It was English band Iron Maiden’s ‘Alexander the Great‘ that was playing on this week’s episode of Slow Horses as Roddy is sitting in his car at a lay-by singing along, and sees an SUV drive by — Slow Horses, Season 3, Episode 5, “Cleaning Up“.
The heavy metal song is one of three tracks from iconic European artists featured on the episode, alongside Mick Jagger’s opening theme ‘Strange Game‘ and Swedish pop rock duo Roxette’s ‘Listen to Your Heart’.
When was Iron Maiden’s ‘Alexander the Great‘ released?
The heavy metal track is one of the English band’s older and less well-known songs, but not one that is any less memorable.
‘Alexander the Great‘ was recorded for and released on the band’s sixth studio album Somewhere in Time, which came out on the EMI and Capitol Records labels in September, 1986.
Two singles were released from the album at the time, ‘Alexander the Great‘ not being one of them. Singles that helped Somewhere in Time rocket to #3 on the UK Albums chart, and to #11 on the U.S. Billboard 200.
Elsewhere, the album also charted high in 12 other countries, including at #1 in Finland, #2 in the Netherlands and at #5 in New Zealand.
The album itself sounded markedly different than the band’s prior releases due to them having just come off a brutal world tour, and thus taking several months off during which time the band members experimented with their sound by using equipment they hadn’t used before.
Somewhere in Time, with its heavy use of guitar synthesizers, was the result.
Has Iron Maiden’s ‘Alexander the Great‘ been played live?
Interestingly too, in the almost 40 years after its release, Iron Maiden never once played ‘Alexander the Great’ live.
That ended during their concert in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 28 May 2023, when the heavy metal band finally performed the track live, much to the delight of fans.
You can listen to Iron Maiden’s ‘Alexander the Great‘ from this week’s Slow Horses via their Somewhere in Time album on Spotify down below, along with the remastered version in the video.