SANDWICHED AWKWARDLY BETWEEN grunge’s domination of the music scene in the early 90s and nu metal taking over the world at the end of the decade, sit one of metal’s most unique, influential and underappreciated bands: New York alt metal legends Helmet.
One of the first signings to Jimmy Iovine’s Interscope Records in the major label gold rush to sign anything vaguely resembling alternative music after the huge success of Nirvana’s Nevermind, Helmet’s second fulllength album, Meantime, enjoyed some breakthrough success in 1992.
“We had a gold record and a Grammy nomination [for Best Metal Performance for crossover hit In the Meantime],” recalls vocalist and guitarist Page Hamilton. “Tommy Lee and Billy Idol liked our band; we were doing pretty well!”
Meantime would go on to sell more than 2 million copies worldwide, but soon the band realised the heat was on to follow the record up with another hit.
“We were this underground New YorkPage tells us. “Everybody was interested. When we had made there was no pressure, but with [1994 follow-up] everybody had an opinion.”
