Eddie The Head - Background

Background

The very first version of Eddie was a mask made by an art student who was friends with Dave (Lights) Beasley, then in charge of lighting, pyrotechnics and other effects for Iron Maiden's live-show. According to Lights, the original mask was a papier-mâché mould of his own face, which was then used in the band's backdrop, consisting of LED lights and the band's logo. At the end of their live set, during the "Iron Maiden" song, a fish-tank pump was used to squirt fake blood out of the mask's mouth, which typically covered their drummer, Doug Sampson. After this initial incarnation, Lights constructed a larger mask out of fibreglass, equipped with flashing eyes and the ability to release red smoke from its mouth.

The band's bassist and founding member, Steve Harris, states that the name "Eddie" comes from the fact that said mask was referred to as "The Head", which sounded like "Ead" in the band members' London accent. According to guitarist Dave Murray the name was also inspired by an old joke:

"A wife had a baby, but it was born with only a head and no body. 'Don't worry,' says the doctor. 'Bring him back in five years time and we'll probably have a body for him'. So five years go by, and there's Eddie the 'Ead, as his parents have called him, sitting on the mantelpiece, when in walks his dad. 'Son,' he says, 'today's a very special day. It's your fifth birthday and we've got a very special surprise for you.' 'Oh no,' says Eddie. 'Not another fucking hat!'"

Once Iron Maiden had secured a record contract with EMI, the band's manager, Rod Smallwood, decided that the band needed "that one figure who utterly stamped his presence and image on the band in a way that was obvious enough to make a good album cover." After seeing some of his artwork on a Max Middleton poster, Smallwood set up a meeting with Derek Riggs and asked to see some of his other illustrations, in the midst of which was the band's first album cover. Originally created as an idea for a punk record, which Riggs states in the 12 Wasted Years documentary was based on an alleged American's skull stuck to a Vietnamese tank, the band had extra hair added to the illustration, making it more suitable to their style of music, and transferred the name from the original masks they used onstage. Surmising that the creature had "great visual continuity," Smallwood decided it would be used for all of the band's artwork.

Smallwood claims that Rupert Perry, EMI's then managing director, came up with the idea that Eddie could become a more active part of the band's concerts, originally portrayed by Smallwood himself, wearing an Eddie mask and a leather jacket. The classic "walk-on" Eddie was created for The Beast on the Road tour by Dave Lights after seeing a pantomime version of Jack and the Beanstalk, which used similar giants consisting of "basically a bloke on stilts but dressed up to look about ten feet tall." As the band's stage show expanded, an additional gigantic Eddie was also incorporated at the back of the set during "Iron Maiden", which, like the "walk-on" Eddie, would match the theme of the current tour, such as the 30-foot, mummified version used during the World Slavery Tour which shot sparks from its eyes.

Eddie's debut appearance was on the band's first single cover, "Running Free," in which his face was covered by shadow to protect his identity before the release of the band's first album. Since then, Eddie has assumed a different guise for each cover, such as a "mummified Egyptian god" for Powerslave, a lobotomised mental patient for Piece of Mind, emerging from a grave in Live After Death, and a cyborg for Somewhere in Time.