Iron Maiden’s Legendary Mascot. Metal Hammer Magazine October 2025.

In this episode of "It's 1 Louder" podcast, host PJ Pat delves into an intriguing article from Metal Hammer Magazine about Eddie, the iconic mascot of Iron Maiden. PJ Pat discusses the history and evolution of Eddie, from his inception in 1980 to his continuous presence on album covers up to 2021. 

The episode details Eddie's various incarnations and his profound impact on the band's image and marketing. He also explores personal anecdotes from legendary musicians like James Hetfield and Corey Taylor, illustrating Eddie's far-reaching influence in the rock and metal world. 

Listen in for a comprehensive look at how Eddie became an integral part of not only Iron Maiden but heavy metal culture altogether.

Transcript

Hello Rock fan out there. Thank you so much for logging into the It's One Letter podcast. I'm your host, PJ Pat, and today I'm gonna bring you an article that I saw in the Metal Hammer Magazine about the, I gotta say, the most famous. Let alone heavy metal, but rock in general. Mascot Eddie from Iron Maiden.

There's actually a pretty amazing article about the band themselves in this magazine, and I'll get to it at some point. I'm looking forward to reading that. Can you believe it? Their first album was released in 1980, that's over 45 years ago, and the article is about them. Being together for over 50 years, which is amazing.

And it goes through sort of the early beginnings to now. So definitely an interesting read. I'll hopefully bring that to you at some point. Now, Eddie, as a mascot, as a concept, as an imagery, would really pretty much attract any 12, 13, 14, 15-year-old. Most probably male looking into getting into an alternative type of music other than pop looking for something with a little bit more edge, a little heavier.

And back then, if you remember, there wasn't any internet. And so when you walk into a music store, outside of when I was in university, there was a store called HMV, which was really popular. Record store at the time no longer exists now. Probably, maybe one or two stores in England, 'cause that's where it started.

But they allowed you to listen to CDs back then. So you would go and there would be like a rack of maybe six to eight CDs and you could put on the headphones and pretty much listen to every song one by one. But that was, you know, iron Maine was already big then. But think about it, when Iron Maine first came out, the only way you would.

Listen to our maintenance. Either they weren't even playing on radio, so word of mouth, or you walk into record store looking for something to listen to or to buy, and you see this freaking amazing mascot, this freak staring at you in the album and you were immediately drawn to it. You know, especially if you're looking for something a little bit more alternative, a little heavier.

James Hetfield from Metallica has a story where pretty much. His introduction to Arm maiden, he picked up the record not knowing how the music was or nothing to do with the music. It was all about the artwork on that vinyl record, and he took home and it blew away, and I'm sure that's how a lot of Arm maiden gained there.

Early fans back when they started, they released their self debut item in 1980, and I'm taking a look right now. Every single album after that features Eddie the mascot, even up to the latest one, Jitsu in. 2021. So from 1980 to 2021, Eddie features on every single cover. So they obviously stayed really loyal to Eddie, and because of that, every time you release an album, I'm sure it attracted a bunch of new fans, a bunch of young.

Boys, young girls wanting something a little bit more edgier, and I'm telling you it works to this day. Heck, I'm like 50 and I'm even like attracted to the album covers and just really cool imagery, you know, with that kind of like, uh, how would you describe Eddie? It's as if it's like a human, but you ripped off all the skin and you just saw the muscle.

Pretty much. That's how I describe it. It's, he's not really a skeleton and he always just looks so cool. Just pure evil, you know, and just so, so mesmerizing and attention grabbing. And if you take a look at all their album covers, it's very colorful, very, very dramatic, and just unbelievable. So yeah, I can definitely see how any kid would be attracted to, uh, this type of album cover for sure.

And obviously it gives indications. It's not pop music. Obviously. So if you're into a stage where you wanna get a little heavy, this is it. This is the perfect band for you. Every album cover just looks at a piece of art that you can just hang on your wall. That's how beautiful it is. And colorful it is and, and marketing.

Such great marketing on the band's part. Even the font, like the iron made in font is amazing and is different and it's like, it's just perfect. I'm telling you, whoever it takes care of marketing and band imagery and branding. About this band right from the get go. They absolutely know what they're doing.

They make no mistake and make no qualms about who they are. And the fact that you're gonna be, when you turn this on, you're gonna be listening to heavy music fans, obviously do not get disappointed. Now, roping in someone by the album cover is one thing, but then when you put the record on, I mean it's over.

Forget it. That first note you hear, it absolutely blows you away. As long as you're open to heavy melodic music, an amazing singer that has an amazing vocal range, crazy guitars, talented soloing, melodic, soloing, and singing. I'm telling you, there's no one that does it better than iron. Maiden,

check this art. Oh man. Doesn't this blow you away? Look at this. Unbelievable. Looks like he kind of has my jacket, which is kind of cool. All right, so the title of the article is Monster Inc. Iron Maiden wouldn't be Iron Maiden without Eddie. This is the History of Metal's. Greatest Mascot Words, Paul Traverse.

All right, let's just, I could stare at this all day. Actually. This is definitely gonna be my, uh, wallpaper, uh, desktop screen going forward here. Alright. He's been a knife wielding killer and a flag waving soldier, a cyborg bounty hunter, and a Japanese Samurai. He's been mummified, lobotomized, disempowered, set on fire, entered and dug up again twice and turned into a tree.

He's fought the devil murdered a Prime Minister and attempted to kill members of Iron Maiden on stage on numerous occasions. Yes. A little parenthesis here. If you had a chance to see Iron Maiden Live, I strongly encourage you to go see them. They are amazing still to this day, 50 years on. I've seen 'em a couple of times now and it's always a great time.

It's more like a, almost kinda like a musical operatic show going on with, of course, Eddie coming out a couple of times during the show, and especially at the end. There's always something going on. He's always destroying something or whatever. But Bruce Dickinson, I'm telling you, he's just all over the place.

Not only him, actually, what am I talking about? The whole band is so energetic live. I mean, they're running all over the stage doing all this theatrics movements. I mean, they're throwing their guitars up and down. Bruce is running up and down on stage, backwards and forwards. It's a real treat for the eyes and definitely energetic for sure.

So highly recommend it. Definitely go see him. If you haven't had a chance yet. Okay. Back to the article. We're not exaggerating when we say there's nothing like Eddie. From his humble beginnings as a papier mahe mask, stuck over the drum kit at early pub gigs to various towering live incarnations via his appearance on virtually every maiden album sleeve, single cover and t-shirt.

Eddie, AKA, Eddie, the Ed, AKA Edward, T head, AKA. Edward, the great. KA possibly Benjamin Breg is absolutely integral to the history of not only Iron Maiden, but metal in general. Damn right. This is the story of Eddie by the people who know him best. Okay, so Steve Harris, the bass player, iron Maiden leader and bass player.

His quote, we used to have a singer. In parentheses, Dennis Wilcock, who was really into kiss and used to pull a sword through his mouth with blood capsules and all this business. When he left, we thought. It's good for people to come up and see that sort of thing, but we didn't want it to be within a band itself.

Dave Lights Beasley. The lightning technician says in a song, iron Maiden, the lyric goes, see the blood begin to flow. So on the backdrop that we used for the pub gigs with the help of a friend from art college, I rigged up a mass that was made from a mold of my own face, which she coughed up blood in time to see those lyrics.

Steve Harris says, Dougie former drummer, Doug Sampson used to get covered in fake blood every night, and he had blonde hair so he could never get the bloody stain out. Dave Lights, the lightning technician says The Eddie that was used as a band became more famous, was designed from artwork by Derek.

Riggs, but the original idea started with that first mask. So Derek Riggs, the original Eddie cover artist. Eddie was supposed to be a punk. He had the Mohawk part and Rod Smallwood, maiden's manager and Steve Harris had a little conversation and came back and said, can you give it more? Hair sticking out of the side because our fan base was a new layer of metal just coming through, and the punk thing wouldn't go down very well with them.

Steve Harris says, when Derrick Riggs came along with that artwork, we were like, wow, that's where we want to take Eddie. He illustrated Eddie's first appearance was on maiden's debuts single 1980s, running free, but his face was shadowed as the band didn't wanna ruin the big reveal of their eponymous debut album.

Derek Riggs says, Eddie represented the idea that the youth of today were being wasted by society. He started out like that anyways, and I made him more scary. Steve Harris says we didn't want to be on the front covers. We're all pretty shy, really deep down, so Eddie fulfilled all of that. Derek Griggs says, I never knew the band very well.

I'd only met them a few times until the number of the beast. That particular idea I. It's the number of the Beast Cover I stole from a comic book that I had read in the seventies. Bruce Dickinson, the vocalist, he says Power Slave is one of my favorite album covers, possibly of all time, but certainly of Maiden.

I just think it's classic and it has inspired so many of our stage performances as well. It is just like ancient Egypt itself. It's eternal and eternally interesting. So the Paras Slave album art cover is Egyptian inspired and it's pretty much a pyramid with not a fx, I guess the Pharaoh. So Eddie is like the face of the Pharaoh in, uh, in front of the pyramid there.

Which is pretty cool and that's what Bruce Dickinson's referring to that album cover. I gotta say, it's pretty damn neat. Okay. Derrick Riggs, the original Eddie artist, says somewhere in time took three months in all. I just had to stop because I had had enough, it got into my head and I just couldn't see anything else.

I couldn't think about anything else. It did my head in, because there are all these little details. Man, if you do look at somewhere in time, the album cover, I mean, he's right. The amount of details on his cover is insane. So if you take a look at it, the scene depicts kind of a blade runner style, cyberpunk city type vibe with the neon lights flying cars.

So Eddie is seen as a kind of a cyborg gunslinger type thing. Super armed and uh, clad with futuristic armor. So apparently the reason why this cover was super revolutionary for its time is that it was fully hand painted and super detailed. Alright, Bruce Dickinson says, I had worked with Derek Riggs on the cover of Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, which had a touch of Salvador Dalia about it with its slightly surreal procession of candles and a partially disembodied skeletal Eddie Next to Power Slave is my favorite.

Derek Riggs cover art. Yeah, so if you take a look at this album, seven Son of the Seven Son released in 1988, it's again painted by the legendary Derrick Riggs, and it's a completely different vibe than somewhere in time. It's kind of, uh, more of a dreamlike, icy fantasy world that perfectly describes the, or matches I wish to say, the album's mystical themes.

Pretty neat. Definitely a much more minimalistic approach than the previous album, which obviously was done on purpose. All right. I looked up the symbolism in chat, GPT, and it says here, the baby of fire represents new life and mystical power. Referencing the folklore of the seventh son of a seventh son, a child said to possess magical or prophetic abilities and behind any, the sun is split in two, symbolizing the eternal struggle between light and darkness or good and evil.

The water below mirrors the sky, blowing the line between reality and reflection. Echoing the album's themes of perception, madness, and supernatural. Okay. Back to the article, as well as the album's artwork. Eddie became a staple of the band's live show appearing in various formats. Radio from painted backdrops to gigantic mechanical versions and lumbering walk-on rolls.

Rod Smallwood, their manager says, at first it was just me with an Eddie mask on. I just go bounding around the stage like a lunatic. Train the intro to get the audience worked up. The place would go mad. Bruce Dickinson says, I remember when the number of the beast walk on Eddie was unveiled. They had a roller shutter door and it came up and there it was standing there like in 1939 horror film, son of Frankenstein.

We were like, holy fuck, what the fuck is that? That was the closest we've ever got to that feeling that fans get when that thing first walks on stage. Pretty funny. Steve Harris says, I've always liked that somewhere in time. Walk-on that one adds so much detail on it. The trooper one is really good as well.

Adrian Smith, the guitar player, says, I had mixed feelings about Eddie over the years. I thought, is this overshadowing the band? Is it a big puppet? Is it a bit questionable? We've had a few really dodgy eddies over the years where I thought, oh my God, iron Maiden and Derek Riggs parted company on less than amicable terms after the 1990s, no Prayer for the Dying album.

Wow. Really? After all that, the baton was picked up by a series of artists, including Melvin Grant Hughsey, Timothy Bradstreet, and Mark Wilkinson, each of whom put a different spin on Eddie. So Melvin, one of the artists, my approach to fear of the dark was, see how sinister I can make Eddie? We've had all the physical violence and the blood and sharp things.

Now let's instill something more psychological. I went off and produced a few pencil drawings of which the Tree Eddie was one. I had wanted to redesign the look of Eddie quite extensively, but Maiden's Manager Sanctuary said to keep it close to the original. I love that tree Eddie from Fear of the Dark.

That's actually the album that actually got me into Iron Maiden. And guess what? It's the album cover that really wrote me in, and then I heard Fear of the Dark and it was over. I think he did a great job with that album. I mean, it's definitely a much more darker and eerie, almost like gothic looking album versus all the previous, uh, more colorful ones.

It's pretty much a nightmare on an album cover, which Melvin captured it perfectly. Bruce Dickinson says The dance of death cover was also controversial, a partially finished work in progress, but Steve loved it and was not to be shifted. Personally, I still find it embarrassing. The artist was so mortified that he withdrew his name from the album credits.

I didn't blame him. I gotta see. I'm with Bruce on this. It's like a CGI, digital art type of thing. But yeah, to Bruce's point, it does look unfinished. Like there's a lot of missing details. It looks like just kind of this rough draft of a CGI movie or a digital, uh, kind of scene in a digital movie. It's uh, it's weird.

Very weird. Definitely my least favorite album cover for sure. Mark Wilkinson, the artist of this album says, I always say that the artist that came after Derek Riggs are caretakers of his brilliant creation. If you don't respect that, then you're fooling yourself. However, there's not much point in simply recreating the same thing over and over again, or attempting a pastiche in the same style as Derek, which would be disrespectful.

Yeah, I tend to agree with that. I mean, you gotta change it up at some points. I mean, think about over 45 years. Okay. Back to the article. More than 45 years after he made his first appearance above the drum kit, Eddie remains one of the most recognizable and iconic images in music. Cory Taylor from Slipknot.

There wasn't a dude that I hung out with that wasn't trying to draw Eddie on their school books. So true. Lars Ulrich from Metallica. It wasn't just a music, you had the best packaging, the coolest t-shirts, everything. It was a big inspiration for us in Metallica. Bruce Dickinson, we have Eddie. So we don't have to be the rockstar.

We don't have to go and take some overdose and be found lying outside some Paris nightclub and go into rehab and all these things. Dickie Bale, the production manager, says The kids fucking love Eddie more than they love the band. And you can see why it's 'cause he is one of them in their minds. He's like the Iron Maiden fan from hell.

Alright, rain to finish off the article, the legendary Bruce Dickinson says, Eddie is iron maiden's mascot, monster, alter ego. Call it what you will. Part supernatural, part primal, part aggressive Adolescent Eddie is a super anti-hero with no backstory. Eddie doesn't give a fuck. He just is. Yeah. Eddie. Eddie.

All right. Well let's hope Iron Mania hangs out for another 45 years and Eddie remains on their covers for sure. Every time Iron Mania comes out with a, an album, I'm super excited to see what they've done to Eddie on the cover, and I'm sure many of you feel the same way. Alright, rock on Eddie. One louder.

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