The Number of the Beast (song)
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| "The Number of the Beast" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Iron Maiden | ||
| from the album The Number of the Beast | ||
| Released | April 26 1982 | |
| Format | vinyl record (7") (12") | |
| Recorded | 1982 | |
| Genre | Heavy metal | |
| Length | 4:49 | |
| Label | EMI | |
| Writer(s) | Steve Harris | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| Iron Maiden singles chronology | ||
| "Run to the Hills" (1982) |
"The Number of the Beast" (1982) |
"Flight of Icarus" (1983) |
"The Number of the Beast" is Iron Maiden's seventh single and the second single from Iron Maiden's 1982 album of the same name. The song is inspired by a nightmare bandleader and bassist Steve Harris had after watching the movie "Damien: Omen II". "The Number of The Beast" is one of Iron Maiden's greatest hits, and is almost always performed during concert. It reached 18 in the UK charts. The track is known for a fairly high-pitched scream by Bruce Dickinson at the end of the intro. In the documentary on the album of the same name, as part of the Classic Albums series by the BBC, Dickinson said this was due to producer Martin Birch forcing Bruce to sing the first four lines for several hours, over and over again. The frustration of this culminated in this scream, the pitch of which Dickinson has not managed to re-create live since the early days.
The song is about a man who dreams that he was wandering alone and happens upon a portion of Hell on Earth, with people performing Satanic rituals and sacrifices. At first, he is disgusted and decides he must report this goings on to the law, but eventually becomes entranced by the whole ordeal and decides that he will return.
The single's cover is the last of three singles to feature Riggs' depiction of Satan, which debuted on the cover of the Purgatory single. The cover of The Number of the Beast is the aftermath to the cover of the Run to the Hills single where Eddie and Satan are depicted in battle.
The band had asked the famous horror films actor Vincent Price to read the intro text. However, according to Bruce, Price refused to do it for anything less than £25,000. They had heard of someone who reads ghost stories at the Capitol radio station and got him to do it. The man was a theatre actor who had no interest in Maiden, but they asked him to put on a Vincent Price kind of voice.
The original B-side "Remember Tomorrow (Live)" was repeatedly claimed by the band to have been recording back in 1981 in Milan, Italy during Bruce's warm-up gigs. However, this was found to be untrue when fans discovered it to be the same recording from "Remember Tomorrow" as recorded live by the band with Paul Di'Anno for the live EP, Maiden Japan, with Bruce Dickinson's vocals overdubbed onto the track.
The song made it in at #7 on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs.
The Number of the Beast was ranked #6 in Martin Popoff book "The Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs Of All Time". Popoff put together this book by requesting thousands of metal fans, musicians, and journalists to send in their favourite heavy metal songs. Almost 18,000 individual votes were tallied and entered into a database from which the final rankings were derived. [1].
In January 2005, a new and updated version was released. It features live video renditions of "Number of the Beast" and "Hallowed Be Thy Name" that have never been officially released before.
It has since been covered by Iced Earth, Saints in Hell, Powderfinger and Zwan, whose version was used for the soundtrack of the cult film Spun.
This song was featured on the video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
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[edit] Controversy
The song, being the title number for the 1982 album was a prominent target of critics during a time when Maiden were accused of being a Satanic group. Much of the controversy is believed to have originated due to the prominence of the number 666 in the song's repeating chorus as well as mere misinterpretation of the lyrics which actually object satanic practices.
Maiden took a swing at their critics in the follow-up album Piece of Mind which features a backmasked message in the beginning of the song Still Life which, when played backwards translates as Nicko McBrain uttering nonsense while intoxicated, followed by a belch.
[edit] Track listing
- "The Number of the Beast"
- "Remember Tomorrow ('Live' Vocal Overdub)"
[edit] 2005 track listing
- "The Number of the Beast" (original 1982 studio version) (Steve Harris)
- "The Number of the Beast" (live 2002) (Steve Harris)
- "Hallowed Be Thy Name" (live 2002) (Steve Harris)
- "Children of the Damned" (live 2002) (Steve Harris)
- VIDEO - "The Number of the Beast" (original 1982 studio version) (Steve Harris)
- VIDEO - "The Number of the Beast" (live 2002) (Steve Harris)
[edit] Credits
- Bruce Dickinson – vocals
- Dave Murray – guitar
- Adrian Smith – guitar, backing vocals
- Steve Harris – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Clive Burr – drums
