Episode 19 - The X-Factor (Side A)

Maiden Voyage

It's official! We're back or the start of Season 2 of Maiden Voyage, where Ed and Stu cover the first side of Iron Maiden's 10th studio album, The X-Factor!

Released in October 1995, this marks the first album with the band's third singer, Blaze Bayley. Ed and Stu jump right into the thick of it, discussing the wonderfully absurd lyrics of the album's opening track, "Man on the Edge" about the Joel Schumacher movie, Falling Down.

How will Blaze fit in with the band? Will singing bland, overly-long songs prove detrimental to Blaze's chances to succeed as Maiden's new singer? Will Ed ever stop pronouncing a hard "J" when saying Janick Gers' name? All this and more on this episode of Maiden Voyage.

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Send questions, comments and praise to [email protected] Follow Stu and Ed on Bluesky. Visit the Vintage RPG website to check out Stu's other podcast, Vintage RPG, and sign up for the newsletter for an in-depth dive into the art & history of tabletop roleplaying games, and check out unwinnable.com for the best cultural commentary around. Check out Stu's book, Monsters, Aliens and Holes in the Ground, from MIT Press. Pick up a copy directly from MIT Press, from your local bookstore, or from an online book seller that doesn't suck, like Bookshop.org. The Maiden Voyage illustration is by Shafer Brown. Follow him on Bluesky and Instagram. Maiden Voyage is recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by Ed Coleman. The show is produced by Ed Coleman and Stu Horvath. Theme music composed by Sam Retzer, under license from SmartSound. This podcast is a labor of love based on decades of devoted fandom. We strongly encourage listeners to buy Iron Maiden's albums or listen to them using your favorite streaming music service to support these heavy metal legends. To check out the cover art for the band's albums and singles, visit the band's excellent website.