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"The Trooper" is a song by the English heavy metal band
Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...
. It was released as the second single on 20 June 1983 from the band's fourth
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
, ''
Piece of Mind ''Piece of Mind'' is the fourth studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released on 16 May 1983 in the United Kingdom by EMI Records and in the United States by Capitol Records. It was the first album to feature drummer Ni ...
'' (1983). It was one of only a few songs to get much radio airplay in the United States, thus peaking at No. 28 on the US Mainstream Rock charts. It also achieved success in the United Kingdom, peaking at No. 12 in the UK Singles Charts as well as gaining a much better reception than the band's previous single, "
Flight of Icarus "Flight of Icarus" is a song by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was their eighth single, the first from their fourth studio album, ''Piece of Mind'' (1983), and their first in the United States, where it was one of their few with sub ...
". A live version of the song, from ''
Death on the Road ''Death on the Road'' is a live album and video released by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden on 29 August 2005 on CD and vinyl, and on 6 February 2006 on DVD. The album was recorded at Westfalenhallen in Dortmund, Germany on 24 November 200 ...
'', was issued in 2005.


Overview

Written by bassist and founding-member Steve Harris, the song is based on the
Charge of the Light Brigade The Charge of the Light Brigade was a failed military action involving the British light cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. Lord Raglan had intended to se ...
at the Battle of Balaclava 1854, which took place during the
Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
, and inspired by Lord Tennyson's 1854 poem of the same name. The track has been the subject of much praise since its release, with
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
describing it as "an all-time genre classic that boasts guitarists Dave Murray and Adrian Smith's most memorable harmonized lead riff, plus that trademark galloping rhythm," while
Mick Wall Mick Wall (born 23 June 1958) is a British music journalist, author, and radio and TV presenter. He has been described as "the world's leading rock and metal writer". Career Wall began his career contributing to the music weekly ''Sounds'' in 19 ...
comments that it is the song "which most Maiden fans from those days still recall first when you mention the ''Piece of Mind'' album." Despite the popularity of the song, it was the single's B-Side, a cover of Jethro Tull's "
Cross-Eyed Mary "Cross-Eyed Mary" is a song by the British progressive rock band Jethro Tull from their album '' Aqualung'' (1971). The song is about "Cross-Eyed Mary", a schoolgirl prostitute who prefers the company of "leching greys" over her schoolmates. ...
", which managed to gain a substantial amount of airplay on US radio, becoming one of the band's few tracks, along with previous single "
Flight of Icarus "Flight of Icarus" is a song by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was their eighth single, the first from their fourth studio album, ''Piece of Mind'' (1983), and their first in the United States, where it was one of their few with sub ...
", to do so. The single's accompanying music video included clips of a cavalry battle from the 1936 film ''
The Charge of the Light Brigade The Charge of the Light Brigade was a failed military action involving the British light cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. Lord Raglan had intended to s ...
'', starring
Errol Flynn Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia ...
and
Olivia de Havilland Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British-American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time. ...
, which the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
refused to play unedited, deeming the footage too violent. The band's manager,
Rod Smallwood Roderick Charles Smallwood (born 17 February 1950) is an English music manager, best known as the co-manager of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. With his business partner, Andy Taylor, whom he met while studying at Trinity College, C ...
, has since criticised the decision, stating, "Anyone would think we'd killed the horses ourselves instead of using an old Errol Flynn movie." In 2003, Iron Maiden released a Camp Chaos version for the song. The music video shows the never-before-seen clips of the band playing the song as well as the animated battle between
Eddie Eddie or Eddy may refer to: Science and technology *Eddy (fluid dynamics), the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid flows past an obstacle * Eddie (text editor), a text editor originally for BeOS and now ported to Lin ...
and politicians
Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...
and
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
to which Eddie ended the conflict in the video by killing both Bush, Gore and their team. The updated version came in 2008, this time, the two US politicians were replaced by Eddie's yellow skeleton allies and their red enemy skeletons. A regular fixture in the band's concerts, vocalist
Bruce Dickinson Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who has been the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 1981 to 1993 and 1999–present. He is known for his wide-ranging operatic vocal style and energetic stage ...
has always waved a
Union Flag The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...
during live performances and, more recently, has begun wearing an authentic red coat uniform which would have been worn during the battle on which the song was based. During a performance in Dublin in 2003, Dickinson's flag-waving reportedly received a large amount of booing from the Irish audience. While the band were receiving criticism from
Sharon Osbourne Sharon Rachel Osbourne (née Levy, later Arden; born 9 October 1952) is a British-American television personality, music manager and author. She is married to heavy metal singer-songwriter Ozzy Osbourne and came to prominence while appearing ...
in 2005, at the time justifying her attack on the band at the 2005
Ozzfest Ozzfest is an annual music festival tour of the United States and sometimes Europe and later Japan, featuring performances by many heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Sharon Osbourne and her husband Ozzy Osbourne, both ...
, she accused Iron Maiden of disrespecting American troops, then fighting alongside the British in
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
, for waving a Union Flag in the US, although ''
Classic Rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...
'' magazine supported the band by pointing out that the song's subject bore no relation to the military activity then taking place in the Middle East. On 15 August 2005, a live version of the song was released from the then upcoming live album, ''
Death on the Road ''Death on the Road'' is a live album and video released by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden on 29 August 2005 on CD and vinyl, and on 6 February 2006 on DVD. The album was recorded at Westfalenhallen in Dortmund, Germany on 24 November 200 ...
''. On 24 April 2016, during Iron Maiden's performance in
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
(their first in China), Dickinson did not bring out a flag while performing "The Trooper" as part of the request from the Chinese government to allow Iron Maiden to perform in the country. The flag was also omitted for a concert in
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
two days later.


In popular culture

The song has appeared in several Iron Maiden tribute albums, including ''A Call To Irons: A Tribute To Iron Maiden'', ''Numbers from the Beast'', ''A Tribute to the Beast'' and ''Maiden Heaven: A Tribute to Iron Maiden'', as well as on records by tribute bands such as
Maiden uniteD Maiden uniteD is an acoustic project. Musicians from different bands join together to play an all-acoustic tribute to English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The songs are played with new arrangements. About In 2006, Joey Bruers was asked to perfor ...
(on 2010's '' Mind the Acoustic Pieces'') and
The Iron Maidens The Iron Maidens are an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, formed in 2001 as an all-female tribute act to English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The band currently consists of drummer Linda McDonald, bassist Wanda Ortiz, lead vocalist ...
(on their 2006 self-titled debut album). In addition, the song has been released by Sentenced on ''
The Trooper "The Trooper" is a song by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released as the second single on 20 June 1983 from the band's fourth studio album, ''Piece of Mind'' (1983). It was one of only a few songs to get much radio airplay i ...
'' EP (1994), Rage on ''
End of All Days ''End of All Days'' is the twelfth studio album by the German heavy metal band Rage. Track listing Personnel Band members *Peter "Peavy" Wagner Peter "Peavy" Wagner (born 22 December 1964) is a German heavy metal musician best ...
'' (1996), Hellsongs on ''Hymns in the Key of 666'' (2008), Thumper on the ''Metalliska'' compilation, Highland Glory as a bonus track on '' Forever Endeavour'' (2005), Radio Cult on ''Grooves From The Grave'' (2008),
Stryper Stryper is an American Christian metal band from Orange County, California. The group's lineup consists of Michael Sweet (lead vocals, guitar), Oz Fox (guitar), Perry Richardson (bass guitar), and Robert Sweet (drums). Formed in 1983 as Roxx ...
on ''
The Covering ''The Covering'' is the thirteenth release and eighth studio album by American Christian heavy metal/hard rock band Stryper, released by Big 3 Records/Sony on February 15, 2011. The album is a collection of twelve cover songs from bands that ins ...
'',
Iced Earth Iced Earth is an American heavy metal band formed in Tampa, Florida and currently based in Columbus, Indiana. They were formed in 1984 under the name the Rose, then Purgatory, by guitarist and main songwriter Jon Schaffer and original drummer ...
on the "tour edition" of their 2011 album, ''
Dystopia A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
'', and
2Cellos 2CELLOS (stylized 2CΞLLOS) were a Croatian cellist duo, consisting of classically trained cellists Luka Šulić and Stjepan Hauser. Signed to Sony Masterworks since 2011, they released six albums. They played instrumental arrangements of well ...
on their 2015 album, ''
Celloverse ''Celloverse'' is the third studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
''. On top of this, the track has also been included in the ''
Guitar Hero 2 ''Guitar Hero II'' is a music rhythm video game developed by Harmonix and published by RedOctane for the PlayStation 2 and Activision for the Xbox 360. It is the second main installment in the ''Guitar Hero'' series and is the sequel to 2005's ...
'', ''
Carmageddon 2 ''Carmageddon II: Carpocalypse Now'' is a vehicular combat video game, the sequel to '' Carmageddon'', and released in 1998 for Microsoft Windows. The game was developed by Stainless Games and published by Sales Curve Interactive in Europe and In ...
'', '' Guitar Hero: Smash Hits'' and ''
Rock Band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...
'' video games, is mentioned in the novel ''
World War Z ''World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War'' is a 2006 zombie apocalyptic horror novel written by American author Max Brooks. The novel is broken into eight chapters: “Warnings”, “Blame”, “The Great Panic”, “Turning the Ti ...
'' by
Max Brooks Maximillian Michael Brooks (born May 22, 1972) is an American actor and author. He is the son of comedy filmmaker Mel Brooks and actress Anne Bancroft. Much of Brooks's writing focuses on zombie stories. He is a senior fellow at the Modern War ...
and is used as the opening theme for the documentary series ''
Metal Evolution ''Metal Evolution'' is a 2011 documentary series directed by anthropologist and filmmaker Sam Dunn and director, producer and music supervisor Scot McFadyen about heavy metal subgenres, with new episodes airing every Friday at 10 pm EST on Mu ...
''. Iron Maiden created a beer called " Trooper", named after the song.


Northern Ireland

During the course of
the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...
in
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
the image of
Eddie Eddie or Eddy may refer to: Science and technology *Eddy (fluid dynamics), the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid flows past an obstacle * Eddie (text editor), a text editor originally for BeOS and now ported to Lin ...
, as he appears on the sleeve of "The Trooper", became an unofficial mascot of the
Ulster Freedom Fighters The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of t ...
loyalist
paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...
group and was the main figure on a number of the group's
murals A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanish ...
. The loyalist representation frequently carried a tattered flag with the emblem of the
Ulster Defence Association The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and Timeline of Ulster Defence Association act ...
rather than the
Union Flag The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...
as on the Iron Maiden sleeve.


Track listings

;7" & 12" Single ;2005 Enhanced CD ;2005 7" Blue Vinyl ;2005 12" Picture Disc


Personnel

Production credits are adapted from the 7-inch vinyl cover. Iron Maiden *
Bruce Dickinson Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who has been the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 1981 to 1993 and 1999–present. He is known for his wide-ranging operatic vocal style and energetic stage ...
 – lead vocals * Dave Murray – guitar *
Adrian Smith Adrian Frederick "H" Smith (born 27 February 1957) is an English guitarist best known as a member of heavy metal band Iron Maiden, for whom he also writes songs and performs backing vocals both live and in the studio. Smith grew up in London ...
 – guitar * Steve Harris – bass guitar *
Nicko McBrain Michael Henry "Nicko" McBrain (born 5 June 1952) is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden since 1982. Having played in small pub bands since 1966 from the age of 14, McBrain paid his bills after grad ...
 – drums Production *
Martin Birch Martin Birch (27 December 19489 August 2020) was a British music producer and sound engineer. He became renowned for engineering and producing albums recorded predominantly by British rock bands, including Deep Purple, Rainbow, Fleetwood Mac, W ...
 – producer,
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
*
Derek Riggs Derek Riggs (born 13 February 1958) is a contemporary British artist best known for creating the band Iron Maiden's mascot, " Eddie". Career Born in Portsmouth, England, Riggs is a self-taught artist, both in his traditional painting and in hi ...
 – cover illustration


Charts


Notes


Certifications


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trooper, The 1983 singles 1983 songs 2005 singles Crimean War fiction Iron Maiden songs Number-one singles in Spain Songs about the military Songs written by Steve Harris (musician)