Am I Evil?

"Am I Evil?"
Song by Diamond Head
from the album Lightning to the Nations
Released1980
Recorded1979
GenreHeavy metal
Length7:43
LabelHappy Face
Songwriter(s)
  • Sean Harris
  • Brian Tatler
Producer(s)Reg Fellows
Music video
"Am I Evil?" on YouTube

"Am I Evil?" is a song by British heavy metal band Diamond Head. Released on the band's 1980 debut album Lightning to the Nations, it remains the band's signature song. The song was written by lead vocalist Sean Harris and guitarist Brian Tatler and released by Happy Face Records, a label owned by the producer Muff Murfin of The Old Smithy studio of Worcester, England.

The song was immediately popular amongst heavy metal fans in the United Kingdom upon its initial release,[citation needed] but only rose to international prominence after Metallica covered the song as a B-side on their 1984 single "Creeping Death"; the cover was then re-released on their 1998 cover album Garage Inc. The song was influenced by Black Sabbath's 1975 song "Symptom of the Universe".[1] The song starts with an instrumental segment with excerpts of Gustav Holst's The Planets (1914–16).

  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 August 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)