The X Factor
Studio album by Iron MaidenWikipedia
12
MENTIONS
7
EPISODES
6
PODCASTS
Search complete. 12 mentions across 7 episodes found for "The X Factor".
Oct 2, 2026
speaker_0HOST
Career-defining, music-defining, especially for the Britpop era.
speaker_0HOST
In 1995, Iron Maiden released The X Factor, which was their 10th studio album, hence X, Roman numeral for 10.
speaker_0HOST
And it was the first to feature singer Blaze Bailey, who replaced Bruce Dickinson for a time.
speaker_0HOST
Hit number eight on the UK albums chart, big songs off of it were Man on the Edge and Sign of the Cross.
Andy WilsonHOST
This is the cover that Hugh did for Iron Maiden.
Andy WilsonHOST
This was the X Factor album.
Andy WilsonHOST
Can you see that?
Ron ThalGUEST
Ah.
BradHOST
years.
BradHOST
Two off of the self-titled, three from Killers, three from Number of the Beast, one from Peace of Mind, four from Power Slave, one from Somewhere in Time, two from Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, zero from No Prayer for the Dying, one from Fear of the Dark, no songs from The X Factor through Senjutsu.
BradHOST
Let's see, 17 songs.
BradHOST
Guys, Steve, thoughts.
ErikHOST
So then we have Look for the Truth.
ErikHOST
It's kind of the X Factor vibe with the whole, you know, lone, clean guitar.
ErikHOST
Then comes acoustic bass.
ErikHOST
There's a lot of acoustic bass in this stuff.
JonathanHOST
Yeah, this is good.
JonathanHOST
There's nothing wrong with this.
JonathanHOST
I think Look for the Truth is my fave in the weeds of the X Factor.
JonathanHOST
Which one is your fave in the weeds of the X Factor? Because we've been through the weeds now.
Paul LacayoGUEST
But seeing it live, I think Sign of the Cross was still probably the best one of the Legacy show for me.
Paul LacayoGUEST
As for the X Factor version itself, I didn't hear Blaze's version until much later because I, like many of the other Maiden sheeple who just heard, "Oh, you don't wanna listen to those, those two albums," avoided X Factor and Virtual XI until, like, I had already heard everything else by Maiden up to that point.
Paul LacayoGUEST
I think it was pre-Final Frontier, so I was like, "All right.
Paul LacayoGUEST
Let me go see what these are about now." Um, and I thought at the time Vir- Virtual XI as a whole had more fun and energy, but having sat with X Factor for many years, used to be my least favorite, but I think it's definitely the biggest grower album for me, at least even more so than something like, something like Matter of Life and Death maybe, which did grow on me a little bit as well.
8 MINS LATER
JonathanHOST
Traditional style.
Erik ArköGUEST
Yeah.
JonathanHOST
It would've been cool, like, having the album be The X Factor, and then, like, no peaks in.
Erik ArköGUEST
No pe- yeah
Ed BiggsHOST
If you remember, we heard Blaze Bailey singing with Iron Maiden, which was the first time we heard from them in 1995.
Ed BiggsHOST
There was a track called Man on the Edge that got to number 10 from their album called The X Factor.
Ed BiggsHOST
That was his debut as a singer for Iron Maiden.
Ed BiggsHOST
Let's start with you.
MichaelHOST
Lord of the Flies
DanHOST
... from The X Factor.
DanHOST
Uh, is the next one gonna be higher or lower? Make your decision now, please.
DanHOST
[upbeat music] Judas Be My Guide from Fear of the Dark.