The Number of the Beast

Steve Harris wrote The Number of the Beast in 1982 after staying up all night. The bassist of Iron Maiden dreamed of scenes from Robert Burns' poem Tam o' Shanter and the film Damien: Omen II, and those echoes seeped into the lyrics. The song tells the story of a man who wakes up in the middle of demonic rituals, tries to warn the authorities, but ends up convinced that his nightmare is real. The ending —a warning that it will return stronger— leaves the feeling that hell is not just a dream, but something that haunts him. The vocal introduction, recorded by actor Barry Clayton in a tone reminiscent of Vincent Price, takes the first verse of the Book of Revelation and turns it into a chilling omen before the band kicks off with the iconic riff.

The track was the second single from the self-titled album released in March 1982 by Iron Maiden, the first with Bruce Dickinson as vocalist. Martin Birch, the engineer and producer, gave the recording a raw and direct sound that captured the band’s live energy. Controversy came quickly: in the United States, the obsessive repetition of the number 666 in the chorus fueled accusations of Satanism, something the band later debunked with humor in Piece of Mind, including a hidden backward message in Still Life. The video for The Number of the Beast, released on MTV, forced an edit of Eddie the Head’s image to calm nervous viewers. Despite everything, the song climbed to position 18 on the UK charts and became a staple of their shows, always closing with that guitar solo many consider one of the most challenging for guitarists.