"Wasted Years" is a song by the English heavy metal band

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...

. It is the band's fourteenth single released and the first from their sixth studio album, '' Somewhere in Time'' (1986). Released in 1986, it was the first single solely written by guitarist

Adrian Smith Adrian Smith may refer to: * Adrian Smith (basketball) (born 1936), American basketball player *Adrian Smith (architect) (born 1944), American architect *Sir Adrian Smith (statistician) (born 1946), English statistician and academic *Adrian Smith (m ...

, who also sings backing vocals. The song reached number 18 in the UK Singles Charts, as well as the top 10 in Finland and the Netherlands' Single Top 100.

Synopsis

The song deals with subject of homesickness and alienation, as well as the negative aspects of the band's nearly year long previous tour and personal problems that Smith and other band members were going through in that period. The cover depicts the band mascot Eddie's point of view as he flies a time machine. Only a part of Eddie's face is seen, as a reflection in a screen. According to artist

Derek Riggs Derek Riggs (born 13 February 1958) is a contemporary British artist best known for creating the band Iron Maiden's mascot, "Eddie (mascot), Eddie". Career Born in Portsmouth, England, Riggs is a self-taught artist, both in his traditional pai ...

, this is because the band did not want to reveal the mascot in his new cyborg guise until the album was released a few weeks later. As with the '' Somewhere in Time'' album sleeve, the single cover also features the

TARDIS The TARDIS (; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space") is a fictional hybrid of a time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its various spin-offs. While a TARDI ...

from the BBC series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

''. Riggs describes the illustration as "a duffer. It's a technical illustration of a keyboard of a time machine, with Eddie reflected in the window, because it was the only thing we could think of that wouldn't give Eddie away".

Live performances

Adrian Smith has performed the song live with his bands Psycho Motel and Smith/Kotzen, performing the lead vocals himself.

Track listing

;7" single ;12" single

Cover performances

American singer-songwriter

Ryan Adams David Ryan Adams (born November 5, 1974) is an American Rock music, rock and Country music, country singer-songwriter. He has released 30 studio albums and three as a former member of Whiskeytown. In 2000, Adams left Whiskeytown and released ...

covered "Wasted Years" in 2013 for the soundtrack to the sixth season of the television series ''Californication''. The cover received a negative review from ''Spin'', which called it "neutered" and said "the alt-folk champ’s vocal performance is as maudlin as the lyrics are now revealed to be, liberated as they are from their original badass trappings."

Personnel

Production credits are adapted from the 7-inch vinyl cover.

Iron Maiden

Bruce Dickinson Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who is best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Dickinson has performed in the band across two stints, from 1981 to 1993 and from 1999 to the present d ...

– lead vocals; backing vocals on "Reach Out" *

– guitar, backing vocals; lead vocals on "Reach Out" * Dave Murray – guitar * Steve Harris – bass * Nicko McBrain – drums

Production

Martin Birch Martin Phillip Birch (27 December 19489 August 2020) was a British music producer and sound engineer. He became renowned for engineering and producing albums recorded predominantly by British rock and metal bands, including Deep Purple, Rainbow ...

– producer, engineer, mixing *

– cover illustration *

Aaron Rapoport Aaron Rapoport (born May 22, 1954) is an American photographer, best known for his photographs of musicians. Biography In a career that spans over three decades, Rapoport has photographed in a wide variety of areas including commercial photogr ...

– photography

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Notes

References

{{Authority control 1986 singles Iron Maiden songs Songs written by Adrian Smith 1986 songs EMI Records singles Song recordings produced by Martin Birch