No matter how you look at it, The Number Of The Beast is the moment Iron Maiden were catapulted into the mainstream. Run To The Hills cracked the top 10 of the singles charts in the band’s native UK, before the album itself landed at the wildly enviable number one position. The US, meanwhile, was getting worked up by all the satanic imagery, staging mass protests that – unbeknownst to them – only made Maiden seem even cooler to metalheads.
Of course, none of that success would have been possible if Number… were shit. It took eight top-shelf songs to build this career-defining masterpiece (or nine if you own the CD), and below you’ll find the story of every single one. From Invaders to Hallowed Be Thy Name, here’s your track-by-track guide to Maiden’s magnum opus:
