Official top 75 Iron Maiden songs thread!! (Top 2 revealed on 07/15!!)

[Dave_Manchester]

Now that I've really run the numbers in my head I think a couple of big guns are going to miss out here. As much as I love the reunion era I didn't expect it to be this well-represented in the front 9 (stealing a golf term) of the list. I certainly didn't think an album like Brave New World would have taken up a full 7 songs so far, though it's a great album. I think one or 2 classics are due to miss the cut here. Time will show. 

[425]

I still think my full top 10 will make it (2 have been revealed, leaving 8), but there are a few that I'll start to get nervous about if I don't see them fairly soon.

[TAC]

I'm going to guess that all of my top 10 (none of which have yet been revealed) will make it.

Same here.

From my songs 11-20, my #12 (Murders), 16 (Deja Vu), 19 (Loneliness) and 20 (Prodigal Son) have been revealed, and I think there's a 50/50 shot that my #11, 15 and 18 won't make the top 75.

From my 11-20, my #13 (The Book Of Souls), #17 (No Prayer For The Dying, #15 (Lord Of Light), and #18 (Remember Tomorrow) have been revealed. My #11 and #20 may not make it, but I'd be surprised if the others didn't.

[TAC]

Speaking of Blood Brothers, I guess I’ll throw DT a shout out that I think at least musically they did the whole “losing my father” thing a whole lot better with The Best of Times and the demo version of Take Away My Pain. IMO

But Iron Maiden has never done an actual "losing my father" Steve has referred to his father who has passed in a number of songs, but none has been as explicit as The Best Of Times and Take Away My Pain, which to me and lyrical masterpieces.

[nick_z]

Blood Brothers (#45)

Almost nailed it  Beautiful song, I've liked it from the very beginning. Very tasteful orchestration too.

The Longest Day (#74)

Just made my top 75. I echo Dave's comment (and others') about AMOLAD being great, but with harder-to-identify peaks. I like how this songs tells a story and yes, I agree the intro is fantastic. It's not among my very favorites, but overall it's pretty strong.

The Red and the Black (not in my top 75)

I did rank it, but at #91...Can't deny the instrumental section is great but, while I do enjoy the song, the rest is not quite enough to make my list.

 

[KevShmev]

I'll be 49 in two weeks and didn't get into the band until late last year.  They always had a few songs I liked, but numerous times had failed to really get me into them anymore, but then a friend and I did a run through of their entire discography (my idea, as they are his favorite band, so I figured it was worth a shot) and that did the trick. Better late than never.

[Cool Chris]

I am 46 and got in to Maiden after Dance of Death, so mid-2000s?

[pg1067]

OK...time to get the standings going!

Points are calculated the same way Kev does.  Song #1 gets 75 points; song #2 gets 74 points...song #75 gets 1 point.

1. Brave New World:  7 songs/139 points – Out of the Silent Planet (#70), Brave New World (#60), The Wicker Man (#58), The Nomad (#56), The Thin Line Between Love and Hate (#53), Dream of Mirrors (#52), Blood Brothers (#44)

2. Killers:  4 songs/80 points – Prodigal Son (#63), Wrathchild (#62), Killers (#54), Murders in the Rue Morgue (#45)

3T. A Matter of Life and Death:  4 songs/76 points – The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg (#71), These Colours Don’t Run (#65), Lord of Light (#49), The Longest Day (#43)

3T. The Book of Souls:  3 songs/76 points – If Eternity Should Fail (#64), The Book of Souls (#46), The Red and the Black (#42)

5. The Final Frontier:  2 songs/54 points – Isle of Avalon (#51), Starblind (#47)

6. Somewhere in Time:  3 songs/46 points – Déjà Vu (#68), Heaven Can Wait (#66), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (#48)

7. Dance of Death:  2 songs/30 points – Rainmaker (#72), Montsegur (#50)

8. Fear of the Dark:  2 songs/24 points – Judas Be My Guide (#67), Afraid to Shoot Strangers (#61)

9. Iron Maiden:  1 song/21 points – Remember Tomorrow (#55)

10. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son:  2 songs/20 points – Can I Play with Madness (#73), Only the Good Die Young (#59)

11. Piece of Mind:  1 song/19 points – Still Life (#57)

12. No Prayer for the Dying:  1 song/7 points – No Prayer for the Dying (#69)

13. Powerslave:  1 song/2 points – The Duellists (#74)

14. Senjutsu:  1 song/1 point – Death of the Celts (#75)

15T. The Number of the Beast:

15T. The X Factor:

15T. Virtual XI:

[KevShmev]

Something tells me a couple of those empty slots aren't going to stay that way much longer.

[425]

It's weird we haven't seen any NotB songs yet, considering that I would predict 5-6 songs making it from that album.

Meanwhile I'm predicting 1, maybe 2 each from the Blaze albums, and it wouldn't surprise me to see those songs show up soon.

[nick_z]

I'm going to guess that all of my top 10 (none of which have yet been revealed) will make it.

Same here.

From my songs 11-20, my #12 (Murders), 16 (Deja Vu), 19 (Loneliness) and 20 (Prodigal Son) have been revealed, and I think there's a 50/50 shot that my #11, 15 and 18 won't make the top 75.

From my 11-20, my #13 (The Book Of Souls), #17 (No Prayer For The Dying, #15 (Lord Of Light), and #18 (Remember Tomorrow) have been revealed. My #11 and #20 may not make it, but I'd be surprised if the others didn't.

So far, the only song in my top 10 that's been revealed is The Loneliness (#9)...Nothing else yet from my top 20. My second highest reveal so far is Killers (#23). Looking at it, I would think all of my top 10 will make the aggregate list...I'd say the top 20 too, but who knows...there might be surprises 

[KevShmev]

Those of you will be able to figure it out if you have good memories or feel like digging back through the thread, but Dave mentioned about how it feels like some big guns will miss out on the top 75, and there is one early song that was mentioned in the "feels like we need to see it soon or we probably won't at all" sense that I am stunned did not make the top 75.  I wanted to cry every time I got through another list where it didn't make an appearance.  It finished at 77.

[The Realm]

It's weird we haven't seen any NotB songs yet, considering that I would predict 5-6 songs making it from that album.

Meanwhile I'm predicting 1, maybe 2 each from the Blaze albums, and it wouldn't surprise me to see those songs show up soon.

I’d be pretty confident Blaze only gets 1 song from each album at a maximum. Also wouldn’t surprise me if Blaze only got one song overall but I do think it will be one from each and one of them will be up very soon. I also think we will get a NOTB song very soon especially if more than 5 from the album make it overall.

[425]

Even with all the negativity toward Blaze, there's one song from each of those albums that I would be stunned to see miss the list entirely. There's a third song that I could've imagined making it but now think we won't see because we haven't seen it yet.

Those of you will be able to figure it out if you have good memories or feel like digging back through the thread, but Dave mentioned about how it feels like some big guns will miss out on the top 75, and there is one early song that was mentioned in the "feels like we need to see it soon or we probably won't at all" sense that I am stunned did not make the top 75.  I wanted to cry every time I got through another list where it didn't make an appearance.  It finished at 77.

You'll have to tell us what this is when all is said and done.

[Dream Team]

Those of you will be able to figure it out if you have good memories or feel like digging back through the thread, but Dave mentioned about how it feels like some big guns will miss out on the top 75, and there is one early song that was mentioned in the "feels like we need to see it soon or we probably won't at all" sense that I am stunned did not make the top 75.  I wanted to cry every time I got through another list where it didn't make an appearance.  It finished at 77.

Prowler or Strange World is my guess, but I know you don’t do spoilers.

[KevShmev]

I have no issues letting people guess and revealing it once the guessing dies down as it is not a spoiler of a song still to come, but I know some wanted to not see the list of songs that didn't make the countdown until after the top 75 was done so there'd be a little more suspense, so I am fine doing it either way.

[TAC]

I am fine doing it either way.

Wrong thread 

[Glasser]

I am fine doing it either way.

Wrong thread 

 

[senecadawg2]

There are two songs in my top 10, and I think maybe 5 in my top 20, that I no longer expect to make the final list. I would love to be proven wrong though.

[The Realm]

In terms of Blaze songs, I only ranked one song total and there were quite a few people who shared their songs by album that had zero Blaze or one Blaze so it is really going to come down to where those songs were ranked by those who ranked Blaze songs - if you know what I mean! So going by that and the fact we haven’t seen a Blaze song yet makes me pretty confident of only seeing a max 2 Blaze songs in the countdown. And as I said above possibly only 1.

[425]

Edit: Never mind, decided this was too spotlight-y after I posted it.

[The Realm]

Those of you will be able to figure it out if you have good memories or feel like digging back through the thread, but Dave mentioned about how it feels like some big guns will miss out on the top 75, and there is one early song that was mentioned in the "feels like we need to see it soon or we probably won't at all" sense that I am stunned did not make the top 75.  I wanted to cry every time I got through another list where it didn't make an appearance.  It finished at 77.

Prowler or Strange World is my guess, but I know you don’t do spoilers.

Well I kind of feel we only have a max of 2 Dianno songs that may still make it and possibly only 1. So yeah I don’t see Prowler or Strange World making it but happy to be wrong. Both are in my top 75  I don’t think these are the songs Kev means though.

[KevShmev]

As I suspect both will get a lot of chatter, posting just two this morning...

41 Run to the Hills
Appeared on 20 of 27 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 2
Highest Ranking: 6 (KevShmev)

I suspect this got the "great song, but overplayed and I like many others more" treatment from quite a few when doing their lists, and I get it, but as still a relatively new big fan, I still think it's great, and I was the highest ranker, having it at 6.


40  The Clansmen
Appeared on 18 of 27 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 1
Highest Ranking: 4 (Ben_Jamin)

I did not rank this. Not a fan.

[The Realm]

Run to the Hills - 51 for me. It’s a great song and the album version is awesome. Has always been a tough one for Bruce live but the crowd always loves it. I do agree with Kev that it will miss lists because of overplayed etc but to me it always had to be in the top 75. I’m not sure exactly how many songs from The Number of the Beast will make the countdown but it does feels a little strange that this will be the lowest ranked one.

The Clansman - unranked by me and Kev said it best. Just do not see the appeal of this song and this is nothing to do with vocals or vocalist.

[Mladen]

This is a funny update. One of the songs is overplayed and the other one is underplayed, but I adore both of them equally. Oddly enough, these two are being played back to back on the current tour as part of the encore. 

[KevShmev]

The Clansman - unranked by me and Kev said it best. Just do not see the appeal of this song and this is nothing to do with vocals or vocalist.

Agreed. I gave the live version with Bruce a few whirls recently to see if I was missing anything and realized I was not.

[Elite]

41 Run to the Hills
Overplayed indeed, to the point where it gets annoying. It ranked #47 on mine. Decent, fine song. Really cool if you just get into Maiden, a bit boring if you've heard it hundreds of times.

40  The Clansmen
Underplayed and underappreciated. I can fully see why Ben of all people is the highest ranker on this one. I had it at #25. My ranking was indeed based on live versions with Bruce. The studio recording is seriously lacking and almost boring in comparison if you ask me.

[Dave_Manchester]

Run to the Hills: #72. Great, iconic song, but I'm so overly-familiar with it that it no longer excites me much. Fantastically composed tune, the tribal drumming at the start and the patented Harris Gallop paint the picture of the lyrics very well. I feel bad for it landing this low on my list, because if the question put to me were "what are the top ten classic Iron Maiden songs?", this would make the list because my thinking would be along different lines. But when doing this huge relisten project, my only criterion was: "how much do I enjoy listening to these songs right now at this time in my life?"

The Clansman: #40. Welcome to the party Mr Bayley, glad you finally made it. Nice multi-part mini-epic and I love the guitar leads over the latter "FREEEEEEEEDOOOOOM" rallying cries. Lyrically apt for our troubled times too.   


My list so far in descending order:

#74: If Eternity Should Fail
#72: Run to the Hills
#66: The Longest Day
#64: Only The Good Die Young
#63: Still Life
#56: These Colours Don't Run
#54: Can I Play With Madness
#53: Remember Tomorrow
#52: Judas Be My Guide
#51: Blood Brothers
#41: Rainmaker
#40: The Clansman
#36: Montsegur
#34: The Wicker Man
#22: Heaven Can Wait
#21: Starblind
#18: The Red and the Black
#15: The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
#6: No Prayer for the Dying
#1: Afraid To Shoot Strangers

Not ranked:

Death of the Celts
The Duellists
Out of the Silent Planet
The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
Deja-Vu
Prodigal Son
Wrathchild
Brave New World
The Nomad
Killers
The Thin Line Between Love and Hate
Dream of Mirrors
Isle of Avalon
Lord of Light
The Book of Souls
Murders in the Rue Morgue

[devieira73]

Run to the Hills (#46)
Great single. I always loved the drum intro and the fills on the chorus. Clive's creativity, velocity and precision really elevates the simple drums patterns of this song.

The Clansman (-)
Over the years this song went from boring to good/interesting to me, but nothing more, even with Bruce singing it.

[Dave_Manchester]

My ranked/unranked spilt is now 20/16 by the way. Special prize for the participant who gets the most songs on the final list? 

[Elite]

22/13 here!

[Tomislav95]

Oops forgot to update once since countdown started here's my list so far

75   Out of the Silent Planet
72   If Eternity Should Fail
69   The Red and the Black
68   No Prayer for the Dying
67   The Wicker Man
66   Brave New World
65   The Book of Souls
61   The Longest Day
60   Dream of Mirrors
57   Blood Brothers
53   Isle of Avalon
52   Lord of Light
50   Judas Be My Guide
49   The Thin Line Between Love and Hate
47   Only the Good Die Young
46   The Nomad
43   The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
36   These Colours Don't Run
35   Rainmaker
33   The Clansman
30   Deja Vu
23   The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
22   Starblind
6   Afraid to Shoot Strangers

[nobloodyname]

71 Blood Brothers - I've spoken before about how I never notice the repetition in the Brave New World album but this track is the exception and it bothers me. I should like it so much more than I do. Some of the words are great, though: Just for a second a glimpse of my father I see/And in a movement he beckons to me/And in a moment the memories are all that remain/And all the wounds are reopening again

83 The Longest Day - I read so much about how people love aspects of this song; the build-up, Nicko's drum rolls, the chorus. But it just all leaves me a bit cold, truth be told. Probably ranked this about about 30 spots too high.

114 The Red and the Black - Yes, I like the instrumental part but it's not enough to save the tune. It feels tired and I'd knock about 20 spots off if I ranked them all again.

25 Run to the Hills - Had to divorce myself from how overplayed this song is and try to rank it accordingly. And it is a metal classic.

13 The Clansman - Better with Blaze. And my ranking is based on that. I love the way his voice really melds with the music during the 'freedom' parts, imparts so much power.

21/15 for me so far.

So many of my 75 aren't going to make it from this point

[jammindude]

I was really enjoying keeping up on this on a day-to-day basis, but then life got crazy for a couple days and now I find myself three days behind. My update is coming either late this afternoon or tomorrow morning

[Dave_Manchester]

22/13 here!

Think you've missed one mate, there have been 36 songs so far.