My Musical Evolution – Part 225 The Metal Years Strange World

I have long forgotten why I skipped Killers in my pursuit of Iron Maiden albums. Maybe Wooden Nickel didn’t have it when I went o but it. Maybe I just thought the cover of Iron Maiden looked cooler than Killers. Perhaps I just wanted to get to their very first ablum and experience where it all began.

I was surprised at first and maybe a little disappointed. Paul Di’Anno was the singer and not Bruce Dickinson. In case you haven’t heard them both, they are quite different. I was brriefly bummed that Bruce’s powerful vocals were absent. The guitars weren’t quite as polished either. I don’t mean that the guys couldn’t play them as well as on the later albums. I’m talking about the crafting of the sound. On the later works, their guitars have a great and distinctive quality in the tone and effects.

I quickly grew to appreciate this incarnation of Iron Maiden. Like Van Halen / Van Hagar, there are things to like about each. It wasn’t the Iron Maiden I knew but it was still some good stuff even if it was for entirely different reasons.

It was also around this time that I got my first real six string at the 5 and dime. Well the pawn shop really. I playe in until my fingers hurt really bad. i was awful and even if i was a great guitar player, that crappy guitar was a total piece of shit. I remember one of the first songs that I could play was Transylvania from this album. I was moderately fast but repetitive so it wasn’t too bad to pick up. We’ll talk more about guitars and stuff inThe Roach Days Revisited.

Prowler