I didn’t really know about the Garage Days EP being a Holy Grail, but then again I’m old enough to remember a time when Nintendo Power claimed Americans would never, ever play Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels. I did know that “Am I Evil” was from like 1984, as were some of the others.

My favorite song on the second disc of Garage Inc. is…

....”Overkill.” I really love their live in the studio “Overkill.” The bass has a shitty scuzz tone to it and Lars is no slouch on it either. I actually prefer it to the original. I also like their “Too Late Too Late” and “Stone Dead Forever” but the Motorhead originals are better. “The Small Hours” is cool and creepy, but Holocaust did a new version of it in 1992 that was better than the 1983 live version that Metallica based their cover off of. I’ve always loved “So What,” always made me laugh, but I think I prefer the Diamond Head versions of all Metallica’s Diamond Head songs…except “The Prince”. “Helpless” I could go with either band. That said, was I wrong to claim that Diamond Head would be forgotten if Metallica hadn’t done so much to promote their songs? Is there any other case of a band or performer being known EXCLUSIVELY because of another act promoting them? Like someone Nirvana or Frank Zappa promoted? I dunno. I’m probably wrong about the Diamond Head-Metallica connection but it really seems like I have never once seemed Diamond Head mentioned without the Metallica connection. I’m not wild about “Crash Course In Brain Surgery” or “The Wait,” but the Danzig cover is funny. What do you think of “Stone Cold Crazy”? Metallica doing Queen? I could go with either band on that one.

I should mention one cover of Metallica’s I have ZERO use for is “Loverman”–the Nick Cave original completely smokes it. This is a shame–Metallica covering Nick Cave should be fucking glorious.