Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden's sound is instantly recognisable: Steve Harris's galloping bass, twin guitars locked in harmony, and songs that turn history, poetry and cult TV into thundering epics. Leading the new wave of British heavy metal out of East London's pubs, they paired speed and aggression with prog's sense of scale.

Bruce Dickinson's air-raid-siren voice arrived on The Number of the Beast, home to 'Run to the Hills' and 'Hallowed Be Thy Name'. Piece of Mind charged into the Crimean War with 'The Trooper', and Powerslave closed with a 13-minute retelling of Coleridge's 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'.

Their zombie mascot Eddie glared from every cover. After a 90s detour with Blaze Bayley, Dickinson and guitarist Adrian Smith returned for Brave New World. The singer later flew them around the world in their chartered jet, Ed Force One, and they kept making sprawling records like Senjutsu.