Virus (song)

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“Virus”
“Virus” cover
Single by Iron Maiden
from the album The Best of the Beast
B-side "My Generation"
"Doctor Doctor"
"Prowler"
"Invasion"
"Sanctuary"
"Wrathchild"
Released August 2, 1996
Recorded Summer 1996
Genre Heavy metal
Length 12:32
Label EMI
Iron Maiden singles chronology
"Lord of the Flies"
(1996)		 "Virus"
(1996)		 "The Angel and the Gambler"
(1998)
Alternate cover
Alternative cover
Alternative cover
Alternate cover
Short Verson cover
Short Verson cover

"Virus" is a single from Iron Maiden, released in 1996. It is the first single since 1980's "Women in Uniform" 'that does not appear on any official Iron Maiden studio album. It was, however, featured as a brand new track on the band's first ever career retrospective — 1996's double-disc The Best of the Beast. It has yet to be performed in Iron Maiden concerts featuring Bruce Dickinson on vocals.

In order to celebrate the band's 21 years, the single was released in three different formats. The first format features the same B-sides as the Lord of the Flies single from 1996, which included covers from The Who and UFO. The second features songs from the 1979 compilation album Metal for Muthas, which marks the only studio recordings to feature former guitarist Tony Parsons. The third features two songs from Maiden's legendary 1978 demo recordings, The Soundhouse Tapes.

Post-rock group Godspeed You! Black Emperor released a track called BBF3 on their Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada EP which features a sample of a man called Blaise Bailey Finnegan III reciting a poem that he claims to be his own. The poem is in fact the lyrics from Virus that the man plagiarised. The band claimed they didn't realise he was reciting someone else's work until after the EP had been released.

It is the only Iron Maiden song to be credited to both of the band's guitarists.

Contents

[edit] Track listing

[edit] CD 1

  1. "Virus (Short Version)" (Blaze Bayley, Dave Murray, Janick Gers, Steve Harris) - 3:54
  2. "My Generation" (The Who cover) - 3:38
  3. "Doctor Doctor" (UFO cover) - 4:50

[edit] CD 2

  1. "Virus" (Blaze Bayley, Dave Murray, Janick Gers, Steve Harris) - 6:14
  2. "Sanctuary" (from the 1979 compilation album Metal for Muthas) - 3:34
  3. "Wrathchild" (from the 1979 compilation album Metal for Muthas) - 3:07

[edit] 12" disc

  1. "Virus" (Blaze Bayley, Dave Murray, Janick Gers, Steve Harris) - 6:14
  2. "Prowler" (from the 1978 demo The Soundhouse Tapes) - 4:20
  3. "Invasion" (from the 1978 demo The Soundhouse Tapes) - 3:07

[edit] Promotional CD for radio stations

  1. "Virus" - 3:53
  2. "Man on the Edge" - 4:11
  3. "Afraid to Shoot Strangers (Live) - 6:48
  4. "2 Minutes to Midnight" - 6:02
  5. "The Trooper" - 4:13
  6. "The Number of the Beast" - 4:52
  7. "Wrathchild" - 2:54
  8. "Strange World" - 5:22
  9. "Iron Maiden" - 4:01

[edit] Credits

"Virus", "My Generation", "Doctor Doctor"

"Prowler", "Invasion"

"Sanctuary", "Wrathchild"

[edit] External links

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Iron Maiden' singles discography
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See: List of Iron Maiden band members for detailed band member history
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