Wrathchild - Iron Maiden (Killers, 1981)

Ah, Eddie... was ever a mascot conceived to alienate an adolescent's parents with such assurance? Now, imagine what the grandparents thought!!! Many summer holidays c. 1976-1985 were spent in England, and as we grew older, car trips to castles and country walks gave way to unaccompanied trips into London, where we essentially hung around record shops spending our pocket money on lps and little badges celebrating cover art such as Killers, to accessorize jean jackets already covered with band names badly rendered in bic pen. When we returned from a day out, we'd immediately disappear upstairs to put our latest purchases on my aunt's old portable record player. 'Wrathchild' or 'Murders in the Rue Morgue' (didn't they appreciate the literary references?) are hardly wall-shakers played on one of those things, but the vocals were sufficiently blood-curdling and the guitars screamed enough to put us on some kind of 'watch list' for potentially troubled teens... it least in the eyes of my grandparents Baker. Didn't help that we were spotty and smelly and were growing really bad peach-fuzzy moustaches. Not pretty. Fortunately few photos from this era survive... come to think of it, few were taken.