Eddie - mascot of Iron Maiden

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On the cover of every Iron Maiden album and single (barring 1991's 'hit' single From Here To Eternity), the subject and focus of attention has been a zombie called Eddie. Usually up to no good, Eddie is a crucial part of Maiden. Without Eddie, the band lacks a little something, that little bit of individuality. He is the ultimate Maiden fan, the seventh member!

Eddie has been painted by Derek Riggs for 20 years, and in time by others such as Hugh Syme and Melvin Grant. The Brave New World cover was done by Steve Stone and Derek Riggs. The top half, featuring Eddie, was naturally painted by Riggs.

Caught Somewhere In Time with Eddie

Eddie through the ages...

Iron Maiden (1980): During Maiden's pub an' club years, Eddie had been a head on a board at the back of the venue with the band's name on it. He would have flashing eyes and spew blood from his mouth when the band played their signature song, Iron Maiden. It
would also be normal for their manger and/or roadies to don Eddie masks and run around the stage screaming and jumping around at fans. Eddie has always been a part of the band's spectacular live act

On the cover of their self-titled debut album (not inspired by the pic of Neal Kay, then man pretty much responsible for the NWOBHM1), Eddie is simply there. One of the punk rockers that kinda dominated
that period, long hair and all. On the 1998 reissue of the album, Eddie was changed slightly. The hair became white instead of ginger-ish, and he had cool glowing red eyes. An improvement.

Killers (1981): Eddie's hair on this album has been white since the day it was issued. No tinkering involved here.

The album is called Killers, and Eddie has been caught doing exactly that. Holding a bloodied axe and with manacled hands clawing at his shirt, his eyes have turned to you and he reaches out with one hand. Better run...

Derek Riggs was fond of including easter eggs2 in his works, and the Killers cover is the first to have a good one. Look at the red window in the background, and you can see Charlotte The Harlot from the first album.

The Number Of The Beast (1982): This album sparked controversy amongst American engalavists, with the cover lending fuel for the fire. Set in Hell, Eddie is towering over a finger-puppet of Satan, manipulating it with glee. However, Satan also has a finger-puppet, of Eddie. Who's manipulating who?

However, the picture can have another meaning. Look at it the opposite way. Eddie is being manipulated by Satan, or so Beezlebub thinks. However, the real Eddie is towering over Lucifer, manipulating
him! Eddie is all powerful, powerful enough to control Satan himself! Iron Maiden's gonna get you, no matter how far!

Peice Of Mind (1983): Setting a trend for every picture to come after this one, Eddie is alone and chained to a cell, having just undergone a lobotomy. His long white hair is gone, and a small
metal tab keeps the top of his head attatched to the rest of him. Every other pic is more or less faithful to this one.

Powerslave (1984): Eddie as an Egyptian Pharoah/God, cast in stone on a pyramid. No deeper meaning in the pic itself, though on the back cover all the figures in the heiroglyphics have been
lobotomised (best looked for on LP covers).

Live After Death (1985): Bursting out of the grave with lightening striking his forhead and bursting along his manacles, Eddie gets ready for the gig in Long Beach Arena, LA! Well, the first half of the sentance is known for sure. Amongst the graves in the yard, there is one for Derek Riggs and, the one that Eddie is coming out of, Edward T. Head. The date on his is 1975-....

Somewhere In Time (1986): Set in a futuristic age, Eddie is a cyborg cop, having just blown another villian to shreds. This cover is the best for aforementioned Easter Eggs.

  1. The signs on the windows on the front cover read "This is a very boring picture" backwards.
  2. The street is Acavia Avenue. 22 Acacia Avenue is a song off the third album, home to Charlotte The Harlot (from the first album).
  3. On the back cover...in the sky you can see Icarus off the cover of Flight Of Icarus (single from Peice Of Mind).
  4. The time is 23:58 - Two Minutes To Midnight (single from Powerslave).
  5. In the street there is the Ruskin Arms (pub where Maiden played in the 70s), Aces High Bar (Aces High is a single from Powerslave), Long Beach Arena (setting for Live After Death and more...
  6. The film showing at the cinema is Live After Death

Not a very boring picture!

Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (1988): A satisfying simple cover, at first glance. Half an Eddie (top half), holding his heart in his left hand, and apple in his rib cage, top is head missing and on fire, still with a cyborg neck, in a surreal ice age enviroment. Note that all pictures of Eddie from this period have blood trickling from the metal tab on his forehead going down to his nose (with egg yolk instead of blood on the Can I Play With Madness single cover).

No Prayer For The Dying (1990): By now Maiden were a rather different band compared to ten years back. Only two members from the 1980 lineup were still around, and the music sure sounded different. No Prayer For The Dying marked a return to Maiden's roots, and that makeover included Eddie! Bursting out of another, unrelated grave, and grabbing some poor bloke by the scruff of his neck, Eddie looks more or less identical to what he did eight years earlier.

Fear Of The Dark (1991): For the first time, Maiden decided to let a different artist have a stab at painting Eddie. They chose hewhocannotbenamed, who concoted a Nosferatu-esque pic of Eddie looming out of a nightmare-ish tree, part of the tree, on a moonlit night. It may sound impressive, but it isn't really.

A Real Live Dead One (1993): A Real Live One and A Real Dead One were two live albums, reissued as one in 1998. The cover of A Real Live One was used for the double-album that was the reissue, and it was a very simple cover. Eddie, in the nude and a shade of blue, tears open a cable and is in the process
of electrocuting himself. A Real Live One, get it?

The dead one was more humourous. Eddie is the DJ od Radio Hell (666FM), and is tearing the decks to shreds and screaming into the microphone as fans try to break in from the burning outside. Derek Riggs got the reigns back for doing Eddie pics.

Live At Donnington (1993): Previously a bootleg, made into an album in '98 due to popular demand. The least Eddie-like incarnation of Eddie, as instead of your conventional zombie, he is more of a giant bat.

The X Factor (1995): New singer, new sound, new look cover. The most grim, gothic, graphic and probably one of the best to date. The art from this album depicts the birth of Eddie, though I found a different meaning to it all before I found out what it was about.

Eddie is stuck on an oporating table in grim blackness. His lower half is missing and his guts trail out. He is again being lobotomised, though this time it is to get his brain in. His head is clamped tight and a skewer has been driven through his cheeks. He is holding onto two handles which are picking out the flesh from his chest. It's quite a sight, which is why the band were forced to make an alternative cover (which, thankfully, is not
generally used by shops). The alternative cover is no less grim though: Eddie is stuck in an electric chair, alone and unloved.

Best Of The Beast (1996): For the record, this is Maiden's "best of..." album, not the Ed Hunter game.

The cover is a collage of Eddie through the ages. In a straightjacket, mummified, pointing his cyborg gun, weilding
his axe, flashing his hooks, dressed in Victorian-era British army unfiform and rejuvinated by lightening. Seven forms of Eddie, all in new, dynamic poses (barring two) and looking more energetic than ever. The gravestone from Live After Death is there too.

Virtual XI (1998): 1998 was quite a year for Maiden. Their back-catalogue was reissued with enhanced sections for PCs and Macs, they has a PC game Ed Hunter released, and their official website went up. Maiden have always been one to recognise to use and potential of computers and the internet, having a special bond with
their fans made easier with the 'net. This was reflected on the cover of their 'new' album3. Painted by Melvin Grant, it is actually a bit of a mess to look at. All you can see of Eddie is head, shoulders, and a hand reaching out for a kid wearing a virtual reality headset. The bottom left corner shows a football game (Maiden are big football fans - West Ham FC in particular), and in the background are
ruined buildings and tortured souls. The grim redness of the background and sides clashes with the brightness of
the kid and the football game, so this cover is a bit of an eyesore.

Seeing as Ed Hunter was released at this time, we saw a lot of Eddie in digital form - wearing nowt but a shredded pair of blue trousers, and looking a bit like a guy with no nose and a skin disease (which is what Eddie look like when you see too much of him - digital or not).

Brave New World (2000): The bottom half of this pic is futuristic London - Tower Bridge is clearly visible at the bottom. The top half shows Eddie's face in the clouds, grinning at this Brave New World.

The cover of the CD version of The Wicker Man single used a band pic instead of Eddie, a la From Here To Eternity. However, the 12" picture disc and transparent CD versions of the single did have Eddie on, so Maiden redeemed themselves there.

Iron Maiden have released some 30-odd singles, all of which have been at least Top 40 hits. In 20 years, Eddie has killed Margaret Thatcher (Sanctuary), fought with the Devil (Run To The Hills and The Number Of The Beast), fought Russians (The Trooper) and Germans (Aces High), travelled time, defied engalivists and the wrath of God (Holy Smoke), and pulled birds (Women In Unform and Bring Your Daughter To The
Slaughter
). He is as much a part of Maiden as any of the band members. He's fun, he's cool, he makes for great artwork. Iron Maiden's gonna get you, no matter how far!

1New wave Of British Heavy Metal2Eggs are little amusing titbits deliberatly thrown into things, in the name of humour or to provide clues to something. Depends what you've got on your hands3Obviously it's not new any more

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