Aces High

Hey there, Zoo Freaks, the Zoo Crew is spinning one of those tracks that just grabs you by the collar and yanks you straight into the clouds. Right now the needle is dropping on Aces High by Iron Maiden from the Powerslave album, and if that riff does not get your blood pumping then maybe you need another cup of coffee or a fresh look at your speakers. This is pure high-octane metal from the boys who turned the New Wave of British Heavy Metal into something that still fills arenas decades later, and the song itself is a wild ride through the skies over England during the Battle of Britain. Steve Harris wrote it from the cockpit of an RAF pilot scrambling to face the incoming bombers, complete with sirens, flak, Spitfires, and Messerschmitts. The whole thing clocks in at just over four minutes but it feels like a dogfight that never ends, with that galloping bass line and Bruce Dickinson’s voice soaring over the twin guitars like a plane banking hard out of the sun.

One of the wildest bits of trivia comes straight from the man himself. Bruce Dickinson has said in interviews that Aces High is the toughest song in the entire Maiden catalog to sing live. He told Songfacts that it was already a killer when he was twenty-six years old, and it has not gotten any easier since. The high notes and the relentless pace leave no room to catch your breath, so he has always pushed the band to slot it near the front of the set whenever possible. Even after all these years they still keep it in the original key because anything lower just would not feel right. Bruce has also admitted that if he makes it through the song without missing a note he gives himself a little pat on the back and maybe a beer afterward, like he just dodged another bullet. That attitude fits a guy who is a licensed pilot in real life and once earned the nickname the Air Raid Siren for those powerful pipes. The first line of the song even mentions the siren that warns of the air raid, which is a nice little nod whether they planned it that way or not.

There is more to the story behind the writing of Aces High than just Harris sitting down with a history book. Drummer Nicko McBrain has claimed he helped plant the seed while the band was rehearsing Powerslave over on the island of Jersey. Nicko had started taking flying lessons and would come back from the aerodrome doing his best Biggles impression, twisting an imaginary mustache and shouting about bandits at six o’clock and bombs away. He figures that theatrical flair rubbed off on Steve and helped shape the Spitfire pilot narrative. The band was working in a place that had been occupied by German forces during the war, so the history was literally under their feet. Harris also drew from the 1976 film Aces High, even though that movie was set in the First World War rather than the Second. EMI handled both the film and the album, so there was never any copyright worry, and Maiden has always liked borrowing titles from old British movies. The single artwork by Derek Riggs shows Eddie the Head piloting a Spitfire straight at the viewer, and the live shows usually open the number with Winston Churchill’s “we shall fight on the beaches” speech while the sound of planes fills the arena. It is pure theater, and the Zoo Crew has always loved that kind of storytelling in the music.

Speaking of the band that brought us this classic, Iron Maiden got their start the way so many great outfits do, with a stubborn bass player who refused to quit. Steve Harris put the first version of the group together in East London back in 1975 after leaving another band called Smiler. He was still in his late teens, working as a draughtsman and living with his nan in Leytonstone, and he had a clear vision of twin-lead guitar rock that mixed the heaviness of Deep Purple and UFO with the progressive side of Wishbone Ash and Genesis. The name Iron Maiden came from a film version of The Man in the Iron Mask; the title reminded Harris of the medieval torture device, and the rest of the guys liked it better than their original working name Ash Mountain. Early lineups shuffled constantly. They played their first show at St Nicks Hall in Poplar and then settled into a residency at the Cart and Horses pub in Stratford, the place that still gets called the birthplace of Iron Maiden. Crowds grew from a handful of people to packed houses, and the band cut their teeth on the London pub circuit long before any record labels took notice.

Those early years were a grind of lineup changes and self-released demos. Harris and guitarist Dave Murray stuck it out while singers and drummers came and went. By the end of the seventies they had Paul Di’Anno on vocals and a four-song EP called The Soundhouse Tapes that sold out its run of five thousand copies in weeks. That got them signed to EMI, and the self-titled debut album arrived in 1980 with Clive Burr on drums and Dennis Stratton on second guitar. The band already had a reputation for ferocious live shows by then, and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was in full swing. Killers followed in 1981, but the real turning point came when Di’Anno left and Bruce Dickinson stepped in from Samson. The Number of the Beast in 1982 proved the new lineup could deliver something bigger, and Maiden never looked back. By the time Powerslave rolled around in 1984 the same core of Harris, Dickinson, Murray, Adrian Smith, and Nicko McBrain was locked in, and songs like Aces High showed how far that chemistry had taken them from the East London pubs.

The Zoo Crew loves digging into these stories because they remind us why the music still hits so hard. Harris kept writing from the heart and from history, Dickinson brought the air-raid power and the theatrical flair, and the rest of the band locked into those galloping rhythms that still make heads bang. Aces High is just one example of how Maiden turned real events and personal obsessions into metal anthems that feel larger than life. You can hear the scramble, the dive, and the do-or-die attitude in every note, and it still works whether you are hearing it on vinyl, on the radio, or blasting from a set of speakers while the rest of the world fades away. If you want to dive deeper into the band that started it all, head over to the official Iron Maiden website where you can find the full discography including the Powerslave page that lists Aces High right at the top. They are also active on Facebook, Instagram, and X, so you can keep up with the latest from the camp. The official fan club lives at fanclub.ironmaiden.com for members-only content and perks, and there is a lively unofficial Facebook group called Iron Maiden Fan Club for fans who want to swap stories and set lists. Keep it locked right here on THE ZOO, because the Zoo Crew has plenty more deep cuts and rock history waiting for you Zoo Freaks. Up the irons and we will see you on the next spin.