April 17th, 2012 
Michael McCarron 
On this day in 1961, President John F. Kennedy ordered the invasion of Cuba known better as the Bay of Pigs. However, on 1982 a bigger bomb was dropped on American culture (excuse my classless hyperbole) as metal gods, Iron Maiden’s third album, The Number of the Beast took over the #1 spot in the United Kingdom and invaded main-street America. Perhaps metal devil would be more appropriate? The record was the first to feature singer Bruce Dickinson at the helm and the last to find drummer Clive Burr behind the kit. Sporting mega-hits such as Run to the Hills” and “The Number of the Beast,” The Number of the Beast became Iron Maiden’s first #1 album in the UK and also spurred a cultural backlash across the pond.
The Number of the Beast was heavily condemned by American religious conservatives. Iron Maiden was a spawn of Lucifer and a gateway to Hell, or so the religious right tried to convince the general music listening public. Numerous album burning events where held throughout the United States while others, too afraid to inhale the fumes caused by burning vinyl, resorted to smashing The Number of the Beast with hammers. The Beast thrived however. Bassist Steve Harris stated in the 2004 Iron Maiden biography, Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorized Biography (Mick Wall), that,
…they [American religious conservatives] completely got the wrong end of the stick. They obviously hadn’t read the lyrics. They just wanted to believe all that rubbish about us being Satanists.
As the backlash, burnings, and protests against The Number of the Beast grew, so did Iron Maiden’s fanbase. The album and subsequent United States tour catapulted Iron Maiden to cult status. Not bad for a metal band?
Written by: Michael Meeze (follow him on Twitter)
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