2 Minutes to Midnight

"2 Minutes to Midnight" is the second track from British heavy metal band Iron Maiden's fifth album Powerslave. It was released as the band's tenth single on 6 August 1984 and rose to number 11 in the UK Singles Chart and number 25 on Billboard Top Album Tracks.

The song was written by Adrian Smith and Bruce Dickinson.

The song has references to the Doomsday Clock, the symbolic clock used by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In September 1953 the clock reached 23:58, the closest the clock ever got to midnight. This occurred when the United States and Soviet Union tested H-bombs within nine months of one another.

The first guitar solo is played by Dave Murray followed by a guitar solo played by Adrian Smith.

The first B-side is a cover of British progressive rock band Beckett's "Rainbow's Gold".

Another B-side, titled "Mission from 'Arry", is a recording of an argument between bassist Steve Harris and drummer Nicko McBrain. The argument happened after a show in Allentown, Pennsylvania during the band's World Piece Tour, and occurred due to a misunderstanding on stage between the two due to technical issues with Harris' bass, which had led to McBrain's drum solo going wrong. Vocalist Bruce Dickinson was recording the argument with a concealed tape recorder. Because Harris' bass was not working, he asked the closest man he could find - a light rigger - to tell McBrain to extend the solo. Rather than following proper procedure, the man started shouting to McBrain, which allegedly caused the drummer to ruin his solo. An angry McBrain had a confrontation with the man (it is unclear if anything physical happened) that Harris felt was unnecessary. Allegedly the argument had calmed down before Dickinson started recording it and riled the two men up again by asking Nicko what he would have wanted the man to do had he been trying to tell him that the lighting truss above his drum kit was about to fall down, to which he replied "Well, I guess someone would've had to pull me out the fucking way or else I'm dead!". The recording ends when the tape recorder was found. The last sound is of Harris saying "Some cunt's recording this". It was said that, after the tape recorder was found - and quickly turned off - the tape was rewound and played back, causing all of the men involved to "sit around and had a good laugh".

The video of the song, 2 Minutes to Midnight, is featured on the 2003 video collection Visions of the Beast. On the bonus disc of the 2008 DVD release of Live After Death, Bruce Dickinson said of the scene in the video of the soldiers in the apartment, "They came to us with the location and said, 'We've got the perfect location. It's this dingy, grotty East End tenement on the Isle of Dogs. It's all boarded up and there's cat piss everywhere and it's just really foul'. And I looked at this thing and I'm like 'That's Roffy House, on the Isle of Dogs. I used to live there!'"

Appearances

• It was covered in 2008 by Glamour of the Kill on the tribute CD Maiden Heaven: A Tribute to Iron Maiden released by Kerrang! magazine.
• It was covered in 2005 by all-female tribute band The Iron Maidens on their self-titled debut album.
• It is playable track in 2009 music video game Guitar Hero 5, but is heavily censored.
• It is downloadable content for Rock Band console games.
• It is featured in 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the in-game radio station V-Rock.

Track listing

1. "2 Minutes to Midnight" (Adrian Smith, Bruce Dickinson) – 6:04
2. "Rainbow's Gold" (Beckett cover) – 4:57
3. "Mission from 'Arry" (Steve Harris, Nicko McBrain) – 6:43

Personnel

• Bruce Dickinson - vocals
• Dave Murray - guitar
• Adrian Smith - guitar, backing vocals
• Steve Harris - bass guitar, backing vocals
• Nicko McBrain - drums

Chart Performance

Notes

1. ^ Re-release of both singles as part of "The First Ten Years" box set. Exceeded the length limit of the UK Singles chart.

References