Airline forced to remove Iron Maiden logo from airplane due to it possibly being “tainted by the evil spirits”. Possibly? For sure!

Iron Maiden wear their occult leanings on their sleeve: album covers, song titles and content… And who knows what you get by reversing those harmonized lead guitars!

Some time ago the band started utilizing custom-painted touring airplane, aptly named “Ed Force One”, for long-distance touring and fan-pleasing attractions. When off-duty, the owner airline inserted the craft into their normal schedule. No wonder it encountered some major problems in an unnamed country in Africa:
“The striking Iron Maiden imagery had a violent reaction from the locals as they regarded the artwork, particularly that of Eddie, as very bad ju ju. Not only would local passengers refuse to board the plane because of the artwork, but other passengers were refusing to board planes of other airlines parked nearby in case they were tainted by the evil spirits!” (Source)

In the end, the airline decided to strip the airplane from all the upsetting imagery.

But what’s the REAL story behind this all?

There’s nothing innocent when it comes to mass-media, advertising, music business and PR. The “Ed Force One” was EXACTLY what it was supposed to be: a magical artifact, a tool to impose world-wide domination and coverage for the band, on both a mundane and mystical scale. Of course, we all know that there is no real difference between those two fields…

So the first part of the case is clear.

But was it really the over-sensitive undefined African public reaction that eventually led to the removal of the paintings? Possible.

Or maybe it was the workings of another music giant? Judas Priest might be a good suspect… or any of those nu school modern bands whose management or members dabble in arts darker than heavy riffing.

Or… Iron Maiden themselves decided to remove the paintings upon learning the REAL power it held. The musicians have been fighting against EDDIE, their mascot, their own creation for a long-long time, bartering with the demon, always on the edge, and now this masochistic iconoclasm was the next step in their on-going power struggle…

“The killer’s breed or the demon’s seed,
The glamor, the fortune, the pain,
Go to war again, blood is freedom’s stain,
But don’t you pray for my soul anymore.”
Iron Maiden – 2 Minutes to Midnight