Iron Maiden’s revival of their Powerslave set-up on their Somewhere Back In Time tour brought back all sorts of odd memories for me.

I was first introduced to Iron Maiden’s mascot, Eddie, while in elementary school. I still have my denim jacket from the sixth grade with the Killers patch sewed onto the back. This version of Eddie was portrayed as a small-time hood, wandering the streets of London with a bloody axe in hand. For the longest time it was the only variation I was accustomed to.

It was my familiarity with early Eddie that made his regal appearance on the album cover for Powerslave so shocking to me. It proved that Eddie had a history which stretched back further than what I had already been exposed to. He wasn’t just tied down to one time or place. There was a kind of continuity there. A secret history.

Even more than the difference in eras, the disparity in status between these conceptions of Eddie threw me off. How did a lowly thug become a tyrant? Was that even possible? I found the notion terrifying. The idea that some petty monster, the kind I was already used to dealing with in my own neighbourhood, had the potential to rise to power and lord it over everyone was an unwelcome revelation.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 9:19 pm and is filed under Eddie, Iron Maiden, Metal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.