1. THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST
THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST (1982)
“Woe to you, oh earth and sea.”
TO A TRUE IRON Maiden fan, the very mention of those seven words elicits a tremendously visceral response within us. The biblical sounding phrase takes us back to our teenage bedrooms, where we would spend hours surrounded by nightmare-inducing album covers, crumpled piles of denim and leather, sharp objects, stereo gear from Emerson, Sanyo and Technics and more than likely a faint haze of smoke. Those words continually transport us to the cavernous halls of Madison Square Garden, the Philadelphia Spectrum or the Hollywood Sportatorium, where we would thrust our collective fists toward the rafters as soon as “Woe” — uttered in that distinct baritone voice — came blaring over the P.A. Those seven words mean everything to us, because they not only signify that something spectacular is about to happen every time we hear them, but because we identify them as being synonymous with Iron Maiden. We identify them as being synonymous with metal.
Those seven words, and the rest of the spoken intro that follows — which is a combination of passages from Revelation 12:12 and Revelation 13:18 — were provided by British actor Barry Clayton (who died in 2011) after famous horror movie legend Vincent Price turned down the band’s offer to handle the speaking role. And while it’s undeniably one of the most powerful song intros in rock history, it’s the track itself that stands tall as the quintessential Iron Maiden song — the one that has every right to be deemed the best of the best; or, in this case, the best of the beast.
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