What’s incredibly interesting about Metallica is that they managed to make some of their idols more popular. Achieving massive commercial success in the 1990s, the band decided to release an all-cover album “Garage Inc.” in 1998. Among all of the tracks, there’s also a medley of Mercyful Fate songs.
Of course, Mercyful Fate wasn’t exactly an unknown band at the time. However, Metallica was pretty huge at the time and still is. Needless to say, the band also got their fair share of royalties from this medley.
Speaking to Dean Delray, Mercyful Fate frontman King Diamond discussed how Metallica’s cover of the band’s song made a financial impact on him. When asked about the money and whether it was put to good use, the singer said (via Blabbermouth):
“Right when [‘Garage Inc.’] came out, yeah, it was nice. I got a Corvette out of it at the time. I got a black Corvette at the time that I could not have gotten otherwise. I had a Trans Am; I sold that and got a Corvette. So, that was the initial impact at the time.“
“Now, it’s, like, I guess if they do something special with it or whatever, then it does something, but that’s not what I live off, I can tell you that.“
“The same… I did something with Volbeat; the song that I did half the lyric for [‘Room 24’, taken from the band’s 2014 LP ‘Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies‘] and it was nominated for a Grammy.”
However, he also adds:
“But it’s not like… I can’t eat off of it; I can’t pay rent or anything off it. But that’s our own stuff that is doing quite well now; our own stuff is doing [well]. The tours are doing good. There’s more projects going on all the time.”
Photos: Cecil (Tuska 20130628 – King Diamond – 27 (Cropped)), Gage Skidmore (James Hetfield by Gage Skidmore)
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