Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Powerslave!

To all my fellow Maiden fans…

This epic album was released on September 3, 1984.

This is the cover art for the album "Powerslave" by the artist Iron Maiden.

I have a diverse musical palate, with an appetite for many different genres and styles. However, I most enjoy guitar-centric music, so Rock and Metal are my “go-to items” on the menu. Maiden, Priest, and Sabbath are my favorite traditional Heavy Metal bands. Maiden was probably the best at infusing classic literature, world history, and social commentary into its music; a veritable history class… The band’s vivid imagery and legendary artwork also helped tell each tale, deliver each lesson.

Powerslave was ranked at number 38 on Rolling Stone's list of "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time" in 2017. According to both Nicko McBrain and Adrian Smith, Powerslave began making Iron Maiden famous "very fast, very quickly", such as in Brazil, where hundreds of fans waited outside hotels and restaurants for the band. The album included “Aces High”, “2 Minutes to Midnight”, and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” [one of my all-time favorite Metal songs].

Cover art for “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Iron Maiden

A protest song about nuclear war, "2 Minutes to Midnight" was written by Adrian Smith and Bruce Dickinson. The song attacks the commercialization of war and how it is used to fuel the global economy.

2024 or 1984? The more things change, the more they stay the same…

The tour in support of the album began in Poland in August 1984 and ended in California in July 1985. The stage set echoed the album cover, including monumental pedestals several stories high, atop which the musicians appeared at times during the show. The tour was the first time a heavy metal band had taken a full set behind the “Iron Curtain”, visiting Poland and Hungary, a landmark achievement at the time. It continued into South America – the first time the band had toured there – where they played to an estimated audience of 500,000 at the inaugural Rock in Rio as special guests of the band Queen. The Live After Death album and video, recorded over four nights at Long Beach Arena in Los Angeles and Hammersmith Odeon in London, were also released; these respectively peaked at No. 2 and No. 1 in the UK charts.

Source: Wikipedia.org