History Trivia / IronMaiden

** Doug Sampson is probably the closest example as he played for the band for a good two years, including on their demo The Soundhouse Tapes as well as the session that produced the Axe Attack version of "Running Free" and the b-side "Burning Ambition". He departed before the first album was recorded because he didn't want to go on the long tours that their management had planned. He remained friends with the band and is thanked on the credits for the debut album, also appearing in The Early Years documentary. His replacement Clive Burr ended up lasting three albums before he himself was replaced by Nicko McBrain, who has stayed in the band ever since.

* HarpoDoesSomethingFunny / EnforcedMethodActing: Both Janick and Steve revealed that for ''The Book of Souls'', rather than spending weeks in the studio writing stuff and laying it all down, then recording it in two weeks as done in the past, the majority of the work was done in-studio- most of the songs were written, rehearsed a few times and then recorded while they were still fresh, to provide a sense of immediacy and spontaniety, as well as a "live" feel.

Also see [[Trivia/TheNumberOfTheBeast The Number of the Beast (Trivia)]]

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!! For the pinball machine:

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: ''Iron Maiden'' was originally designed to speak, using a MachineMonotone common to other pinball games of the era. It was removed from the final game as a cost-savings measure, though fans hold out hope that prototype [=ROMs=] will eventually surface.

* TheShelfOfMovieLanguishment: ''Senjutsu'' was recorded in spring of 2019 and spent over two years locked up in a vault before being released in September of 2021.
* StreisandEffect: Numerous movements were organised by the religious right in America to try and ban ''The Number of the Beast'', with albums being destroyed and calls for a boycott. The band was also banned in Chile for allegedly being Satanic. Bruce credits these in hindsight for just giving the band free publicity, and indeed the band got a ''very'' warm welcome when they finally played in Chile.

** The band had to decide whether to include "Gangland" or "Total Eclipse" in ''The Number of the Beast''. They went with the former, leaving the latter for a single.

** Rod Smallwood wanted "Futureal" to be the lead single instead of "The Angel and the Gambler", but Steve managed to turn this around.

** The opening song from ''Book of Souls'', "If Eternity Should Fail", was originally meant to be a track on Bruce's next solo album, but was used for this instead. Time will tell if it makes it onto the next one after all.

** "Alexander the Great", despite being a long-time fan favorite, wasn't played until the 2023 Future Past Tour, ''37'' after its release.

** As for ''never'' performed songs, there are [[https://forum.maidenfans.com/threads/iron-maiden-songs-%E2%80%93-a-rough-overview-of-their-%E2%80%9Clive-history%E2%80%9D.16270/ 42 from the first 16 albums]] and all but three songs in ''Senjutsu'' (the debut and ''A Matter of Life and Death'' are the only ones played entirely), with fans having always lamented the absence of "Alexander the Great" (The Iron Maidens have done it frequently, though), "Face in the Sand" never having a chance for being the only song where Nicko [=McBrain=] used the double bass drum he dislikes, and "Empire of the Clouds" was just too complicated [[https://loudwire.com/exclusive-iron-maiden-bruce-dickinson-may-turn-empire-of-the-clouds-theatrical-production/ to even be considered]] (though Bruce [[https://loudwire.com/bruce-dickinson-iron-maiden-senjutsu-interview/ said]] he was willing to do it by himself with an orchestra).

* OldShame: Most of the Iron Maiden "best of" albums either omit the first two albums (which had Paul Di'Anno as lead vocalist) or replace them with live versions sung by Dickinson. The band still averts this, by playing almost all of the first album sans "Strange World" and "Transylvania"; and "Wrathchild", "Murders In The Rue Morgue", "Another Life" and "Drifter" from ''Killers''. Of note are "Wrathchild" and "Iron Maiden" (the song) being part of their concerts even on our days. The latter, also, serves as the song where [[{{Mascot}} Eddie]] appears.