<div class="header-image"></div> <table class="table-header"> <thead> <tr> <th colspan="2"></th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>2025-02-06</td> <td style="text-align: right;"><a href="About.md" class="internal-link">About</a></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> # Iron Maiden and My Love for Music  When I was a boy I had a neighbour, some years older than I, who introduced me to heavy metal music. I loved it. I enjoyed it in a way that I didn't know music could be enjoyed. I took actual pleasure in it, and always wanted to hear more. He specifically introduced me to Black Sabbath, Metallica, Motorhead, AC/DC, Kiss, Slayer, and many other bands in the late 70s to early 80s era, including Iron Maiden. He had album releases from these bands in both vinyl and cassette formats. One of the cool things about collecting music in those days was the inner sleeves of the tapes and records. There were photographs, drawings, and lyrics. Sometimes the musicians would write something to thank the fans for buying their music. As a boy, I loved looking at these little sleeves and booklets, especially if there was cool artwork. I think that's what first attracted me to Maiden, if I'm honest. The 10 year old boy in me loved the artwork included with those records. I used to think that I could fathom a story unravelling with each album cover.  The cultural backdrop here is important. The Satanic Panic was on the rise, and parents were warned about kids being lured into Satanic cults. Tipper Gore was reading song lyrics to bewildered parents and lawyers, and scruffy musicians were defending themselves, trying to avoid censorship, while having their music banned from stores. Some of these lyrics apparently scared my Mom, who wanted to take all my music away. I had been able to secure a paper route at that young age, and so had bought many of those albums on cassette. The battle over my right to the music I bought with money I had earned from that paper route was the source of many battles in my childhood home. My Dad was a little more reasonable. He wasn't religious (my Mom was quite religious), and did not go to church with the rest of us on Sundays. So the religious argument that was coming from the southern US didn't really convince him of anything. He wanted to actually listen to the music and see if taking it from me was justified. So on one Saturday, I had planned to paint my room. My dad agreed to help and he also wanted me to play some music. I asked him what he wanted to hear, exactly, but he just answered with "play me your favourites." I don't think I understood what was at stake at first. I was just happy he was interested in my music. He'd really only ever put it down before. I started with Metallica which he definitely did *not* like. <u>Master of Puppets</u> was the only album I had at that point (this was 1986, I think), so the first song he heard was Battery. I don't remember if we listened to the rest of that album. I wish I could go back to see his reaction to Lepper Messiah if we did. I found out several years later that the man is an atheist. At any rate, we eventually turned to <u>Powerslave</u>, possibly my favourite Maiden album. He didn't really like Aces High, which he thought glorified war, nor did he like the title track. But then Rime of the Ancient Mariner came on. Now I always loved that song. Even at that age, the epic build of it really captured my attention. It was emotional, even though I probably didn't really understand completely what the story was about. My Dad recognised it right away, or, I should say, recognised the Samuel Taylor Coleridge lines. "That's Samuel Taylor Coleridge," he said plainly. "It's Rime of the Ancient Mariner. But yeah, a couple verses are credited to someone else. I'd have to look at the lyrics.." "It's Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a poem." I was intrigued by this. I knew that Iron Maiden got inspiration from a lot of sources from history and myth. I knew about Icarus, for example, as I already had an interest in Greek myth, and knew the story of the wings made from feathers and candle wax. And so I played more from Iron Maiden, and focused on those songs derived from Greek myth, and history. I played Alexander the Great, and he told me more about the man and what he accomplished. But I didn't know who Samuel Taylor Coleridge was, and I certainly hadn't seriously read any poetry. I was an 11 or 12 year old boy. Poetry was for sissies. But I loved that song. After we finished with my room, I made a point to go to the library and get a book of Taylor's poems, one that included Rime of the Ancient Mariner, of course. And my dad noticed. In the end I was permitted to keep my heavy metal tapes (this time. The Satanic conspiracies would eventually return). Time went on and I continued to make a point of buying each Iron Maiden album as they were released. I already had <u>Number of the Beast</u> (released 1982) all the way to <u>Somewhere in Time</u> (released in 1986). <u>Seventh Son of a Seventh Son</u> came out, and I liked it, though I thought it was a little weaker than other Maiden albums. I also bought <u>No Prayer for the Dying</u>, the first album with Janick Gers, who had replaced Adrian Smith on Guitar. I liked it well enough too, and listened to both of these a lot, but my taste in music was beginning to change. I had discovered alternative by this time in the late 80s and early 90s, and became very interested in industrial and other more electronic-based music. Back then, music was far more expensive than it is today. The music I was listening to, including heavy metal acts like Maiden or Metallica, didn't get a lot of radio play, if any. If we wanted to listen to it we had to buy it, and it truly was not cheap. I needed to be selective about which albums I bought, as I couldn't afford all that I wanted. And so, when my interest started changing, I wanted Skinny Puppy or Frontline Assembly tapes more than the next Iron Maiden, which was <u>Fear of the Dark</u>. I had a friend who bought it, and I think I must have made a copy, but I didn't have it for very long before all my tapes got stolen in a break-in anyway. When I started to rebuild my music collection, it was with CDs. I bought a new stereo with a CD player, and concentrated mostly on industrial and electronic. I never actually listened to any other Iron Maiden releases for 3 decades! That's right, I missed the Blaze years completely. And everything else right up to the present day. Somewhere along the line, I really stopped caring about new music. I kept up with it a bit in the 00s, but after that, I started listening to podcasts more than anything. It's only been in the last few years that I've started to rekindle my love for music again. Amazingly, vinyl has been the impetus behind this. My CD collection grew into the 100s, and when the technology arrived, I ripped them all to FLAC and now have the discs in storage. I have mp3 copies of those FLACs on my phone, and have listened to music this way for ~20 years now. I should also admit, I've downloaded a fair bit without buying it. I've never subscribed to any music streaming service. I was still purchasing CDs and I've bought a fair amount digitally, always FLACs. What's bothered me about buying music this way, though, is that purchasing an album via digital download always costs about the same as buying the CD and having it shipped. When I download the music, I feel like I'm getting ripped off. I refuse to subscribe to streaming services because they don't offer me anything other than, perhaps, the introduction of something new by searching genres. But YouTube is fine for this. And I'd rather listen to music without streaming it over the Internet. I like owning local copies. This way I can still have my complete collection wherever I go, without worrying about interruptions, or losing my collection if I don't want to subscribe, or switch providers. I can also use whatever music player I like. But I digress. Having music digitally is such a convenience, but I've found it takes away from my enjoyment of listening to it. And part of that actually comes from the sheer availability of music, and the low cost of listening to as much as I'd like. Even for someone like myself, I can still just sit in front of YouTube and have infinite choice. There's really no personal cost of ownership. When I was a kid, choosing what music to buy was often a choice of deciding which music is more personal to me. What music do I most identify with? And showing others your music collection is kind of like showing them who you are as a person. After all there is all sorts of music I like, but *this* is what was worthy enough for me to spend my money on and add to my collection. I missed that aspect of collecting music. I also missed looking at CD inserts, lyric sheets, etc., while I was listening to an album I just bought. I missed the act of browsing my collection, choosing a disc or tape, inserting it into a player, and looking over the packaging as I listened. With vinyl making a bit of a comeback these days, I decided to buy a new turntable, and bought a few records on the cheap from some flea markets. And I really enjoy playing them! I'll be honest: I don't really get the benefit that audiophiles will say is the advantage of vinyl, that the sound is warmer and clearer than the digital counterpart. I'm just using the preamp included with my player and that's wired to a cheap, but fairly decent boom box. But what I'm looking for has less to do with sound quality, and more to do with my relationship to the music. I'd forgotten the enjoyment of sitting down specifically to listen to an album. My attention is focused on the music, rather than it being simply background filler. And again, I'm having to make hard choices when I go out to buy a record, but gradually my collection is widening as I find old jazz albums, 70s psychedelic rock, 90s electronica, heavy metal and more. As for my Iron Maiden collection, I went and bought <u>Number of the Beast</u> through to <u>Seventh Son</u>, and have gone back to listen to all the rest that I missed over the years too, some of which is really good! I even like the two Blaze Bayley albums quite a bit. I've especially grown to enjoy the 2 Paul Di'Anno albums, which I never really gave much of a chance. I'm sure I'll purchase them at some point to add to my collection. It's really great being a music fan again, not just returning to all the music I used to love in my youth, but discovering new(ish) artists that I wouldn't have given a chance before. It's also fun having a mental list of albums I really want to buy, and having to make that hard choice when I go to the record store. Music can be so enriching, and I think, through all the modern convenience and plenty, much of the cultural importance that music previously held has been lost. Music should bring us together in the face of diversity, and disagreement. I hope that somehow the unity we all once shared in music can return.