Last week went great. Had some good hits and some requests.
So lets get back to it.
This week I want to feature a band who I, and many others, consider to be the quintessential Dungeons & Dragons band.
Iron Maiden!
I was introduced to Iron Maiden via my Jr. High School DM. He was a huge Iron Maiden fan and lived close to the Capitol Records/EMI plant. So we would ride our bikes there and shift through the discarded tapes that would litter the back lot. We found tons of Kenny Rogers and The Tubes, but finding Iron Maiden was a treat.
He would come up with adventures based on the album covers (at the time he had all five of their first four studio albums and "Maiden Japan") and songs. Later when we got to High School and a new DM (we both kept on as players) we would work "Eddie" into a our universe as an undying assassin. I don't think we ever came up with stats.
Somewhere in Time was my favorite album of those days. So first up is one of my favorites, Wasted Years. This video also features a pictorial history of Eddie up to that point.
"Woe to you, Oh Earth and Sea, for the Devil sends the
beast with wrath, because he knows the time is short...
Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the
beast for it is a human number, its number is Six hundred and sixty six."
Honestly. Could have anything sounded cooler to a bunch D&D obsessed 13 yearolds with an healthy obsession with the occult? No. Nothing else was a cool as Iron Maiden's Number of the Beast.
No discussion of Iron Maiden and my early D&D days can happen without at least acknowledging The Trooper. This was my DM's favorite song and the one video we would wait for before playing.
And another great one from the time, Flight of Icarus.
And my first request, from Mercurius Aulicus, Fear of the Dark:
Going through all these videos and memories I realize I have enough for a Part 2! So look forward to that at some future date.
Have a request? Hit me up!
Want to be a guest VJ (video jockey for those that don't remember MTV)? Also hit me up!
Artist Derick Riggs ("Dr. Death"), is the artist who created "Eddie" (for some other "lesser" band).... Iron Maiden bought the Rights to the Character....
ReplyDeleteA bit on Eddie's background...
I can't call myself a hardcore Iron Maiden fan, but I do enjoy what I've heard of their music. I find their songs to be of epic proportions in the way I experience much classical music. And it's not just raucous noise, but well-arranged and often quite melodic with a powerful approach.
ReplyDeleteArlee Bird
A to Z Challenge Co-host
Tossing It Out
I was going to suggest Number of the Beast last week but I had already made two suggestions.
ReplyDeleteHowever how would you like some folk metal to game to? Falkenbach. Heathenish Foray: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_Z7y0U3b3k
Maiden rules. I love the concept of Eddie as an undying assassin. Powerslave (the song) has inspired at least one "big bad" in a game of mine.
ReplyDeleteUp the irons!