Iron Maiden "piece of mind"

Upon reflection I'm still not quite sure who is more important to my personal development: #ironmaiden or their cover artist #derekriggs .  This was always my personal favorite Maiden album and it was also the first back patch I had for a denim jacket.  When I began buying music for myself with my allowance I had limited access to lps and cassettes.  The only places I could reasonably get to on my bicycle were department stores which didn't have the most diverse selection.  I would pedal up to Hills and stand in their music section and systematically examine record covers.  Until I found Iron Maiden.  The first one I bought was "number of the beast" because I had caught and loved the video for "run to the hills" (never caught that "hills" thing before.  Synchronicity. ) after that my weekly trip was to buy another Maiden cassette.  This was my second because I was drawn to the artwork more than the others (later that year they would release the powerhouse album "powerslave").  I was a cassette purchaser because all I had was a boom box I had won from selling a shit ton of magazine subscriptions at school (rather my mom sold those subscriptions and I reaped the reward)  I had always envied the 12" artwork on lps but Hills didn't carry them and besides I had no way to play them.  I squinted and hunched over the tiny cassette album art.  I started re-drawing the album art almost immediately.   To this very day I can reproduce a bunch of them from memory.  I cut alot of my artistic teeth this way.  There was a tiny little store in the Thruway Mall (which has since been leveled) that sold back patches and bongs.  My mom had made plans to go to the mall and I saved my allowance that week and went off on my own to buy a backpack to emulate the older hesher in my neighborhood. When I saw this "piece of mind" patch I stopped browsing and rushed to the register to pay.  I begged my mom to sew it on my jacket (which she did, love you mom!) And I strutted off to school the next day.  I sound like a "back in my day" old fart but back in my day you got in fist fights at school over heavy metal back patches.  The social lines were entrenched and vicious. Simpler times.