By 1981, original Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Di'Anno was demonstrating increasingly self-destructive behaviour, particularly due to his drug usage. With his performances waning, Di'Anno was immediately dismissed following the Killer World Tour at which point the band had already selected his replacement. After a meeting with Rod Smallwood at the Reading Festival, Bruce Dickinson, previously of Samson, auditioned for Iron Maiden in September 1981 and was immediately hired. The following month, Dickinson went out on the road with the band on a small headlining tour in Italy, as well as a one-off show at the Rainbow Theatre in the UK. For the last show, and in anticipation of their forthcoming album, the band played "Children of the Damned" and "22 Acacia Avenue", introducing fans to the sound towards which they were progressing. • In 1982, Iron Maiden released their third studio album, The Number of the Beast. This became their first UK Albums Chart No. 1 record, and was a Top Ten hit in many other countries, and reached No. 33 on the Billboard 200. At the time, Dickinson was in the midst of legal difficulties with Samson's management, and was not permitted to add his name to any of the song writing credits, although he still made what he described as a "moral contribution" to "Children of the Damned", "The Prisoner" and "Run to the Hills". For the second time the band embarked on a world tour, dubbed The Beast on the Road, during which they visited North America, Japan, Australia, and Europe, including a headline appearance for 40,000 people at the Reading Festival. Iron Maiden played 188 shows in 10 months. The Beast on the Road's US leg proved controversial when an American conservative political lobbying group claimed that Iron Maiden were Satanic because of the new album's title track and demonic cover art. The band played over 100 dates in North America supporting Scorpions, Judas Priest and Rainbow. Iron Maiden headlined some Canadian dates, New York, Chicago free show and the other soloed stops. • One of the band’s finest shows of this tour was their gig at New York’s Palladium on July 29th ’82, a stunning concert which really put Maiden on the map in the US. Recorded for live FM broadc
