And the bastards didn’t pay me,” he laughed in 2015. “They phoned me up and asked me to do a gig with them. Then everyone started copying them, and now there's 100,000 bands that sound like Metallica.”Įven though Thin Lizzy didn’t write the song – it’s a traditional folk anthem in Ireland – Metallica based their version on Lizzy’s, and original guitarist Eric Bell won’t forget his run-in with them afterward. … But by the time Master of Puppets came out, I think they'd left that style and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal influence probably behind, and they pushed into some new territory that no one had been before.
Yeah, they were influenced by bands like Diamond Head and Motorhead and Maiden. To have met Lars when he was just a Diamond Head fan - and he never mentioned playing the drums or forming a band or anything - and watch him rise to the top and headline the biggest festivals in world is something I've never seen happen before or since to anyone I actually knew and could count on as a friend. I've been to see them probably at least 20 times.
“I'm full of admiration for what Metallica have done,' he said in 2016. Diamond Head guitarist Brian Tatler is comfortable with the fact that, the first time he met Ulrich, the drummer was a fan – and the tables have turned since then.
