6/17/2023 0 Comments Eddie iron maiden gif![]() ![]() " The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg" backdrop, featuring Eddie, during The Final Frontier World Tour It's your fifth birthday, and we've got a very special surprise for you.' 'Oh no,' says Eddie. 'Son,' he says, 'today's a very special day. So five years go by, and there's Eddie the 'Ead, as his parents have called him, sitting on the mantelpiece, when in walks his dad. 'Bring him back in five years time, and we'll probably have a body for him'. "A wife had a baby, but it was born with only a head and no body. According to guitarist Dave Murray the name was also inspired by an old joke: The band's bassist and founding member Steve Harris states that the name "Eddie" comes from the original mask being referred to as "The Head", which sounded like "Ead" in the band members' London accent. After this initial incarnation, Beazley constructed a larger mask out of fibreglass, equipped with flashing eyes and the ability to release red smoke from its mouth. At the end of their live set, during the "Iron Maiden" song, a fish tank pump was used to squirt fake blood out of the mask's mouth, which typically covered their then-drummer Doug Sampson. According to Beazley, the original mask was a papier-mâché mould of his own face, which was then used in the band's backdrop, consisting of lights and the band's logo. The first version of Eddie was a mask made by an art student who was friends with Dave "Lights" Beazley, then in charge of lighting, pyrotechnics and other effects for Iron Maiden's live show. Although he is occasionally described as "zombie-like" in the press, Eddie assumes a different guise relating to the themes of individual albums and their corresponding world tours, and has appeared as a cyborg, an Egyptian mummy and a lobotomised mental patient, amongst others. Originally a papier-mâché mask used in Iron Maiden's stage backdrop, the band transferred the name "Eddie" from the mask to an illustration by Derek Riggs, which was used as the band's debut album cover. On top of this, Eddie features in all of the band's concerts, as well as in the first-person shooter video game, Ed Hunter, the mobile game, Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast and a pinball game with the same name in 2018. He is a perennial fixture of the group's artwork, appearing in all of their album covers (as well as most of their singles) and in their merchandise, which includes T-shirts, posters and action figures. In the post-modern world of the internet age, where we have the luxury of looking into the past with rose-tinted glasses, Eddie is still here, making it okay for metal to have spectacle.Eddie (also known as Eddie the Head) is the mascot for the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. But Eddie has stayed immortal for all time, and has shown up on everything from beer labels to jets. It’s this sort of over-the-top comic stage show that added to the fun behind each band. Music is a dosage of escapism and heavy metal was just fine with embellishing in the departure from reality. It was all a fantasy, because that’s what metal was always okay with being. In the ’80s it seemed every band had their mascot to further that image – Samson were known for Thunderstick, Motörhead for Snaggletooth, Riot for that weird weasel/mouse thing, Anthrax for Not Man, Megadeth for Rattlehead, etc. And every metal fan across the world cannot deny the most popular of these monsters is Eddie of Iron Maiden. Not only that, but then they sequentially added that same monster to every release going forward. Some played the Satanic threat card very heavily and have since built empires on a foundation of, “We are actually the spawn of the devil, be very fucking afraid.” But along the way, some fucking psychopath came up with the idea of adding a cartoon monster to a band’s live set. Box addresses requiring their little sister to answer fan mail. Unknown groups created their own fan clubs or ‘hordes’, listing defunct P.O. Mysterious promo photos, ridiculous attire, and absurd names for members. An iconic logo and a sprinkling of shock value sometimes caught the attention of the squares. Bands had to really plan out their brand, and looking back there were quite a few funny attempts at standing out in the crowd. Put yourself in the shoes of a young musician in the late ’70s/early ’80s and reflect on how you could make your craft known to the world at large. ![]()
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