“Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Iron Maiden

"Murders in the Rue Morgue" is pure Steve Harris, words and music, which was the rule rather than the exception on Killers, Iron Maiden's second album: only two of its songs carry anyone else's name. EMI released the record in Britain in February 1981, with Harvest and Capitol handling it in America that May.

Paul Di'Anno sings it, on what turned out to be his last album with the band before they fired him. Adrian Smith, making his debut, and Dave Murray play the electric guitars, Harris is on bass and Clive Burr on drums. Martin Birch produced and engineered, with Nigel Hewitt as additional engineer. It was Birch's first time working with Maiden, and he stayed in the producer's chair for the eight albums that followed, all the way to Fear of the Dark in 1992.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.