Diamond Head Guitarist Shares Opinion on Metallica’s Cover of ‘Am I Evil’, Explains How It Affected His Band

“At first, back in 1984, I didn’t think it was gonna be such a big deal”

Diamond Head guitarist and co-founder Brian Tatler recalled his first reaction to Metallica covering some of his songs in the early ’80s, and explained what that connection with Metallica meant for his band’s legacy.

Back in the late ’70s and early ’80s, Diamond Head was seminal for the emergence of the New Wave of British Heavy metal and later became a major influence for many first-wave thrash metal bands. Despite their vast influence and talent, however, the band. never really broke into the mainstream in a big way, and there are now probably heaps of metalheads who got into Diamond Head after realizing that “Am I Evil” wasn’t originally a Metallica song – a state of affairs that Brian Tatler is perfectly fine with, as he tells Denim And Blether in a new interview.

Back in 1984, however, Tatler didn’t have much of an opinion on Metallica one way or another. Asked what it feels like to see Metallica perform his songs nowadays, the guitarist replied (transcription via Blabbermouth):

“Well, it’s been going on for a long time. At first, back in 1984, I didn’t think it was gonna be such a big deal, because they were on a small label called Music For Nations. And they’d only been over to the U.K. to play the Marquee [club in London], and things like that. To me, they were still Lars’s band.
“I knew Lars, but I’d never met the others. And they covered ‘Am I Evil?’, and we just thought it was very, very flattering; they’d done a great job.
“But I didn’t expect them to become the biggest metal band of all time. And the income that sales of that song on their record would generate, I had no idea that it would help provide me with income for years and years to come.

“So it’s been an incredible bonus, if you like, for Diamond Head, and especially for myself and Sean [Harris, original Diamond Head singer] as the writers.”

Explaining the importance of Diamond Head songs that Metallica ended up covering in his band’s live sets, Tatler went on:

“We still play ‘Am I Evil?’ live, and it still goes down. And I think people don’t care if they got into Diamond Head through Metallica as long as they got there in the end. A lot of people know that song through Metallica, and it doesn’t bother me in the slightest.
“It’s just a good song, and it’s incredible that it’s lasted the test of time — over 40 years old, and people still seem to love it. So I’m lucky to have a song like that in the set. And we also do ‘The Prince’ and ‘It’s Electric’ and ‘Helpless’. So the four songs that Metallica covered are a big part of our set, obviously.”

Metallica’s cover of “Am I Evil” alone appeared on four separate Metallica releases (1982’s “Metal Up Your Ass” demo, 1984’s “Creeping Death” single, 1988 reissue of “Kill ‘Em All”, and 1998’s “Garage Inc.”) and would be played relatively frequently live even after Metallica’s rise to fame.

Lars Ulrich & Co. covered three more Diamond Head songs, including “Helpless” (1987’s “The $5.98 E.P. – Garage Days Revisited”), “The Prince” (B-side of 1989 “One” single, “Garage Inc.”), and “It’s Electric” (“Garage Inc.”).

Diamond Head released their latest studio album “The Coffin Train” in 2019 via Silver Lining Music.

In 2020, Diamond Head released a re-recording of their debut album titled “Lightning to the Nations 2020” featuring four additional cover songs, alongside a music video for “Am I Evil”.