Wikipedia:Today's featured article/August 31, 2005



Iron Maiden is a heavy metal band from east London, England. Formed in 1975 by bassist Steve Harris, previously of Gypsy's Kiss and Smiler, they are one of the most successful and influential bands in the heavy metal genre. Album sales are over 60 million world-wide, and the band won the Ivor Novello Award for international achievement in 2000. Iron Maiden's work has inspired other sub-genres of heavy metal, including power metal and speed metal and is generally thought of as an influence to any "metal" music containing dual-guitar harmonisation. The band's mascot, Eddie, is a perennial fixture in the horror-influenced album cover art, as well as in live shows. Eddie was originally drawn by Derek Riggs but has had various incarnations by Melvyn Grant. Iron Maiden has so far released thirteen studio albums, three "best of" compilations, five live albums and two limited boxed-sets. Lyrically, the band have written many songs based on folklore, movies and books, such as The Wicker Man, The Prisoner, Where Eagles Dare and Rime of the Ancient Mariner - in which words from the Samuel Coleridge poem are sung.

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