Diamond Head's career has been on and off since 1975, though the band's notoriety shot through the roof in the mid-to-late 1980s when Metallica covered "Helpless", "Am I Evil", and "The Prince." Now Metallica is what some may refer to as "a big deal," meaning Diamond Head gets asked about Metallica covering them pretty much all the time.
So does Diamond Head care that its career is largely due to Metallica's covers? Not really! In an interview with Classic Rock, founding guitarist Brian Tatler says Diamond Head basically owes its career to Metallica.
"If it hadn't been for Metallica, and Lars, and the songwriter's royalties that me and Sean [Harris, former vocalist] get, I don't know what we would've done. We'd have probably slipped into obscurity along with, I don't know, Angel Witch or something. But they've managed to keep the money coming in for us and raise our profile by covering four Diamond Head songs on an album that's sold over five million copies, that's just…you can't buy that sort of thing you know? I must've seen hundreds of articles where Lars is raving about Diamond Head, and it's just brilliant, more power to 'em."
Even on the 3 disc edition of Metallica's Hardwired To Self Destruct, the live disc contains a cover of Diamond Head's "Helpless" live at Rasputin Music. It's also worth noting that Diamond Head released its first album in 9 years this year, and you can check that out below if you weren't aware. Thanks again, Metallica!
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpoJswktDYY&list=PLS_ViG80PNjaE-0n6MJH38n7KxpMRdfYV[/youtube]
