A Sneak Peek...
And this time about a historic and groundbreaking moment that was the opening chord to the glorious career of "Iron Maiden."
On February 8, 1980, "Iron Maiden" released it's first single ever - "Running Free".
The single was released about two months before the band's debut album was released, in April 1980. The song was written by bassist Steve Harris and singer Paul Di'Anno. The lyrics are a kind of autobiography about the singer's life, as a 16-year-old disturbed child, rebellious, breaking the rules and free.
The single cover picture is also historic as it presents the character of Eddie, who will accompany the band to this day, for the first time.
Another historic moment associated with this single, is the fact that the band members refused to play it with a playback on the British "Top Of The Pop" tv show, aired on the BBC channel.
This was a weekly music tv program, where the artists would perform their songs with a playback. Since the band members didn't want to appear with a playback, the program producers finally relented and allowed the band to perform the song live. Thus, the band became the first to perform a song on the "TOTP" tv show live, since 1974 when "The Who" did so. The show one of the few recorded performances with guitarist Dennis Stratton, who will later be replaced by Adrian Smith.
To listen to a song: Spotify