Iron Maiden, the story of “Virus”
It will be in bookstores from June 19th “Children of the damned – Iron Maiden lyrics and songs from their origins to Senjutsu” (352 pages, 20 euros) published in the Le Tormente series by the publisher Tsunami and written by Stefano Cerati.
The author explains:
Iron Maiden have never been a concept band based mainly on a single topic, but rather have explored multiple aspects of the worlds of heavy metal. They successfully touched on the themes of street life, fantasy, history and war, death and murders, science fiction, the meaning of life, horror and religion, proving themselves to be a complete, multifaceted band capable of always stimulating the imagination of listeners. The two main authors, Steve Harris and Bruce Dickinson, have sometimes different, but also complementary styles, and often find common ground in history, horror and fantasy. And this is why, after so many years, I wanted to create my own personal tribute to Iron Maiden, commenting on all their original lyrics. In this book you will therefore find all the songs present in the albums – excluding the instrumentals – and also the bonus tracks of the various editions (in addition to “Virus”, which is the only meaningful track to have never ended up on an album, not even as a bonus), for a total of 174 pieces.
By courtesy of Tsunami we publish the “Virus” data sheet here.
VIRUS
There’s an evil virus that’s threatening mankind
Not state of the art, a serious state of the mind
The muggers, the backstabbers, the two faced elite
A menace to society, a social disease.
There is an evil virus that is threatening humanity
It’s not the state of the art, it’s a serious state of mind
The robbers, the backstabbers, the two-faced elite
A threat to society, a social disease.
This is the only Iron Maiden song not on an album whose lyrics are worth commenting on. Recorded in 1996, after the publication of The X Factorwas released only as a single and then included in the collection The Best of the Beast.
It is the band’s response to all the criticisms and bad reviews received from the English press over the years and which perhaps had become more frequent during the period with Blaze Bayley. In this case the band wants to take revenge. It’s as if he were saying: “Okay, you destroyed us in the press, now it’s our turn, here’s what we have to say about you.”
Steve Harris commented that it was quite frustrating to read all those negative reviews, even in the 350s
Eighty, especially those of individuals who were regularly massacred. The worst thing for him came from the fact that some journalists were prejudiced and others hadn’t even listened to the albums they were writing about.
Like all bands who say they don’t pay attention to the reactions of the press, it’s not true, Iron Maiden cared and suffered when, after putting so much work and effort into an album, it was demolished in five minutes.
The text is really biting and sarcastic and the journalists are compared to a virus, a disease for humanity that affects the mind. They mock this two-faced elite who maybe says hello and then stabs you in the back.
They are called «rape of mind», mental rapes, to underline the brutality of their attitude. They come to eat with you at the buffets offered and then just wait for one wrong word to criticize you.
They come towards you smiling and shake your hand, but as soon as you turn around they are ready to deceive you. When you think you’re safe they’re sharpening «their paper knives». They destroy you and they enjoy it. They want to sink the ship and then abandon it. They are the mice in the cellar, and they know who they are.
