3:16 pm - 05/28/2012
Iron Maiden's Number of the Beast and Trainspotting are apparently the best British things
A film about herion addicts and a heavy metal album featuring songs about the devil and mutant telepathic children have been voted as the cultural high-points of the Queen’s reign, a major poll has revealed.
Trainspotting, the 1996 film about a dysfunctional group of Edinburgh drug addicts, was named as the best British film of the last 60 years in an online survey by HMV, the retailer.
Meanwhile The Number of the Beast, an early 1980s heavy metal album by Iron Maiden, was named as the best British album of the era.
Trainspotting took the top spot after seeing off competition from more conventional films, such as the entire Harry Potter series, Four Weddings and Funeral, The Dambusters and classic Ealing Comedies like The Ladykillers.
The film was directed by Danny Boyle, who went on to direct the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire and is artistic director of the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony.
More surprising, however, was Iron Maiden’s triumph in the album category.
The Number of the Beast beat perennial favourites in ‘best album’ polls, such as The Beatles’ Revolver, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, and Radiohead’s OK Computer.
Bruce Dickinson, Iron Maiden’s singer, said that the group is “proudly British” and described winning the award as “very special”.
Almost 55,000 people voted for their favourite films and albums online over the last month after HMV put two 60-strong longlists on the internet.
HMV said that the results of the poll are likely to have been influenced by loyal fans of bands such as Iron Maiden encouraging each other to vote on social media sites such as Facebook.
“As you can see, the power of social media means there are one or two surprises,” the retailer said.
HMV revealed that The Number of the Beast received over 9 per cent of all the votes cast, suggesting a concerted internet campaign by the Iron Maiden’s fans. A similar campaign is likely to have been behind the number two album, Violator by Depeche Mode, another album that does not usually feature strongly in ‘best of’ lists.
Mr Dickinson said: “We’re astonished and delighted to hear The Number of the Beast has been named number one in HMV’s Diamond Jubilee survey for the greatest British album category.
“Some of the most influential and classic albums from the last 60 years were in the running so it’s a testament to our incredibly loyal and ever-supportive fans who voted for us."
Gennaro Castaldo, a spokesman for HMV, said: “The beginning of Elizabeth II’s reign, and the bright new future it represented, didn’t just coincide with a flowering of British popular culture, it helped to provide the very spark that lit the touch-paper for an explosion in music and film talent.”
Number of the Beast was Iron Maiden’s third album. It caused controversy when it was released in 1982 due to the religious nature of the songs and the band’s apparent fascination with the occult.
Songs titles included Children of the Damned and Hallowed by the Name. The title track contained the lyrics: “666 the number of the beast, Hell and fire were spawned to be released”.
According to various reports in the music press, the recording of the album was marred by strange occurrences. Studio equipment mysteriously broke down and Martin Birch, the record’s producer, was involved in a bizarre car accident with a minibus transporting a group of nuns. Legend has it that after the accident he was presented with a repair bill for £666.
Top 10 albums
1. Iron Maiden / The Number of the Beast
2. Depeche Mode / Violator
3. The Beatles / Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
4. The Beatles / Abbey Road
5. Pink Floyd / The Dark Side of the Moon (should have been 1 tbh)
6. The Beatles / Revolver
7. Queen / A Night at the Opera
8. Oasis / (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?
9. Adele / 21
10. The Beatles / White Album
Top 10 films
1. Trainspotting
2. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two
4. Monty Python’s Life Of Brian
5. A Clockwork Orange
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
7. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
8. The Italian Job
9. Shaun Of The Dead
10. The Kings Speech
source
Hallowed Be Thy Name is a flawfree song and I like Number of the Beast, but as number one? idts
Trainspotting, the 1996 film about a dysfunctional group of Edinburgh drug addicts, was named as the best British film of the last 60 years in an online survey by HMV, the retailer.
Meanwhile The Number of the Beast, an early 1980s heavy metal album by Iron Maiden, was named as the best British album of the era.
Trainspotting took the top spot after seeing off competition from more conventional films, such as the entire Harry Potter series, Four Weddings and Funeral, The Dambusters and classic Ealing Comedies like The Ladykillers.
The film was directed by Danny Boyle, who went on to direct the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire and is artistic director of the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony.
More surprising, however, was Iron Maiden’s triumph in the album category.
The Number of the Beast beat perennial favourites in ‘best album’ polls, such as The Beatles’ Revolver, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, and Radiohead’s OK Computer.
Bruce Dickinson, Iron Maiden’s singer, said that the group is “proudly British” and described winning the award as “very special”.
Almost 55,000 people voted for their favourite films and albums online over the last month after HMV put two 60-strong longlists on the internet.
HMV said that the results of the poll are likely to have been influenced by loyal fans of bands such as Iron Maiden encouraging each other to vote on social media sites such as Facebook.
“As you can see, the power of social media means there are one or two surprises,” the retailer said.
HMV revealed that The Number of the Beast received over 9 per cent of all the votes cast, suggesting a concerted internet campaign by the Iron Maiden’s fans. A similar campaign is likely to have been behind the number two album, Violator by Depeche Mode, another album that does not usually feature strongly in ‘best of’ lists.
Mr Dickinson said: “We’re astonished and delighted to hear The Number of the Beast has been named number one in HMV’s Diamond Jubilee survey for the greatest British album category.
“Some of the most influential and classic albums from the last 60 years were in the running so it’s a testament to our incredibly loyal and ever-supportive fans who voted for us."
Gennaro Castaldo, a spokesman for HMV, said: “The beginning of Elizabeth II’s reign, and the bright new future it represented, didn’t just coincide with a flowering of British popular culture, it helped to provide the very spark that lit the touch-paper for an explosion in music and film talent.”
Number of the Beast was Iron Maiden’s third album. It caused controversy when it was released in 1982 due to the religious nature of the songs and the band’s apparent fascination with the occult.
Songs titles included Children of the Damned and Hallowed by the Name. The title track contained the lyrics: “666 the number of the beast, Hell and fire were spawned to be released”.
According to various reports in the music press, the recording of the album was marred by strange occurrences. Studio equipment mysteriously broke down and Martin Birch, the record’s producer, was involved in a bizarre car accident with a minibus transporting a group of nuns. Legend has it that after the accident he was presented with a repair bill for £666.
Top 10 albums
1. Iron Maiden / The Number of the Beast
2. Depeche Mode / Violator
3. The Beatles / Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
4. The Beatles / Abbey Road
5. Pink Floyd / The Dark Side of the Moon (should have been 1 tbh)
6. The Beatles / Revolver
7. Queen / A Night at the Opera
8. Oasis / (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?
9. Adele / 21
10. The Beatles / White Album
Top 10 films
1. Trainspotting
2. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two
4. Monty Python’s Life Of Brian
5. A Clockwork Orange
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
7. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
8. The Italian Job
9. Shaun Of The Dead
10. The Kings Speech
source
Hallowed Be Thy Name is a flawfree song and I like Number of the Beast, but as number one? idts
I read my mom Bruce Dickenson's wikipedia entry a couple weeks ago.
And out of all the Harry Potter films, those two definitely wouldn't be the two I'd choose but whatever.
nah. It was good, but not up there tbh
Pretty decent lists overall, really. A couple of unexpected inclusions but overall, not bad!
i love iron maiden but i haven't even gone through their whole catalogue yet. but from what i've listened to so far, powerslave and brave new world are flawless albums.
(it is a good film and it isn't wrong on a lot of counts but it is kinda depresing to know heroin is what your town is known for when there is so much more than that)
a friend of ours is from the same town...
Ese album es de la pendejaaaaaa! Yo tengo que sacar clairvoyant en el bajo, or else.
David Lean would slap someone if he saw this piss poor list.
No mention of The Damned, David Lean, OR Freddie Francis? Suck my non existent but succulent balls.
The password was TheNumberofthebeast666
;-p
Hackers, Trainspotting, Beautiful Creatures, Foxfire, Empire Records.
The 90s were a great time to be a young teenager and really fucking angsty.
idts.
oasis collectively judging you for not being number one britain.
and don't even get me started on the flop movie list.
9. Adele / 21
10. The Beatles / White Album
Oh so it's opposite day today, I see