Happy Birthday dear 'nuh-wobbum'

The Guardian's Roy Wilkinson has written an article on the 30th anniversary of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. NWOBHM, or 'nuh-wbbum', which saw the likes of Saxon, Iron Maiden and Diamond Head as leading lights of the genre, was heavily influenced by the punk scene and went on to influence many of today's leading metal bands, such as Metallica.

Metallica have often payed homage to Diamond Head, recording a version of Am I Evil as a B-side to the Creeping Death single in 1984, and playing the song live for many years. They also recorded Helpless (Garage days EP, 1987) and It's Electric (Garage Inc CD, 1998).

Wilkinson spoke to Brian Tatler, singer with Diamond Head, about the royalties he received from Metallica covering Diamond Head's songs:

I lived with my parents until I was 33. Then the money from Metallica let me put a deposit on a house. It was the only way I would have been able to do that. God bless Metallica - and God bless the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, I suppose.

Some of the bands from NOWBHM days are still playing today, including Girlschool and Saxon, who are about to release their 27th album (Into the Labyrinth, Universal Records ). Diamond are to release a 3 CD box set later this year.

Welcome back to Hell

What a find! In a moment of NWOBHM nostalgia, I tried a search for "Venom Seven Dates of Hell" on YouTube yesterday and there it was - all ten songs from the 1 June 1984 Hammersmith Odeon gig. It was orginally released on VHS and I think that is where xyz8472 got it from.

I was there. No, really, I was. I remember it being one of the loudest gigs I have ever been too, with plenty of pyro and the odd guitar being smashed up. My old mate Steve the Postman, was a huge Venom fan and had a copy of this video.

For those who may not be familiar with the band, this is the intro from the biography on their website:

Venom, the original inventers and founders of Black Metal, the creators of Thrash, Speed, Death and Power Metal, the deadliest force ever to hit the music scene, the original sinners playing the Devil's music at its highest intensity, the ultimate Rock n' Roll band, Venom.