FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…
On October 27, 1980, Iron Maiden released the single Women in Uniform via EMI Records. The B-side of the single was the song Invasion, which was originally released on the bands debut 1979 EP, The Soundhouse Tapes.
Iron Maiden's cover version of Women in Uniform was the band's third single and their last recorded work with guitarist Dennis Stratton. It was released in order to promote the second British leg of their Iron Maiden Tour. The song was also included on the Australian edition of their second album, Killers, as it was originally a No. 8 hit in Australia for the band Skyhooks in 1978. In 1990, the 12" version was reissued on CD and 12" vinyl as part of The First Ten Years box set, in which it was combined with their following single, Twilight Zone.
The idea to cover the song was suggested by the band's publishing company, Zomba, who arranged studio time at Battery Studios with AC/DC producer Tony Platt. Although sceptical at first about recording a song that was so different from the band's style, the bass guitarist, Steve Harris, conceded when Platt was hired, surmising that "as he worked with AC/DC and that, I thought, 'Oh, you know, fine. He's not gonna pull us in any commercial direction." After trying to create their own "heavy" version of the song, to Harris' dismay he found out that Platt, with help from Stratton, had been tampering with the song's mix as he had been briefed by Zomba to "try and get a hit single". As a result, Platt was dismissed and Harris remixed the track himself.
Although the intended mix was restored, the band has routinely mentioned their dislike of the single, with Harris vowing "never, ever, ever to allow anyone outside to fuck around with our music again". As a result, its only appearance on CD is as part of The First Ten Years series and a rare 1995 2CD issue of “Killers”, meaning that the song does not appear remastered. However, its B-Side, Invasion, appears remastered on the Best of the 'B' Sides compilation.
Women in Uniform was also the basis of the band's first music-video, directed by Doug Smith and filmed at the Rainbow Theatre. Considered an unusual project for a band to undertake in the years before MTV, the filming was Stratton's last contribution for the band.
The single's cover has an image of Margaret Thatcher with a Sterling submachine gun, preparing to attack the group's mascot, Eddie, as he walks the streets with two young women. According to the band, the cover was a joke which was meant to ask whether her motive was through jealousy or revenge (following the infamous Sanctuary artwork that showed Eddie killing Thatcher), which managed to cause further controversy as, according to the Liverpool Daily Post, a group of "screaming, chanting, banner-carrying feminists" led a demonstration during Iron Maiden's show at Leeds University on November 22, 1980.
The song is one of only five Iron Maiden songs to fade out, the others being Stranger in a Strange Land from Somewhere in Time, The Prophecy from Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, Hell on Earth from Senjutsu, and Kill Me Ce Soir, a cover version of a Golden Earring song that was released as the B-side to the Holy Smoke single in 1990. The German 12" release of the single included a live version of Drifter (from the Sanctuary single) instead of Invasion and had a different cover, a cropped version of the band's Iron Maiden album artwork.
Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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