Iron Maiden have one of the most enviable back-catalogues in all of heavy metal. Having released music for upwards of 40 years now, The Beast’s repertoire includes such all-time classics as Run To The Hills, Fear Of The Dark, Can I Play With Madness and The Trooper. However, not one of these live mainstays and critical darlings has ever made it to the coveted number one spot in the UK singles chart. The only Maiden track to have that honour is one that’s since divided fan opinion and been expelled from their setlist: Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter.
Daughter… is proper meat-and-potatoes metal. Eschewing the majestic melodies and literature-inspired topics normally associated with top-shelf Maiden, it’s instead a four-minute anthem about, well… bringing your daughter to the slaughter. It was the second single off of the band’s most contentious album, 1990’s No Prayer For The Dying, and its ability to find mammoth success at what’s been called Bruce Dickinson and the boys’ creative nadir has given it a complicated legacy to say the least. We at Hammer once even published an op-ed called “Why you should love Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter even though it’s crap”.
