Classic Albums - Iron Maiden: The Number of the Beast
Iron Maiden's 1982 breakthrough,The Number of the Beast--its  first with leather-lunged vocalist Bruce Dickinson--remains a heavy-metal  watershed, and this Classic Albums program reunites the major players (including  producer Martin Birch) for the undoubted pleasure of longtime Maiden fans. The interviews with band members and rock journalists in the 50-minute program  touch on Maiden's early career, then delve into the creation of songs that have  become hard-rock classics: the title song came about from a nightmare that  bassist-songwriter Steve Harris couldn't shake, "The Prisoner" was inspired by  the Patrick McGoohan television series, and the hit "Run to the Hills" made the  sort of political statement (about white men's savage treatment of native  peoples) that then-Capitol Records exec Don Zimmermann notes most American fans  couldn't have cared less about while head-banging.--Kevin Filipski