Diamond Head have cited their early inspirations as classic 70s British rock bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, UFO, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Rush and Free, Brian Tatler relating that the first albums he bought were Led Zeppelin's Led Zeppelin II and Deep Purple's "Machine Head", and said that although a lot of his guitar work was inspired by Ritchie Blackmore and Michael Schenker it was punk rock that showed him that anyone could form a band.