The Number of the Beast (song)
| The Number of the Beast | |
|---|---|
| Iron Maiden | |
| publication | April 26, 1982 |
| length | 4:51 |
| Genre (s) | Heavy metal |
| text | Steve Harris |
| album | The Number of the Beast |
The song The Number of the Beast (English for: The number of the beast ) is the seventh single by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden . It comes from the album of the same name from 1982. The single was re-released in 2005. The song was composed by Steve Harris and sparked controversy in America .
The single became one of Iron Maiden's most popular songs and was often played at concerts. The song is also used in several video games and films. The single reached 18th place in the UK singles chart.
Emergence
The idea for the song came from Steve Harris after he had a nightmare caused by the movie Damien - Omen II . In addition, the poem Tam o 'Shanter by Robert Burns had a great influence on the song.
The song begins with introductory words from the Revelation of John spoken by Barry Clayton (1931–2012). According to Bruce Dickinson , the band originally wanted Vincent Price to play the role, however he wanted £ 25,000 for the role.
Music videos
The video first aired on MTV, with Eddie's appearance at the end of the video terrifying many viewers.
The first music video shows the band playing the song. The scenery is interrupted by showing different excerpts from several horror and monster films . Some scenes come from the following films: Satan with a thousand masks , Godzilla and the primeval caterpillars , Nosferatu - A Symphony of Horror , Giant of Horror and The Crimson Ghost . A guitar solo can be heard in the middle part of the piece, to which a dancing couple with the number 6 floats over the stage. They transform into monsters and later hold another license plate with the number 6 in the camera. This number completes the sign of 666 . In addition, Satan and a monster can be seen off the stage . According to the television program That Metal Show , the characters of Satan and the Monster were played by Nicko McBrain and a friend of the band.
There is another music video that was later released on the Visions of the Beast DVD . This video is made up of Flash animations animated by Camp Chaos. Here scenes from the film The Exorcist were used. There was also Bruce Dickinson as a priest on.
Controversy
The title The Number of the Beast and the artistic design of the album sparked the discussion in America whether Iron Maiden was a satanist group. This discussion was mainly carried out by religious groups. The controversy caused the group's albums to be burned during their The Beast on the Road tour . However, the consequence of this action was that the band gained popularity.
Steve Harris rejected these allegations and described them as follows:
... mad. They completely got the wrong end of the stick. They obviously hadn't read the lyrics. They just wanted to believe all that rubbish about us being Satanists.
"… insane. You got it totally wrong. They obviously hadn't read the lyrics at all. They just wanted to believe all this nonsense that we were satanists. "
On the album Piece of Mind they deliberately underlined this effect and underlined the song Still Life with a backward message . In this, Nicko McBrain played the drunken dictator Idi Amin , who delivered the following message:
Don't meddle wid t'ings yo don't understand. [...] We thought, if people were going to be stupid about this sort of thing, we might as well give them something to be really stupid about, you know?
“Don't interfere in things you don't understand. [..] We thought: If people really wanted to be stupid with this story, we might as well give them something where they can be really stupid. "
Influences on pop culture
The Number of the Beast is one of Iron Maiden's most popular tracks, ranking 7th on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs list . In addition, the song is listed in Martin Popoff's book The Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs of All Time at number 6.
The Number of the Beast has been covered several times, including by Necromantia for Covering Evil (12 Years Doing the Devil's Work) and Iced Earth for the album A Tribute to the Gods . The Djali Zwan also covered this song for the soundtrack of the film Spun . There is also another cover version of Powderfinger . The song is also used for video games like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 or Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock .
Chart placements
| single | Charts (1982) | Best placement |
album |
|---|---|---|---|
| "The Number of the Beast" | Great Britain | 18th | The Number of the Beast |
| single | Charts (1990) | Best placement |
album |
| "Run to the Hills / The Number of the Beast" | Great Britain | 3 | - |
| single | Charts (2005) | Best placement |
album |
| "The Number of the Beast" | Germany | 76 | - |
| Switzerland | 42 | ||
| Great Britain | 3 |
Remarks
- ↑ Although the sound carrier only contained two songs, it was classified as an album due to the length of the song due to the UK chart rules.
- ↑ Re-release of the original studio recording with a live version from 2002 as a B-side
Web links
- The Number of the Beast Song Lexicon, accessed October 8, 2013
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Chart sources: Germany - Switzerland - UK
- ^ Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorized Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. P. 224
- ↑ Classic Albums: The Number of the Beast ( DVD ). Eagle vision. 4 December 2001.
- ^ Voice of 'Number Of The Beast' (Iron Maiden) died , accessed February 22, 2013
- ↑ BRUCE DICKINSON: IRON MAIDEN To Tour In 2005 , June 8, 2004, accessed November 4, 2012.
- ^ Various dates in Iron Maiden history
- ↑ Raising Hell in Kerrang! Legends , p. 32.
- ↑ Raising Hell in Kerrang! Legends , p. 32.
- ↑ The History of Iron Maiden - Pt. 1: The Early Days (DVD)
- ^ Wall, Mick (2004), Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorized Biography (3rd ed.), P. 228
- ^ Wall, Mick (2004), Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorized Biography (3rd ed.), P. 246
- ^ Wall, Mick (2004), Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorized Biography (3rd ed.), P. 246
- ^ "VH1 40 Greatest Metal Songs," May 1-4, 2006, VH1 Channel, reported by VH1.com
- ^ "The Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs of All Time" [1] .
- ↑ Run to the Hills / The Number of the Beast in the UK album charts .