Heavy metal band Iron Maiden was formed on December 25, 1975 in East London, England by Steve Harris. He joined together with fellow musicians Paul Di'Anno, Tony Parsons, and Doug Sampson and named the band after a 19th century torture German device that was adapted in the film "The Man in the Iron Mask" which influenced the band.
Initially Iron Maiden only performed local gigs, receiving only moderate London airplay. It was not until 1978 New Year's Eve that the band released their first three-song demo, "The Soundhouse Tapes".
Unexpectedly, this recording sold 5,000 copies in just a few weeks and the song "Prowler" became the number one hit on Sounds magazine's Heavy Metal Soundhouse charts.
Between 1978 and 1979, Iron Maiden suffered several lineup changes until the band signed to EMI records before the end of 1979. With the turn of the decade, Iron Maiden's self-titled debut album was released in 1980 producing the single hit "Running Free" that broke into the UK's charts.
Although their 1981 follow up album "Killers" achieved the same success that its predecessor, but Iron Maiden's breakthrough into the International mainstream came with "The Number of the Beast", an album released in 1982.
Throughout a successful career that has spawned until today, Iron Maiden has recorded 14 studio albums from 1980 to 2006. The band has also toured extensively around the world, performing in 2007 at different worldwide festival with a set of songs dubbed as "A Matter of the Beast", celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 1982 album "The Number of the Beast"
Although the band always claimed music influence from bands such as Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, and UFO, Iron Maiden has turned themselves into an influential band for a new generation of heavy metal and hard rock musicians.
Like many other legendary bands, Iron Maiden has faced numerous lineups throughout their history. They have also won countless awards and prizes from almost any of the most prestigious music media.
Curiously, in the United States the band was a sort of underground attraction after some critics claimed that Iron Maiden were a gang of Satanists, whose song "666, The Number of the Beast", as it was often featured, confirmed that version.
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