Synopsis

Iron Maiden perform "Stranger in a Strange Land" in a concert-focused video filled with flashing stage lights, dramatic close-ups and energetic shots of the band. The performance is intercut with imagery connected to the Somewhere in Time era, including the futuristic cyborg version of Eddie and brief visual motifs suggesting isolation, travel and distant worlds. Rather than presenting a conventional storyline, the clip uses the band's live intensity and science-fiction atmosphere to echo the song's themes of being stranded, displaced and far from home.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was released in 1986 to promote the second single from Iron Maiden's sixth studio album, Somewhere in Time.

• Adrian Smith wrote the song. Its lyrics were inspired by the story of a sailor who disappeared during a nineteenth-century polar expedition and was later found preserved in ice.

• Eddie's appearance is closely associated with the single's Clint Eastwood-style artwork. The character also carries visual echoes of Rick Deckard from Blade Runner.

• The clip is primarily a performance video rather than a narrative production. Its concert footage is regarded as one of the few official visual records connected with the Somewhere on Tour period.

• "Stranger in a Strange Land" reached number 22 on the UK Singles Chart. The song's title also echoes Robert A. Heinlein's 1961 science-fiction novel, although the song itself is based on the polar-expedition story.