Iron Maiden - Running Free - Live In the TOTP Studio - Thursday 21st February 1980

It’s February of 1980. Punk has faded badly. It’s trying – and generally failing – to catch a second wind. The top end of the UK singles charts is a mess, featuring country veteran Kenny Rogers’ Coward of The County on the one hand, and The Nolans’ I’m In The Mood For Dancing on the other.  Away from the purile pop and cheese that infested the charts, something was stirring and on Thursday 21st February 1980, a ‘new’ band appeared on ‘Top Of The Pops’ for the very first time, tearing the musical landscape to pieces and leaving it forever Metal. East Londoners Iron Maiden are leading the NWOBHM charge. After an independently released EP, The Soundhouse Tapes, has caused an underground buzz, the band have signed to major label EMI, promising real undiluted metal and absolutely, definitely no sell-out. Maiden’s latest single, Running Free – a mash-up of super-charged Thin Lizzy riffs, surprisingly punky vocals and an insistent drum beat that (whisper it) might just have been nicked from Ad