HISTORY OF IRON MAIDEN: HEAVY METAL MEGASTAR II (1982 - 1989)

 1982–1989: Heavy Metal Megastar

At the beginning of 1983, the band, together with producer Martin Birch, began the recording session for the next album, and for this purpose Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas was rented. The fourth studio album was the first in a series of three released here. On May 16, the album Piece of Mind was released, which reached number 3 in the UK and reached the high, 14th place on the Billboard 200. The album produced two popular singles with the songs "Flight of Icarus" (the first big hit in the USA) and "The Trooper" - a kind of anthem for the group's fans, played at every concert from then on. The album also heralded a departure from the typical NWOBHM style of raw heavy metal, in favor of a more progressive approach in the compositions "Where Eagles Dare", "Revelations" and the lyrically referring to Herbert's Dune - "To Tame a Land". There was also room for battle and historical themes: the Crimean War in "The Trooper" or the commando operations known from the eponymous entitled film in "Where Eagles Dare".

Another album was created, widely appreciated by both fans and journalists. The band also promoted the new special EP Video, entitled Video Pieces, containing a set of four music videos made for both albums recorded with Dickinson. Piece of Mind was also the first release to achieve platinum status in the USA, and earned the group further gold records in the rest of the world, including in Yugoslavia. The "World Piece Tour 1983" consisted of 147 concerts, mostly played in halls with a capacity of 10,000 - 25,000 people. The group played 85 concerts in North America, already as the main attraction, performing, among others, in renowned venues such as Madison Square Garden or the Forum de Montréal in Canada. In Great Britain, they sold out the Hammersmith Odeon four times (20,000 fans in total), and ended their world tour with concerts in the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund as the star of the local Rock & Pop Festival 1983; the band's performance was broadcast by satellite to over 300 million homes.

The setting of the tour was the next step in the visual development of the band's concerts. The following were used, among others: suspended sound system with a power of over 100,000 watts, the first time in history groups specifically designed for large sports arenas. The lighting equipment has also expanded. In addition to the standard ramps with spotlights, the core of the structure were four mobile, triangular ramps, floating at different heights above the stage and illuminating the audience from various angles. These were the first ramps of this type in the world, and their construction was a significant step forward, as a starting point for the creation of mobile, extensive lighting systems used on subsequent routes. The lighting was based on approximately 550 lamps. As was the case with the previous tour, the band had a conceptual stage design with a number of props referring to the image of the promoted album, a mobile and powerful Eddie emerging from behind the stage, and pyrotechnics were also used to a greater extent. 

 

The equipment necessary for the concerts was transported in four special trucks. Compared to many later concert extravaganzas, these were still quite shy solutions, although attracting the audience's attention.

In this week's year-end review, "Kerrang!", Piece of Mind came in at number one, closely followed by The Number of the Beast. The band's other releases were also in the Top 20. 

In the year of its premiere, the circulation of the fourth album exceeded the threshold of 2.5 million copies sold. The band quickly entered the ranks of the world's greatest heavy metal bands, but their appetites were still insatiable. In a year, they would prove to be the greatest heavy metal band in the world.