10 Hidden Details You Never Noticed In Iron Maiden Songs
3. Freddie Mercury And "Fear Is The Key"
This is a bit of a darker entry than most others on this list, but it is still a fascinating one nonetheless.
As many of you out there know, legendary Queen frontman Freddie Mercury tragically passed away in November 1991, succumbing to the then-mysterious and panic-inducing AIDS virus at just 45 years old.
A year after Freddie's passing, Maiden's Fear of the Dark record came out. A definite step up after the irredeemably panned No Prayer for the Dying (1990), it was an album driven by a monstrous title track and, to be fair, a great many underrated cuts, including "Afraid to Shoot Strangers", "Be Quick or Be Dead" and "Fear Is the Key".
"Fear Is the Key" is where the album and Mercury find common ground. The track was inspired by the singer's passing and, in its lyrics, deals with the topic of a sexual relationship that has been injected with a sense of unease and fear as a result of the HIV/AIDS scare.
It's an underrated track based on an insanely talented musician and definitely deserves to be heard by as many Maiden fans as possible.