Product Description

THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST was Iron Maiden's greatest achievement, and, accordingly it brought them their greatest popularity and notoriety. Revered by metal fans for their focus on music and reviled by critics for their supposed "satanist" leanings, this record represents the seminal British metal band at their peak. Featuring a track-by-track examination of the record's original playlist led by album producer Martin Birch, as well as interviews with rock journalists that put accusations made against the band in perspective, this episode of the CLASSIC ALBUMS series offers an inside look at one of the best and most notorious metal albums of the 1980s.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28448 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-12-04
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 80 minutes

Amazon.com
Iron Maiden's 1982 breakthrough, The Number of the Beast--its first with leather-lunged vocalist Bruce Dickinson--remains a heavy-metal watershed, and this Classic Albums program reunites the major players (including producer Martin Birch) for the undoubted pleasure of longtime Maiden fans. The interviews with band members and rock journalists in the 50-minute program touch on Maiden's early career, then delve into the creation of songs that have become hard-rock classics: the title song came about from a nightmare that bassist-songwriter Steve Harris couldn't shake, "The Prisoner" was inspired by the Patrick McGoohan television series, and the hit "Run to the Hills" made the sort of political statement (about white men's savage treatment of native peoples) that then-Capitol Records exec Don Zimmermann notes most American fans couldn't have cared less about while head-banging. --Kevin Filipski

Additional features
DVD bonus material includes another half-hour of more interview footage and too-few musical excerpts, which should make most Maiden fans craving more, since a brief snippet of Murray playing the killer riff of "Children of the Damned" is merely teasing. --Kevin Filipski

From the Back Cover
1982 was a momentous year for Iron Maiden. Following the addition of brilliant new vocalist Bruce Dickinson, their third album The Number of the Beast was released to universal acclaim from both critics and rock fans. The album topped the U.K. charts for two weeks, launched them into the U.S. Top 40 for the first time, and invaded the Top 10 album charts worldwide achieving a plethora of gold and platinum awards. The Number of the Beast is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time, including, along with demonic title track, such classic metal anthems as Run to the Hills, Hallowed Be Thy Name, The Prisoner and Children of the Damned.
This exclusive film tells the full and vibrant story behind the making of the album. It is packed with exclusive interviews with the entire band-Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Adrian Smith, Dave Murray-with the first interview for many years with drummer Clive Burr who left the band after the massive Beast on the Road World Tour. Producer Martin Birch takes us through the own won anecdotes from the period. Current drummer Nicko McBrain, who at that time played with the support band, adds his tales from the road and guitarist Adrian Smith contributes exclusive acoustic guitar renditions of Children of the Damned and The Number of The Beast.
Featuring masses of previously unseen footage from the 1982 Hammersmith Odeon show on Beast on the Road plus an exciting preview of the forthcoming state of the art DVD shot at Rock in Rio in January 2001, this program provides a unique insight into how The Number of The Beast propelled Iron Maiden into international superstar status and came to be a classic album.

Customer Reviews

A Must Buy
Even if you were not a huge Maiden fan in the 80s this DVD is really worth getting. This is not another run of the mill documentary, but a well informed doc that highlights the Number of the Beast album from beginning to end. The storys behind the songs, the interviews, and the never before seen footage will make this a staple in your DVD player. The sneek peek at the new Rock in Rio DVD IM is putting out is worth the money alone. It was also nice to see old drummer Clive Burr, and I was saddened by his illness. Our prayers go out to you Clive "up the hammers"

A Great Insight into a Great Album
Being a huge Iron Maiden fan, I decided that since I didn't have enough money to purchase the ROCK IN RIO DVD, I would go ahead and buy the cheaper Maiden DVD which was a 50-minute documentary on the making of their all-time classic third album THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST. It was part of a music series called "Classic Albums" and I thought it would be cool to see how this heavy metal milestone came into place back in the early '80s. This is a very insightful DVD, filled with great interviews, never-before-seen concert footage, some cool bonus material, and a rich, detailed history to boot. I look at NUMBER OF THE BEAST now in a new light than ever before.

The program traces Maiden's beginnings in the late '70s up to their breakout success with BEAST in 1982. We see early concert footage in the clubs with original lead singer Paul Di'anno, decked out in leather-clad gear; how Maiden became one of the "leaders" of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (and how they detested it); Paul's exit from the band and Bruce's arrival after leaving his own band Samson; incredible commentary on the writing and recording process of the album; and the lasting impact the album has had.

As much as I loved the insight and detail, what really impressed me about the interviews was the humor. For example, during the segment for "The Prisoner," it cuts to the set of the "village" where the original Prisoner TV show was filmed, and there you see Bruce decked out in the same outfit Patrick McGoohan wore on the show. Other funny bits occur when the band and their manager Rod Smallwood discuss the backlash NUMBER OF THE BEAST received in America. Bruce says that one guy went so far as to carry a huge 25-foot cross (the same cross Jesus carried, you see) as a means of protest in front of the venue. Smallwood then talks about how people started burning copies of the album, and then decided to smash them instead with hammers because "the fumes of the Devil's music" would poison the atmosphere. Hilarious stuff.

The bonus materials are also very good. We see extra, equally detailed interviews that were cut out of the final program; two shots of Adrian Smith playing the riffs for "Children of the Damned" and "The Number of the Beast"; a poignant message from Clive Burr thanking the fans for their support with his struggle with MS; and the performance of "Hallowed Be Thy Name" from the Rock in Rio concert (that was the best).

Overall, this is a well-made, interesting, and humorous short little portrait into the world of Iron Maiden. This is a dedication to one of heavy metal's finest.

Surprisingly good!
I was really hesitant to buy this. I thought it was going to be a bunch of videos I'd already seen, with a tiny amount of interviews that would bore me. It turned out to be really worth the money. The interviews were very interesting......not the same (...) you read in magazines. There was concert footage I'd never seen before. The coolest part was watching Martin Birch mixing some of the old songs from the record. It's fascinating to hear individual tracks solo'd out. Adrian Smith also plays for you a little. All in all, this is worth buying if you're an Iron Maiden fan. I wish VH1 would do a "Behind The Music" episode on this legendary band. They seem like great guys, and I think it would make for good TV....