Happy Birthday to Number of the Beast

When I was a wee youngster an older brother of my neighborhood friend played 2 albums for us one that would go on and influence one of us in a huge way.  The first was Guns and Roses  Appetite for Destruction, I remember liking it a lot but not nearly as much as the album that he would play for us next which just blew my 6-year-old mind away.  That album was Iron Maiden‘s perennial classic album, The Number of the Beast.

The energy, the huge guitars, Bruce Dickinson’s soaring vocals and maniacal laughter, the fun, feel good vibe of all the songs.  Songs about Indians, songs about monsters, songs about invaders (which I thought was about aliens from space at the time, read: Space Invaders).  I remember how terrifying it was to listen to “Hallowed Be Thy Name” and how much I laughed at “The Number of the Beast”.  Ya, this album made a huge impact on me and I found myself getting a copy from my buddies brother and at around the same point in time I heard this album Iron Maiden had just released Somewhere in Time which was one of the first cassette tapes I’ve ever bought with my own money and the first heavy metal album purchase of my life (and so the obsession begins).

To say Iron Maiden is my all time favorite band is an understatement.  So, I give a whole-hearted Happy 30th Birthday to one of the greatest and most influential metal albums ever written.  Up the Irons!!!!!! What’s your favorite songs off of The Number of the Beast?  Peace Love and Iron Maiden!!!!

My Iron Maiden Tattoo