Song · Metallica
“Am I Evil?” by Metallica
Released 1991
“Am I Evil?” by Metallica appears on 5 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 1990 and 2025. It was first released in 1991. Its best result is #12 on the WJJO Frequent Rocker Top 100 Songs of 2023. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #1,644 hard rock song of all time.
"Am I Evil?" started out as Diamond Head's signature song, released on the British band's 1980 debut, Lightning to the Nations, and written by singer Sean Harris and guitarist Brian Tatler. Metallica took it on as the B-side of their 1984 single "Creeping Death", and it was their cover that made the song famous around the world.
It came with a pedigree. The song opens with an instrumental stretch inspired by "Mars, the Bringer of War" from Gustav Holst's The Planets, and Black Sabbath's "Symptom of the Universe", from 1975, fed into it as well. Metallica's version got a second life in 1998 on Garage Inc., their album of covers.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Hard Rock & Metal
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 887 | Z-Rock | Z-Rock Top 1001 Songs of All-Time (1990) | 1000 |
| 1995 | 955 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1995) | 1000 |
| 2002 | 729 | KISW | KISW Top 999 of All Time (2002) | 999 |
| 2023 | 12 | 94.1 WJJO | WJJO Frequent Rocker Top 100 Songs of 2023 | 100 |
| 2025 | 37 | 94.1 WJJO | WJJO Frequent Rocker Top 100 Songs of 2025 | 100 |
Also listed as: Am I Evil.
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