tour, but not to promote a new album.  This time (and for the first time!) they were out to promote a video:  The History of Iron Maiden Part 1: The Early Days, on DVD.  Tonight, we break down the entire contents of the DVD release (including the special features you probably never watched!) and the tour to boot.  Yes, this is an episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden as essential as any!

The DVD itself centers on The Early Days, a 90 minute documentary on Maiden history from 1975 to 1983 (the “early days”).  It includes interviews with Maiden members you’ve probably never met before, such as Ron “Rebel” Matthews, Terry Rance, Doug Sampson and many more.  The history of the band is run down with great care, ending in Dortmund in Germany on the World Piece Tour.

There are four concerts, in various states of completion:  Live at the Ruskin (1980), Live at the Rainbow (1981), Beast Over Hammersmith (1982) and Live in Dortmund (1983).  Even though we have discussed some of these tracks in previous episodes (including a full episode on the CD version of Hammersmith), we will go through every single track in exhausting detail.  Then there are the Top of the Pops and other TV shows to cover!  Then, Mike will take you through all the interesting details in the bonus features, such as Steve’s diary and scrapbook.  Find out exactly how Steve fired original singer Paul Mario Day, and when!

When this all said and done, Harrison will guide us through the Eddie Rips Up the World Tour, including the setlists and an incident involving Sharon Osbourne.  You might have heard about that one!  It happened on this tour.

Don’t miss the premiere of this episode, as we always like to interact in the comments!  Up the Irons!

Friday January 9 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T., 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube.

BONUS:  Tomorrow, January 10, Mike will post his written review of this DVD, never before seen, right here on this site.  This review, at almost 3000 words, is for those who prefer to read!  Mike never wrote a review of this release back in 2013 when he did his Maiden review series.  This is brand new and will not be exactly the same as what we will present in the video.  Enjoy both!

 

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50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode: The Greatest Iron Maiden Tribute Album You Never Heard – Food For Thought

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode: The Greatest Iron Maiden Tribute Album You Never Heard – Food For Thought

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #130

This is an episode that we have been looking forward to since the very start of this series.  Tribute albums wouldn’t usually figure into our Iron Maiden story, but this is one that we felt so strongly about that there wasn’t even a question.  Check out Sweden’s Food For Thought, who did the best Iron Maiden tribute you’ve never heard.

With 19 tracks spanning the debut album all the way to Dance of Death, Now That’s What I Call ‘Kin Music / What Are We Doing This For? (2003) is the coolest tribute album you’re likely to hear.  Each track is performed in a unique style, from metal to folk to electronica, often in the style of known artists.  Therefore if you would like to hear “Sanctuary” done in the style of Deep Purple’s “Speed King”, you will hear it on this album.  What if Lemmy was in Iron Maiden?  Or Bon Scott?  All those questions will be answered tonight.

Harrison and Mike break down the album’s 19 tracks, including deep cuts, hits and a B-side. We also play song clips to illustrate our points.  It might not be an easy album to find, but our goal is to get your shopping for Food For Thought at the episode’s conclusion.

We hope you enjoy this episode and ultimately the album!  Tune into the premiere as we always like to interact in the comments.

Friday December 12 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T., 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube.

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50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 26: Dance of Death with Lana Teramae

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 26:  Dance of Death

With special guest Lana Teramae

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #127

Brave New World was a new beginning for Iron Maiden, but the real test to any reunion (or new lineup, for that matter) is “can they do it twice”.  Dance of Death was Iron Maiden’s chance to repeat or exceed.  The road-seasoned lineup was hot with new ideas and got back to work with Kevin Shirley producing once again, but the new album was no re-hash.  The band pushed boldly on.

Joining us for the first time on Grab A Stack of Rock is Lana Teramae, an old friend and writer for Metal Express Radio.  Time zones once again collide in new ways, as Lana is the only guest from the state of Hawaii to ever join us!  Harrison and I have not worked with Lana since our old show (the LeBrain Train), so it is wonderful to have her on with us once again.  Her interviews with many of our heroes on Metal Express Radio might make us jealous, but when we started this series we wanted to include Lana.  She chose Dance of Death of the albums up for grabs.  In her words:

Check me out on Grab A Stack of Rock with Michael Ladano and Harrison Kopp as we discuss one of my favorite Iron Maiden albums, Dance of Death! The episode is set to premiere on YouTube on Friday, November 28, at 2:00 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time. I’m nowhere near as educated as these lovely gentlemen when it comes to Iron Maiden. I was just there for moral support!

Lana offered a new perspective that we have not often seen on the show:  that of a fan that is not a “super-fan” like Harrison and myself.  Lana may prefer Judas Priest to Iron Maiden, but she brings a new voice to the series and several insightful observations on this album that might be considered one that sometimes falls through the cracks.

After finishing an exhausting discussion on the 11 album tracks, we break down every B-side from the three singles:  “Wildest Dreams” (including DVD single), “Rainmaker” (Japanese CD single with two extra tracks), and “No More Lies” (boxed single with unlisted bonus track).  There is a lot to talk about with these B-sides as they included rare Iron Maiden jams, exclusive live versions, and unusual remixes.

As usual, Harrison takes us through the tour, though not too too much, since we will cover the live album Death on the Road in a future episode with special returning guest Jex Russell.  And, of course…we have to address the atrocious cover art.

On a personal note, this was the final episode recorded at the cottage in the 2025 season.  Will 50 Years of Iron Maiden still be going when we re-open in April 2026?  It might be possible as there is still a flurry of albums, live records, singles and compilations left to go.

Join Mike, Harrison and special guest Lana Teramae tonight.  We always try to comment along with you.

Friday November 28 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T., 2:00 PM Hawaii Standard Time.  Enjoy on YouTube.

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50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 25: Visions of the Beast featuring Bob Cesca from Camp Chaos

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 25:  Visions of the Beast featuring Bob Cesca from Camp Chaos

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #124

Back in 1999/2000, a little video called “Napster Bad!” went viral.  You know it, you shared it, you loved it.  Well, not Harrison because he was not born yet.  Bob Cesca (founder of Camp Chaos) created that video and many others, including official music videos for bands such as Motley Crue, Yes, and…Iron Maiden!

Bob is a talented jack of many trades, and also a massive Rush fan.  In this effortless interview, Bob tells us everything you wanted to know about him and Iron Maiden.  2003’s Visions of the Beast double DVD was a massive collection, and Camp Chaos did six music videos for it.  These videos mixed animation with the original familiar music video footage.  We break them all down in detail, including how to access the Easter Eggs.  How was he contacted by the Maiden camp?  How much input did Iron Maiden have on his creative process?  Why did he choose certain Eddies and settings, and how did he decide what to edit out of the originals to make way for animation?  It is a fascinating trip back in time, as current events impacted some of the videos, even though the songs themselves were oldies.  Hey…are there 10 ME-109s out of the sun…or not?

Bob also answered all our non-Maiden questions, such as why James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich have no noses in “Napster Bad”?

After Bob had answered all our questions, Harrison and Mike took a deep dive on the rest of the contents of the DVD set.  If you owned Visions of the Beast back in the day, own it now, or not yet…you will want to pop it in after this episode.

Please welcome Mr. Bob Cesca to Grab A Stack of Rock, and 50 Years of Iron Maiden!  Join us at the premiere in the comments tonight – we love interacting with you!

A big thanks to Tim Durling for introducing us to Bob!

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

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50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 24: Eddie’s Archive and Edward the Great

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 24: Eddie’s Archive and Edward the Great

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #121

Post-Brave New World, Iron Maiden were back on top.  With the struggles of the 1990s well behind them, Iron Maiden forged forward with new releases such as Rock In Rio, Edward the Great, and Eddie’s Archive.  Rock in Rio was a double-live, the likes not seen since last Bruce was in.  We covered this in our previous episode.  The latter two were Iron Maiden collections aimed at two very different groups of fans.

Edward the Great was a “hits compilation” aimed at new fans.  As a single disc compilation, it was limited by its length, and an interesting selection of tracks.  As a whole, it offered nothing besides new artwork for the seasoned Iron Maiden fan.  They were advised to save their money and buy the massive, limited edition Eddie’s Archive instead.

The Archive was a generous six-disc collection of three:

Discs 1 & 2 – BBC Archives.  We covered the first four songs in this set on our debut episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden, so we won’t be tackling these again tonight.  These discs span professional BBC recordings from 1980 to ’88.

Discs 3 & 4 – Beast Over Hammersmith.  Episode 6 of 50 Years of Iron Maiden was dedicated to this double-live album, so there is little need to repeat our praise.

Discs 5 & 6 – Best of the B’Sides.  We already critiqued all of these songs on the relevant albums, so our commentary here is focused more on value to the fan.

Mike and Harrison will break down the above releases, including Edward the Great, and have lots to show as well.  The goodies on display include two complete Eddie’s Archives:  One pre-ordered and delivered back in 2002, with rear sticker still intact, and one “Archive of Theseus” that Harrison will explain the origins of.

This magnificent metal episode is brought to you by the letter E, not to mention Mike and Harrison.  Please check out the premiere tonight if you can!  We love to interact in the comments section.

Friday October 17 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T.  Enjoy on YouTube.

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🅻🅸🆅🅴 50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 23: Rock in Rio

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 23: Rock in Rio

Special 🅻🅸🆅🅴 Episode

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #120

It was with great joy that we anticipated Iron Maiden’s first live album since Donington 1992:  Rock In Rio!  A decade had passed, and with it, three new studio albums, all of which are represented in the live set.  The new six-man Iron Maiden lineup was on fire, and little did we know it would become the most stable lineup in the band’s history.  Though they had released live B-sides from the Ed Hunter tour, Rock In Rio was the first full live album with the new lineup, and of course, new songs!  We even got a live DVD out of it.

In Rio, Iron Maiden played to approximately 250,000 people; the second largest crowd of their entire career, only topped by the 350,000 people who saw them in Rio in 1985.  They hit the stage with a setlist generous on new songs, classic hits, and respectful nods to the Blaze era.

Harrison and I will break down the album, produced by Kevin Shirley, track by track in tonight’s special live episode.  Don’t miss this one as we always enjoy interacting with the comments, and we can do this best when we are live.

Much like Iron Maiden, we are best when we are live.  Check it out tonight!

Friday October 10 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T.  Enjoy on YouTube or Facebook.

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