15. Other People Just Don't Get It
TumblrNothing else in the world quite compares with being an Iron Maiden fanatic. The energy delivered in their hard rock manifesto is infectious to the right set of ears... sometimes so much so that the rest of the world is left a little baffled by our zeal. For starters, no other band sounds or plays exactly like them. Sure there are artists who are collected into the same genre of music, but even the most similar acts such as Judas Priest are barely comparable (not to knock any of you Painkillers out there). This makes explaining their sound to non-metal fans extremely difficult. "Oh, Heavy Metal," they say, "that's the stuff where they growl and bang really hard riffs out on their low-tuned guitars, right?" Nope, not even close. "But they're like, Megadeth, right?" Eh... No. Having a ghoul for a mascot and an album titled The Number of the Beast (as awesome as all that is) doesn't help either. When Maiden first visited South America in 1986, the country of Chile banned them for being Satanic, a rumor that continues to haunt them in the United States where they receive very little radio play or recognition. Most of our friends and family just shake their heads and laugh at our enthusiasm. Oh well, fellow Troopers, that which does not kill us makes us stronger... Even though it might annoy us in the meantime.