I love early Iron Maiden. They had a raw fresh sound, born out of metal like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, but also with influences from prog rock and - perhaps most importantly - punk. The first two albums, featuring Paul Di'Anno's vocals have a raw, angry purity which I keep coming back to.

Ludicrously under-serviced by the British music press, Maiden have given us a stupendous total of 41 albums, and have performed utterly epic tours often over 100 shows long, with the '84-'85 World Slavery Tour coming in at 187 shows and playing to massive crowds including a co-headline with Queen in Rio de Janeiro with an attendance of 300,000 people.