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Iron Maiden – To Tame A Land

“To Tame a Land is the closing track on Iron Maiden’s fourth studio album, Piece of Mind.

It was inspired by the classic science fiction novel Dune by Frank Herbert. However, when Steve Harris requested permission from the author to name the song “Dune” and to use a spoken quotation as the track’s intro, his request was met with a stern reply from Frank Herbert’s agent: “No. Because Frank Herbert doesn’t like rock bands, particularly heavy rock bands, and especially rock bands like Iron Maiden”. This statement was backed up with a legal threat, and eventually the song was renamed “To Tame a Land” and released in 1983.”

  1. nigel on August 28th, 2009

    Funny story about ‘Dune’ – after being rejected by numerous publishers, over and over again, Frank Herbert finally found support from the publishing house Chilton’s, of the famed automotive maintenance and repair manuals!
    I guess somebody at Chilton’s was a nerd – raise a glass in toast to this unsung hero, for their role in birthing what is perhaps the greatest sci-fi novel of all time.

  2. Maxwell on August 28th, 2009

    you mean, novels!

    Children of Dune is so rich! Just started reading God Emperor…

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