“Wildest Dreams” by Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden lit the fuse on Dance of Death, their 13th studio album, with "Wildest Dreams", which EMI issued as the lead single on 1 September 2003. Steve Harris and Adrian Smith wrote it, and it's heavy metal in full cry, with Bruce Dickinson out front, Smith, Dave Murray and Janick Gers lined up three guitars wide, Smith taking the solo, and Harris and Nicko McBrain driving the bottom end. Kevin Shirley produced, recorded and mixed it, with Harris as co-producer.

The band were playing it live before the album was even out. The single broke new ground for Maiden as their first DVD single, issued at the same time as the CD, which carried an improvised jam from the album sessions. The animated video sends the band driving across a barren planet and straight into the mouth of Eddie, in the same guise he wears on the CD single's cover.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.