IRON MAIDEN: VISIONS OF THE BEAST 7 OF 8

IRON MAIDEN: VISIONS OF THE BEAST PART 7 OF 8

-Where does the Mascot's Name, EDDIE, Come From?-

The original Eddie was just this theatrical mask. You can kind of see it in the band photos on the first album and on the "Running Free" single picture sleeve. It's a face right next to the
band logo.It was connected to a pump that would spurt out various kinds of liquids and it would drool all over Doug Sampson or Clive Burr or whoever was at the drums that time. People would also try to sling stuff into it. Its full name was "Eddie The Head" (Edward T.H. on the Live After Death cover) and it comes from the following old joke:

Eddie was born with no body and no arms and no legs. Just a head. But despite this slight birth defect his parents loved him very much cared for him and were always giving him all these presents like hats and blow things at parties and other cool stuff. So on his sixteenth birthday they run into a doctor that says "Hey, I can give Eddie a body" so the parents are going totally nuts because finally their kid can have a body and be like other normal people. They go home and are really excited and say "Have we got a surprise for you. It's the best present ever!" and Eddie says "Oh, no, not another fucking hat!"

They gave the name "Eddie" to that mask. By the time of them being signed to EMI Records, they
got Derek Riggs to do cover artwork. The first was the cover to the "Running Free" single, and
you see that zombie in the back missing an arm (which somehow is in front of a guy who looks a
lot like Bruce Dickinson running away from that zombie). The band liked the zombie guy so much
that the name Eddie was transferred over to the zombie when they lost that mask with the pump.