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Iron Maiden Song Ranking Thread (Currently Ranking: Mister Gold)

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425:
As I mentioned in the main Iron Maiden thread, I thought it would be interesting to make a thread where users can share countdowns of their top 50 (or top 30, or top 70, or top however many) favorite Iron Maiden songs. Like other threads like this, I think it’s best to run this thread by taking turns doing countdowns. I’m going to go ahead and go first, and hopefully by the time I’m done with my list there will be other people ready to share theirs.

As bosk pointed out, there was another thread doing this about 7 years ago, but since the original poster isn’t on the forum much anymore, I decided to create a new one so that I can update the thread title and OP as new lists are added. Here is a link to the previous ranking thread.

In this post, I’ll keep the waiting list and links to the beginning of each user’s list. I also have a waiting list with the names of people who already said they’d be interested in going (sorry if I missed anyone). Just let me know if you want to be added to the list or moved down if you’re already on it.

Please feel free to structure your list pretty much however you want to. As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter whether you do a few songs and feature them pretty heavily, or do a longer list and spend less time on each song. The only thing is that I think each list should be completed within about four weeks so that people aren't waiting too terribly long.

Completed Lists (* = posted in the 2013 thread):
Scorpion*
Dream Team*
wolfking*
Mister Gold*
jingle.boy*
bosk1*
TAC*
425

Current List:
wolfking v2

Waiting List:
Mister Gold v2
DTA
cramx3
Stadler



My list will begin in the next post.

425:
When I was putting together my list for this thread, I went back and forth a while on how many songs to include. 50 is a pretty standard number, but for a band with as big a discography as Iron Maiden, it’s pretty selective. Depending on what you count, Maiden has somewhere in the ballpark of 160 original songs, so a top 50 includes less than a third of them. Personally, I think the Maiden discography is so strong top to bottom that I think it’s warranted to do a slightly longer list, which is how I settled on a top 60, which is about the top 37% of their songs. Seems to me to fit the balance between too selective and too inclusive, though mileage may vary.

I’m going to try to complete this list in 20-25 days by doing 4 songs per day for 60-21 (10 days), 2 songs per day for 20-11 (5 days) and either 2 per day or 1 per day for the top 10, depending on how the pacing feels. I’ll also probably count down my ranking of the albums when I reach an appropriate time to do so.

My list, I think, will be rather… unconventional. Iron Maiden is a very important band to me, as they were the first band I listened to seriously. They were also my gateway into progressive rock, and as someone who was drawn to a more progressive style from very early into my experience with rock music, I’ve always gravitated toward the latter half of the Maiden discography more than most. I certainly enjoy most of their classic 80s output, but on the whole this is going to be a reunion-friendly list, to say the least. That said, 15 out of their 16 studio albums have at least one song featured.

Here are the first four songs:




60. The Number of the Beast
from The Number of the Beast

This is one of a number of live staples that almost all serious fans of the band have heard a disproportionate number of times as a result of their prevalence on live albums (I count 10 official live releases of this song). I found it particularly hard to judge these live staples that I’ve heard over and over again against the rest of the band’s discography, especially songs that have received little or no live attention. I think I ended up placing most of these songs below where a lot of people would put them (outside of an unspecified number of favorites). I’ll also probably end up saying less about them than some of the others, because I feel like they’re so well-known and mostly speak for themselves.

The Number of the Beast is a well-constructed song with an excellent mounting intro, one of the most memorable screams in rock music, and a solo section that I like a whole lot (and that is written on the inside of my brain, by now). I always enjoy it live because of how big a moment it tends to be the stage show and how fast yet tight they play it. They have plenty of better songs in my opinion, but I can’t really argue against the decision to keep playing this one, because it’s just made for the stage.


59. The Prisoner
from The Number of the Beast

Like a number of fans, I think this is one of the more overlooked songs among the 80s classics, and I’d call it one of the stronger offerings on a pretty consistent album. The Prisoner is just strong all around, with a great anthemic chorus and excellent solo section. Every time I return to it, I like it more than I remembered. I’m happy to have a live version on Maiden England, and I’m glad they pulled it out at the one Maiden show I attended in 2012.


58. The Unbeliever
from The X Factor

The first of many, many (many, many, many) controversial selections on this list. I’ve always been a big fan of both Blaze and The X Factor, and I find this to be one of the strongest cuts from that album, though it was one of the last ones to really click for me. The song is tailor-made for Blaze’s voice, especially the slow choruses, and I like the instrumental section quite a bit. The Unbeliever doesn’t rise to the level of some of the later epics, but I think it stands as a successful attempt at the longer format and a cathartic closer perfectly suited to a weighty, emotional album.


57. Phantom of the Opera
from Iron Maiden

It will soon become very obvious that I generally enjoy Maiden’s long-form songs more than their short rockers. The first song of this type isn’t the best, but it’s remarkably well-developed for a track on a debut album where the songwriting is still rough in places. Of the two singers who’ve performed this one, I think I slightly prefer Bruce, but Phantom of the Opera is not a song where the vocals are front and center. The instrumental section is what I love most here, especially the melodic guitar lead shortly before the 5 minute mark going into the solo section. Harris’s bass part under that section is wonderful!

Mister Gold:
Awesome to see this thread get started! :metal

Your list is off to a great start so far, 425! The only thing that I find particularly surprising so far is Phantom coming in this early, but hey, it's your list, not mine! :lol I definitely agree that Bruce sings the song better than Paul though.

Zantera:
Phantom of the Opera would be in my top10 for sure! Otherwise I kinda agree with placing Number of the Beast fairly low. It's a great track and a good hit song, but having been overplayed I just think many of their other tracks offer more. Prisoner is great too!

wolfking:
Looks like I better get cracking then.

Unbeliever.  :metal  love The Prisoner pick too.

I don't know if I should look back at my list from last time.  I'm thinking not as it may influence my picks now.

60 songs is a big task too.

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