9. Where does the mascot's name, EDDIE, come from? (Iron Maiden)
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This article is from the Iron Maiden FAQ, by Vartan Narinian vsn@pobox.com and Steve Payne Sirpapa@aol.com with numerous contributions by others.
9. Where does the mascot's name, EDDIE, come from? (Iron Maiden)
The original Eddie was just this theatrical mask. You can kind of see it in
the band photos on the first album and on the "Running Free" single picture
sleeve. It's a face right next to the band logo.It was connected to a pump
that would spurt out various kinds of liquids and it would drool all over
Doug Sampson or Clive Burr or whoever was at the drums that time. People
would also try to sling stuff into it. Its full name was "Eddie The Head"
(Edward T.H. on the Live After Death cover) and it comes from the following
old joke:
Eddie was born with no body and no arms and no legs. Just a head. But despite
this slight birth defect his parents loved him very much cared for him and
were always giving him all these presents like hats and blow things at
parties and other cool stuff. So on his sixteenth birthday they run into a
doctor that says "Hey, I can give Eddie a body" so the parents are going
totally nuts because finally their kid can have a body and be like other
normal people. They go home and are really excited and say "Have we got a
surprise for you. It's the best present ever!" and Eddie says "Oh, no, not
another fucking hat!"
They gave the name "Eddie" to that mask. By the time of them being signed to
EMI Records, they got Derek Riggs to do cover artwork. The first was the cover
to the "Running Free" single, and you see that zombie in the back missing an
arm (which somehow is in front of a guy who looks a lot like Bruce Dickinson
running away from that zombie). The band liked the zombie guy so much that the
name Eddie was transferred over to the zombie when they lost that mask with
the pump.
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