Iron Maiden was the first truly metal band I ever saw live (although Anvil opened for them so I guess technically the first metal band I ever saw live was Anvil). I liked Iron Maiden for the same reason I like Judas Priest--because they made it cool to be both intelligent and a metalhead. People tend to overlook the fact that the metal bands from the 'eighties that stuck around and kept their audiences were the ones who didn't make it a habit of insulting their fans' intelligence and glorifying stupidity in both their music and their behaviour.
