What songs have you heard that their reputation preceeds them and hearing them the first time...They're not bad at all, but you can't help wonder what the big deal is. Some of mine I've come across:

Judas Priest - "You've Got Another Thing Comin'"

Seriously...GOOD song, but I don't get how this can upstage Electric Eye on "Screaming for Vengeance". Or hardly anything in their discography or the discographies of the individual Priest members. And it's one of their most recognizable songs? AND VH1 listed it in their top 10 as one of the greatest metal songs of all time (#5, IIRC)? Am I missing something here?

Iron Maiden - "Flight of Icarus"

Listenable, but...Am I missing something when this comes on? It's always mentioned as a classic and one of the best songs on "Piece of Mind", but I find it really boring and drags on. And "Piece of Mind" is one of my favorite albums, so...

Velvet Revolver - "Slither"

Catchy riff and listenable, but this song doesn't really seem to have a point or anything to make it stand out. VR has a number of good/great songs...I find it odd this is normally exhibit A for them, while my beloved "Sucker Train Blues" (which is practically loaded with hooks) is normally left out in the cold when handing out props.

Your examples?

The one that immediately comes to mind is Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough". I love DM, even their earlier, poppy  style, but the fame of this song just boggles my mind. Its really bad.

The Cure's "Boys Don't Cry" go here as well, but its not as bad.

I thought that one was pretty good. Not among their best, but still good. The album (Piece of Mind) is very good too, albeit a little uneven (I never listen to the last 3 songs).

The Maiden song that really has me asking "What's the big deal about this song?" is "Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter". I just find it boring and mediocre, and can you believe that this is the only IM single ever to reach #1 in the UK charts? Incredible. The album (No Prayer For the Dying) is also pretty disappointing, their worst after Fear of the Dark.

I hate you. >_<

Nah, the damn Blaze Bayley albums are their worst for me (I've made peace with Di'Anno somewhat)...But yeah, I like Fear of the Dark, but I'd put it second-to-last of the Dickinson albums (never got into Somewhere In Time). It has more clunkers than your average Maiden album (although my favorite song off it is one of their most hated...No one seems to like "Be Quick or Be Dead"), but I read that was more due to the CD format catching on and wanting to fill more space than a cassette.

But wow...I never would've figured "Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter" as anything resembling a hit. It's probably about the same level as "You've Got Another Thing Comin'"...Good, but the band has done SO much better. "Run to the Hills" is what most casual radio-listeners know when I talk about Maiden...Good song, great song even, but compared to some of the rest of "Number of the Beast"...Nah.

As far as Bayley goes, I really like The X Factor, one of their best, IMO. The dark style of the album is mind-blowing. Virtual XI isn't that good, though I'd still put it above No Prayer... and Fear... . As for Di'Anno - love all the stuff with him. His presence gave Maiden a punkier sound that really fit them in the beginning. As for putting Fear... over Somewhere In Time, that's just crazy. Every track on SIT is rock-solid, with the possible exception of "Deja Vu".

No Prayer... and Fear... are my least favourite IM albums because I think they contain so much filler, especially the latter. I love "Be Quick or Be Dead", and there's 3 or 4 other great tracks on there, the rest is just blah. You can really feel Dickinson getting tired of the band in this album, he just sounds weird. Tracks like "The Fugitive" or "The Apparition" are just really bad when compared with their glory moments from the 80s.

To my great surprise, though, my favourite IM albums have become the ones from the 2000s! I really think this band has come back with a vengeance, and the 3 albums since Dickinson's return are all GOLD.

Brave New World, definitely...I can almost make an argument for that one being #2, after Number and tied with Seventh Son (although I can work Powerslave in there based on the first two tracks alone as well). Dance of Death and Matter of Life and Death definitely have their moments, but some songs just DRAG on them. Dance has grown on me over the past year (I just remember Paschendale and Montsegur as the pair with the funny names that needed time to grow on me...The title track is epic though), but the jury's still out on Life and Death, past "Different World" and "These Colors Don't Run". It doesn't stick like it should.

Dickinson was probably the first vocalist of any kind I was ever really impressed with. Didn't know what to make of him at first, but I warmed up to him pretty quick. Overall, I definitely prefer Halford nowadays (and Tipton/Downing to Murray/Smith), but I still love Bruce and I definitely prefer Maiden's songwriting, a few exceptions aside (Metal Meltdown isn't anything that takes brains to write, but damn it sounds good coming out!).

"Dance of Death" on the whole was pretty weak IMO but "A Matter of Life and Death" is my favorite Maiden record of all-time.  Another must is "Rock in Rio" which has an epic Dickinson version of "Sign of the Cross".

That's kind of what I like about them, since I find the song-writing so tight, its just a pleasure that the songs drag out a bit - it gives you more time to enjoy the riffs. As for their rank, I think of them as a rising trilogy, with Brave New World being the weakest (although still awesome, but I just can't stand "Dream of Mirrors", and since that one takes up 9 minutes in the middle of the album, it really hurts it in comparison with the others), and A Matter of Life and Death the strongest. I agree with Nemo, A Matter... is the best Maiden album, the quality really surprised me when it first came out. I hope they still have it in them to crank out a 15th album that will even surpass that one, though!

EDIT: I also want to agree with the praise of Bruce Dickinson. Awesome vocalist!

I find a contradiction in your argument.

The thing is, The X Factor didn't set out to "rawk". Its without doubt Maiden's darkest and most depressing album, owing in part to band leader Steve Harris' depression at the time (see the trivia section). The mood it set out to create it succeeded in evoking brilliantly, and it has a unique place in Maiden's discography (that many fans unfortunately seem to not get). Tracks like "The Aftermath" and "Edge of Darkness" create a mood thats pretty hard to achieve in the confines of the genre, and sometimes Blaze's voice was even an advantage (not on Virtual XI, though!).

The Rockman arrange CD, on the other hand, decidedly failed in arranging old-school 8-bit Megaman goodness into blazing metal. The quality of the music on that album, IMO, is about the same as the average rock OC Remix (meaning pretty lukewarm). It was a mistake to include the original versions at the end - it only showed how lacking the overall result was. That they messed up Metalman - arguably the best stage theme in the series, and a composition practically made for the metal genre - is unforgivable.

Just my two euro cents.

EDIT: Sorry, I meant "Fortunes of War", not "The Aftermath", above.

Fair enough. I was just giving you a hard time because I never really enjoyed X-Factor (lovingly referred to in my circle of friends as "Ass Sphincter"). I knew that Maiden wasn't trying to rock out, but it just didn't click with me; not as a metal CD, just as, well... a CD.

Speaking of Virtual XI, I found that CD to be hilarious. Just... no. The soccer picture on the inside was hilarious. The music was hilarious. Basically, it was Maiden's equivalent to a B-Movie: so good, but for all the wrong reasons.

Agreed. But even when Maiden are "B", they're still fairly good. The artwork, lyrics, and Blaze's vocal performance were just bad at best and crap at worst on VXI, but some of the underlying music was still good, which is why I find it passable. "The Angel and the Gambler" is horrendous in every way, though. Can't believe they released that one as a single...