In a recent episode of AXS TV’s “Vinyl Obsession,” Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine highlighted the influence of British heavy metal band Diamond Head on his musical journey.
Mustaine praised “Lightning To The Nations,” Diamond Head’s debut LP, for its focus on riffs, a style that was more prevalent in the European and U.K. scenes compared to American songwriting at the time. He explained, “A riff is simply a melody that’s played over and over again. So, it has to be really good or it becomes monotonous droning.”
Mustaine recalled discovering Diamond Head while in Metallica. He shared, “Lars had spent a lot of time with the guys in Diamond Head. This band was so influential to me and Metallica that there are seven songs on this record that we played live. On side A, it’s ‘Lightning To The Nations,’ ‘The Prince,’ and ‘Sucking My Love.’ We played ‘The Prince’ and ‘Sucking My Love.’ And on side B, it’s ‘Am I Evil?’, ‘Sweet And Innocent,’ ‘It’s Electric,’ and ‘Helpless.’ We played ‘Am I Evil?’, ‘It’s Electric,’ and ‘Helpless.’ That’s five songs off this record that we were playing in Metallica, and a lot of people thought those were original songs. We weren’t exactly going out there and explaining to everybody, ‘Hey, these songs are great, and you’re probably going to think they’re ours, and we’re not going to tell you that. We’re gonna give credit where credit’s due.’ Nah, not at all. We were going to be quiet and make you think we were really great.”
