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All Music Guide:
Urchin was an early band of future Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith, and he formed it, ironically enough, with childhood friend and fellow guitarist Dave Murray, who would later return the favor by getting his chum into the British heavy metal legends. Smith had already been involved with several amateur bands throughout his late teens, but it was with Urchin, starting circa 1974, that the fledgling guitar hero began making a name for himself on the London pub circuit. Countless musicians passed through the Urchin lineup throughout their existence, but it was with singer David Hall, guitarists Smith and Maurice Coyne (who had himself once been poached by Steve Harris for the simultaneously hatchling Maiden), bassist Alan Levitt, and drummer Barry Tyler that the group landed a development deal with Elton John's DJM imprint and released their debut 7" single, "Black Leather Fantasy," in 1977. A biker anthem inspired by the melodic hard rock sounds of Thin Lizzy and UFO, this was followed a year later by a significantly more commercial and successful second single, entitled "She's a Roller," but eye- and ear-witnesses have long held that neither song truly captured Urchin's on-stage heaviness onto vinyl. In any event, times were tough for hard rock and metal during these years, the reigning era of punk, so after struggling in vain for a few more years, Smith finally gave up on Urchin in late 1980, when he was invited to join Iron Maiden for the second time. The rest is history -- as, unfortunately, was Urchin, whose '70s vinyl singles now fetch outrageous prices among Maiden enthusiasts, and whose surviving recordings were briefly made available on an eponymous CD in 2004.
Wikipedia:
Urchin or urcheon is the Middle English term for "hedgehog". As such, it is applied to many things that take a similar form to a hedgehog:
Street children, homeless children who live on the streetSea urchins are spiny sea creatures that are round and prickly like hedgehogs.In old theater, urchin was a common name for an elf or fairy that took on a prickly appearance.The word urcheon is used to refer to the hedgehog in heraldryIt may also refer to:
Urchin (film), a 2007 film about a homeless boy living in underground, by John HarlacherHMS Urchin, the name of four ships of the British Royal NavyUrchin Software Corporation, a US web analytics company owned by Google Urchin (software), a series of web analytics developed by the Urchin Software Corporation (now Google Analytics)Urchin (band), a band led by Dave Murray and Adrian Smith of Iron MaidenUrchin (detonator), code name for the neutron generating device that triggered the nuclear detonation of the earliest plutonium atomic bombsUrchin, the squirrel protagonist in The Mistmantle Chronicles book series.Sound of Urchin, an eclectic alternative rock bandUrchin, an enemy in the 1990 video game Super Mario WorldThe Urchins, English hooligan firm associated with Liverpool F.C.
