September 10, 1981. Copenhagen, Denmark. A 17-year-old kid stands gawping in awe at the English metal band who're tearing up the stage of the Odd Fellow Palæet. The teenager has already seen some of the greatest hard rock bands of all time – Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Motörhead – but tonight is different. This band are hungrier, rawer, with an almost punk rock intensity and aggression underpinning their sophisticated musicianship. Taking in the spectacle, the kid fantasises about playing in such a band, igniting this kind of frenzied response with his own music. If only.
Fast forward 15 years. That 17-year-old, Lars Ulrich, is now the powerhouse drummer behind the world's most popular metal band, Metallica. Meanwhile, Iron Maiden, the band he saw that night in his hometown, are 30 years deep into a glittering career during which they've released some of heavy metal's greatest albums, changed frontmen twice, and had untold influence upon two generations of musicians. With Maiden set to release a compilation of their greatest work, cunningly titled The Best of the Beast, we though this would be a perfect opportunity to bring together two men who are more responsible than most for shaping the sound of modern metal, Iron Maiden guv'nor Steve Harris and his celebrity super-fan, Lars Ulrich.
