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

November 28, 2004

Did METALLICA inadvertently "borrow" a musical idea from another band 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 (photo) 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.

BLEAK HOUSE - "Rainbow Warrior" (mp3)
METALLICA - "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" (Windows Media)

For more information on BLEAK HOUSE, click here.

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