. . .
Iron Maiden’s Killers turned 30 yesterday. Oh, to have been a fly on the walls of Steve Harris’ mind from 1980 to 1984! Five years, five classics: Iron Maiden, Killers, Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind, Powerslave. That is a serious burst of creativity. Most people don’t do half as much in 50 years.
Here’s where I admit I don’t love Iron Maiden. I don’t hate them or even dislike them. They’re just not what I seek in music. Harris’ writing is too busy for me, especially the bass (yes, I’m a guitarist), and it chews the midrange in a way I find displeasing. I’ve always liked the other band in the same sentence (Judas Priest) more.
But I pay Harris much respect for his songwriting. Killers is flawless. I don’t particularly enjoy hearing it (“The Ides of March” always make me brace myself for yet another party where everyone else is more drunk than I am), but its craftsmanship is awesome, in the true sense of the word. The songwriting is airtight, and the performances are impeccable. Killers has lasted 30 years with good reason.
What interests me more than Killers‘ music is the visual world that’s sprung up around it. First, Derek Riggs’ cover is incredibly vivid; I love the details in the bottom half of his painting. Second, people love the album and its cover enough to refract that imagery into the world at large. Love of both aspects is necessary. People won’t wear the t-shirt of a bad album with a good cover, nor will they wear the t-shirt of a good album with a bad cover. Both elements here are, well, killer – hence the results below.
I’d love to hear your stories about Killers – your first time with it, seeing the ‘81 “Killer” tour, what your favorite song from it is (mine is “Genghis Khan”). For detailed commentary about the record (including song-by-song comments by Harris), see the incomparable Maiden fansite The Iron Maiden Commentary.
. . .
KILLERS: A VISUAL TRIBUTE
Click all to expand
. . .
Belt buckle
. . .
Original CD booklet
. . .
One-of-a-kind dress
. . .
Custom virtual racing car
. . .
French LP, back
. . .
Hockey goalie mask
. . .
Miniature 10-inch guitar
. . .
Shoe
. . .
Shot glasses
. . .
Virtual stained glass window (?!)
. . .
Clockwise: UK, Spain, Argentina, Russia LP editions
. . .
Venezuela LP label
. . .
Killer tour poster
. . .
Tattoo
. . .
Onesie
. . .
‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’ is my favourite, one of the best early Maiden songs. I first got into Killers in 1999 when my friends introduced to Iron Maiden through Number of the Beast. I loved the artwork, and then went out and bought the entire back catalogue. It’s not my favourite album, but its still a classic
Love the onesie. I’ve got two additional babies on the way, and I may have to check out the other onesies out there. Last time I looked (for my first, four years ago) there was a Motorhead onesie as well.
Oh man, a classic from front to back. I got this probably two years after it came out, and I wish I could go back to that place in time. I used to stare at the album cover for hours, and it would scare the hell out of me and entice me at the same time.
The song I have been coming back to on this one lately is Prodigal Son. It has a nice dreamy, last song of the night quality, and the guitar solos are just haunting.
Thanks for this post! Killers is getting a full spin today!
Quite possibly my favorite Maiden album. Only Di’Anno is Real.
My second-favorite Maiden album (after _Powerslave_), and, unlike clee, I’m a big fan of both the band and of Harris’s bass-playing. My favorite track is probably the propulsive and undeinably catchy “Purgatory,” though I’m likely to change my mind about that on any given day.
I am older than this album, but at least I don’t look like Eddie yet. Up the irons!
favorite track off killer ? do you mean today or yesterday or tomorrow ?
greatest band ever. still is.
My second favorite heavy metal album of all time and in my Top Ten Pop/Rock albums of all time. Other than the debut, there really is nothing like this record. Nothing. How could so many bands desperately try ripping off something and consistently always land so far from the mark?
It is Clive Burr’s crowning achievement and therefore one of the greatest rock drumming albums of all time. Pure magic.
Still one of those albums that you can play for people completely unfamiliar with metal, or who cultivate an active disdain for it, and “Killers” will always leave them with that “Oh, god. I just shit my pants. What is happening to me?” look on their face. Destroys the preconceptions. Transcends being, space and time.
Here’s a popular opinion I’ve been cultivating since about ‘87: Iron Maiden pre-Dickinson isn’t really that good. I would buy the fuck outta that Argentinian version with the Asesinos cover though!
Anyone remember seing some 80’s movie that kinda duplicates the scenario on this cover? Maybe it was an axe murderer vs. a dude in a convertible or somesuch? Coulda been my adolescent imagination at the time, but I swear I saw this on TV once and the killer dude looked just like Eddie.
I remember how, after falling in love with Powerslave (the record that whetted my appetite for Maiden and heavy metal in general), I was handed Killers to listen to and was blown away. I love “The Ides of March.” It’s simple and fun and a great intro. I’m not even gonna get started on the Dianno vs. Dickinson debate, but I do love Paul’s performance on the record.
Steve Harris was also my first bass hero. I learned to gallop by learning “The Trooper”…it was my first tune that had any sort of bass countermelody; until then I’d been learning Smashing Pumpkins covers that consisted of simple root-note stuff. Harris was a gamechanger for me and a stepping stone to other music where the bass played both with and against the guitars, like Roger Patterson’s Atheist work. When Maiden had Clive Burr on the drums, as someone on Talkbass once pointed out, Harris grooved with him far more than he did with Nicko McBrain– and I think the locked-in verse of “Wrathchild” pretty much proves it.
I was all of 9 years old when this came out. I remember not being so much into the music, as the imagery, which we referred to as ‘wicked’. There was a carnival/fair every February in my small town and the carnie booths would sell all kinds of Iron Maiden and other metal t-shirts, flags, paraphenelia. I bought the Killers T simply because it looked so cool, although way too big on me.
Some years later I was in the checkout line at the market (with my mom) wearing the shirt, and the bagger yells out “Hey, that’s a bootleg Iron Maiden T-shirt!”
Ironically, that guy turned out to be the same dude Umlaut refers to as Tour Manager Doug. Doug ended up taking his younger brother (who was closer to my age, we used to hang out) and his best friend on as roadies for either the Ride the Lightning or Master of Puppets tour. I think they were like 14 or 15 at the time…lucky SOBs.
Going to have to go with ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’ or ‘Wraith Child’. I was a freshman in highschool and went over to my friend/lab partner’s house one day to work on a science project, and his older brother was huge into Maiden. I remember walking by his room and seeing what must’ve been every poster they ever made plastered all over his walls, and I must’ve made some comment about how they looked ‘badass’ or something, because my friend then went into his brother’s room, and came back out with a shoebox full of Maiden cassettes (Killers included) that he just gave to me then and there (I have no idea if his brother was cool with this – he was off at college and hopefully had them on cd).
My friend also introduced me to Zappa that day, and although it would be almost another decade before I learned to appreciate him, the attraction to Maiden was immediate.
I lost my virginity to this album. And fuck you Cosmo. WAAAA THE BASS IS TOO BUSY FOR ME!111 That’s the way its supposed to be, dumbass.
One of my all time favorite albums. Prodigal Son is perfection.
I got into Maiden circa Somewhere In Time, and when a friend gave me a dubbed cassette with S/T on one side and Killers on the other, I almost couldn’t believe it was the same band! Of course, I’ve grown to love the Di’Anno stuff as well. I’ve always dug the title track.
This album changed my life; heck I wrote about it on this site: http://www.invisibleoranges.com/2010/08/fear-what-is-this-that-stands-before-me/
I didn’t start into Maiden until my early 20s. I kinda feel the same way about it as Cosmo (though to a lesser extent). I have nothing but respect for the first five. Even though I think Piece… and Number… are a nose ahead of Killers, I think Paul D’Anno’s vocals are extremely appropriate here. I never feel like snickering at his vocals the way I do with Dickinson’s, whom is often just too damn operatic for me.
As for a favorite track; the harmonics on Killers are just irresistible. What a great riff! Wrathchild is another undeniable classic. But really, there ain’t a substandard song on the whole thing.
The cover? Possibly the best in all of metal (But then again, Live after Death…). It’s surprisingly tasteful in how much Eddie relishes the fiendish act he’s just committed. You gotta wonder what the story is behind the final event depicted here. If this were a panel in a comic book, it would make either the best opening or closing panel in the history of comics. Every cover from The X-Factor on needs to hang it’s head in shame in the presence of Killers.
I’m never been that bothered about the Di’anno stuff, sorry to be ‘that guy’ but it’s Dickinson or nothing for me, maybe time for a reappraisal?
And although I’d assume the ‘Maiden, Always’ position without blinking, I do get a lot more enjoyment out listening to Priest these days… but then again I’ll be seeing them both live this year and I just *know* it’ll be Maiden who (ouch) Deliver The Goods…
The album changed my life more than almost any others. My friend and I found it while randomly going through the Import vinyl bin at a Tower Records circa 1981. We bought it only because we liked the album art..
I came to Maiden much later in life, after getting into more extreme stuff, and my initial exposure to Dickinson’s vocals didn’t quite engage me. It wasn’t til I bought this album on a whim that I finally “got it”. After sitting and coming to understand their songwriting — which is actually quite strange in terms of execution — the Dickinson stuff worked its way into my heart as well. Overall I probably prefer Piece or Powerslave more as far as the actual songs go, but I’ve always preferred Paul’s roughness over Bruce’s sense of drama.
With no disrespect meant to the memory of David (above) while I did work in a grocery store, I never worked for Metallica. My little brother did see Slayer before most people, though.
As for my favorite Killers track, since there isn’t a bad song on the album, it’s pretty much impossible to choose. At the moment, I guess I’ll go with “Another Life”, since it’s on the turntable (yes, I listen to vinyl, you kidz and your digital don’t even know what you’re missing).
If all goes according to plan, I’ll see the mighty Maiden live in a few weeks…
Doug
On second thought, I’ll go with the title track…
The title track is sooo fucking good! Just a brilliant album overall.
It took me a while to get into Killers, I spent the better part if 1984 and 85 getting to know the three albums worth of Bruce material, and when I finally did start delving into it I was struck by how much more subtle it is than any other Maiden record. Wrathchild and Killers aside, the tracks are a lot less immediate than Beast, Piece, or Powerslave. The melodies are sometimes peculiar, some songs are very understated (for a songwriter like Harris anyway), and the overall tone is as dark as the cover art indicates. So it took quite a while for stuff like Purgatory, Prodigal Son, and Drifter to win me over. But what a powerhouse performance by Di’Anno, he just dominates a song like Killers, he makes it his own. Try as he might, Bruce never conquered that track as well as Paul does on record.
Not my favorite Maiden album, but Wrathchild and the title track are two of the finest Iron Maiden songs. Perfect.
Huge Maiden fan since 80 ish. I was 8 yrs old, and the artwork just grabbed me. The music definitely did the rest. I pretty much listened to nothing else for the next 4 or 5 years-each album getting progressively better. I can’t believe they’ve made such a mockery of Eddie for a decade now–such awful, awful artwork. Derek Riggs just captured it so brilliantly. I learned to draw using Eddie. I had Eddie posters, Maiden t-shirts (every new school year the same question from Mom: “Isn’t there anything besides black T-shirts??” Haha.) Not bad for a guy who didn’t learn bass until he was 17. As far as Di’Anno, he just captured that essence for the time–sort of a rough n tumble punkish period–I still can’t imagine Dickinson pulling that off–the songs were different and more straightforward. Long Live Maiden.
The title track and Purgatory are some of the best Iron Maiden songs for me.
Love this album. I had this on heavy rotation when I was 15-16 years old and I still love it just as much as I did then. Maybe I love it even more now because of the particular space it’s come to occupy in my mind over time. You know you’re a real nerd when some of your most vivid and cherished memories of youth are of sitting in your bedroom listening to this stuff.
I probably wouldn’t have gotten into old Maiden at the time I got this, I was a fan of Number of The Beast at the time and somehow my mom decided to buy me some music on cassette for christmas and I guess the guy at the record store directed her to Killers which to this day is probably my favorite Maiden album top to bottom. I love Ides of March because it is just a great way to start a record.
Now thinking back on it the guy at the record store might have only been half right on great music because the second cassette was Y&T’s Black Tiger which I will admit I liked then but it didn’t age quite as well.
Metal shakespeare company listened to that album six times one day in arizona on tour and I still remember that day fondly. MAIDEN!
Killers! About 15 years ago I received an awesome BJ from a total rock slut while listening to Killers on cassette while driving to a Rush concert. Then, I got a DUI on the way home…still listening to Killers. Now, I have anxiety whenever I listen to Killers in the car. Dang.
I’m with you on preferring Priest to Maiden, but Killers is Maiden’s greatest work and I would argue one of the ten best hard rock albums ever made. Those soaring guitarmonies in Genghis Khan are very special indeed.
If anything, I think the cover art that lured us in as kids has repelled millions upon millions of AC/DC fans that would absolutely piss their pants if they heard this album with a different cover and perhaps without the baggage of Dick-in-son era Maiden theatrics. This work certainly stands alone and is without peer. It was the second cd I ever bought, and I found it used while just coming onto some acid so I had to buy it fast and rush out the store. Still sounds perfect to this day. No remastering necessary (though the remastering job on the first album is one of the best audio face lifts I’ve ever heard!)
I have a very vivid memory of this album. I was about 12 years old, had never heard of Iron Maiden, and I remember being at a record store with my mom and my brother, I think my mom was buying a Gordon Lightfoot record (ha!), so I remember flipping through some records, no big deal, when all of a sudden I saw Killers. I FREAKED! It was the first, and only time, an album cover literally SCARED me! I couldn’t believe what I saw on that album cover! This was one scary-lookin’ monster! The rest is history: 30 years later I am still a devoted, die-hard Iron Maiden fanatic! Killers is one of Iron Maiden’s best albums, and by far, the best album cover ever!