Was METALLICA's 'Welcome Home (Sanitarium)' Inspired By Work Of Another Band?

[BARE BONE]

Did METALLICA inadvertently "borrow" a musical idea for their 1986 dark "power ballad" "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)"? Several Internet reports definitely seem to suggest so.

A song called "Rainbow Warrior" by the obscure NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) band BLEAK HOUSE appears to contain undeniable similarities to the METALLICA classic. The BLEAK HOUSE track was released as a seven-inch single in 1980 via Buzzard Records, and was followed up by another seven-inch single in 1982 and various compilation appearances before the band apparently called it a day.

A self-proclaimed NWOBHM fanatic, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich spent much of his time in the early '80s tracking down obscure recordings from his favorite groups of the era. Ten years after the NWOBHM's glory days of 1982, Ulrich took time out to put together a multi-band compilation, "'79 Revisited: New Wave of British Heavy Metal", along with journalist Geoff Barton, whose work in the now-defunct weekly U.K. rock paper Sounds had kept Ulrich posted while he was in the States.

This isn't the first time for this shit either.

http://www.roadrun.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=29709

[EbDawson]

Re: Was METALLICA's 'Welcome Home (Sanitarium)' Inspired By Work Of Another Band?

Originally posted by BARE BONE
Did METALLICA inadvertently "borrow" a musical idea for their 1986 dark "power ballad" "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)"? Several Internet reports definitely seem to suggest so.

I doubt it was inadvertent. Probably intentional knowing the Danish midget.

[DrMaddVibe]

They'd rip off their own moms if it would help them back into the limelight they once had.

Their demise is more of a lack of respect to their fans and to themselves than being musically viable although St. Anger could be used as a prop against me here. Like CVH...Once Cliff was gone...I was too. The current lineup is a fucking joke! No wonder Newsted bailed! Hell, he had a career before he ran with these assclowns...and he looks like he wants to maintain credibility.

Lars is a bigmouthed dildo and they're reaping what they sowed! Fuck 'Em All should be their next album title!

[fe_lung]

Actually, it was a rip off of another song.. I believe it was called 'Fade To Black'.

Lightning, Puppets, and Justice are all essentially the same album. All have the wierd intro, ballad in the same place, Instrumental next to last.... oh, and the ballads all start with the arpegio on the b chord.....

I guess if it ain't broke.....

[WACF]

You can hear it.

Thing is most songs are robbed(inspired) in one way or another from somewhere....

[nosuchluck]

i think Dave Mustaine claims that even the riff to 'Enter Sandman' was 'borrowed' from an obscure metal band. (no, not Megadeth!)

[bueno bob]

It's a lot of truth. Lars and James used to spend their days prior to Metallica over at each others houses recording music from vinyl onto blank cassette (hmm...argument FOR file-sharing, anyone wanna make it???)...Ride, Master and Justice are all the same album with differing production quality...it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that they've borrowed shit from all across the board - christ, in the early days, Metallica would do club shows and do 75% of their set covering Diamond Head - and, according to Lars, they'd never announce it was a cover when they were doing more obscure stuff so that people thought it was an original!

Nah, Metallica doesn't really sound like thieves to me...not at all...

[PHOENIX]

Look if this song was robbed why didnt this other band say anything back in 1986 when that song came out?

Why do we have to hear crap like this 20 years later?

[Panamark]

One of their best, too....

[manwiththedogs]

Originally posted by bueno bob
It's a lot of truth. Lars and James used to spend their days prior to Metallica over at each others houses recording music from vinyl onto blank cassette (hmm...argument FOR file-sharing, anyone wanna make it???)...Ride, Master and Justice are all the same album with differing production quality...it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that they've borrowed shit from all across the board - christ, in the early days, Metallica would do club shows and do 75% of their set covering Diamond Head - and, according to Lars, they'd never announce it was a cover when they were doing more obscure stuff so that people thought it was an original!

Nah, Metallica doesn't really sound like thieves to me...not at all...

Bueno makes yet another good point I would only add that Metallisellout ( read Lars and James ) appear to have stolen nearly everything they did on those first three albums from DH...song structure, riffs, vocal arrangements, you name it.

[Panamark]

What about DAve Mustaines Riffs !!!

[bueno bob]

Originally posted by PHOENIX
Look if this song was robbed why didnt this other band say anything back in 1986 when that song came out?

Why do we have to hear crap like this 20 years later?

There could be a lot of reasons. The band may not have had the money to look hard at legal representation...they might have been split up by then...they may not have even cared all that much...who knows?

I've no doubt we'd have been hearing it 20 years earlier, but the internet has had an effect of making people a lot more musically intelligent than what they were 20 years prior; a lot of this stuff doesn't get discovered until it gets discovered.

[bueno bob]

Originally posted by Panamark
What about DAve Mustaines Riffs !!!

True - but to be fair, they did actually give him co-writing credit in the liner notes and lyric sheets, so...