tually, if you ask people’s permission they will just say ‘no’ – so fuck ’em. I wanted to paint pictures, so I just did it.” Lurking in his portfolio was a painting that would all but
define Riggs’ career. Spotted by the management of a fledg- ling heavy metal outfit from East London known as Iron Maiden, Riggs’ ghoulish creation, Eddie (adapted from a bald illustration named Electric Matthew, which was tragically lost or destroyed at the printers in the late ’70s) would become the most famous mascot in heavy metal after it appeared on the band’s 1980 debut. Contracted to work for Iron Maiden for more than a decade, Riggs created all of the band’s best and most iconic covers, each rendered in obsessive detail using an astonishing diversity of media and styles, from the violent acrylic painting of Killers (1981) to the digitally ren- dered utopian future of Brave New World (2000), and carried over to all manner of T-shirts, silk flags, patches and other band-related merchandise. “Well, I never really settled on a style,” admits Riggs. “I
don’t really know why it shifts around the way it does. Some- times it looks ‘hardcore horror’ and other times it looks al- most cartoonish. Sometimes it’s definitely because I don’t have enough time to put the work in to make it look really good. Maybe I have a split personality and only one of us can paint.” The artist’s lack of adherence to one style is mirrored in
the shape-shifting Eddie; over the years Riggs has re-imag- ined the character in a bewildering variety of guises, including the Phantom of the Opera, a lobotomized inmate, an Egyptian pharaoh and a killer cyborg. But as far as the band itself hav- ing a collective contribution to such imagery, it’s certainly not as far reaching as many believe. “They had no input for the first two album covers,” Riggs
attests. “The third [The Number of the Beast] and the singles were done only vaguely in the direction of the song titles. The fourth [Piece of Mind] was mostly [bassist and Iron Maiden founder] Steve Harris’ idea. After that, it’s a bit up for grabs. Sometimes the manager would chirp in with an idea. Most of the time I would ignore what he said and do what I wanted anyway.” However, being the in-house illustrator for one of the most successful heavy metal acts in the world (according to iron-
Eddie Unbound: (from top) Iron Maiden’s mascot on the cover of The Number of the Beast album, as a mummy for a Pow- erslave tour T-shirt design, and (inset) battling the Devil on the cover of the “Run to the Hills” single.
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