This day in HISTOROCK !!
In 1970, Black Sabbath were at No.1 on the UK chart with their second album "Paranoid" The album which contains some of their best-known songs, including the title track, "Iron Man" and "War Pigs", is regarded as one of the greatest heavy metal albums of all time !! Before "Ozzy" was "Ozzy", he was 18 year old John Michael Osbourne, working at an auto factory tuning car horns. In 1967, Ozzy met Terry "Geezer" Butler, who at that time was playing guitar and they formed the band "Rare Breed". After just 2 shows, they disbanded.
Guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward were putting a new band together and looking for a bass player and singer. Geezer joined the band after agreeing to switch to bass and Ozzy was also brought in after placing an ad in a local music store which read "Ozzy Zig Needs Gig – has own PA". They originally called themselves The Polka Tulk Blues Band, lmao, after a cheap brand of talcum powder Ozzy saw in his mother's bathroom. They changed their name to Earth, but that was being used. They finally chose the name Black Sabbath in early 1969, based on a film directed by Mario Bava and starring Boris Karloff !!
While recording their first album in a castle, Geezer Butler read an occult book and had a dream of a dark figure at the end of his bed. Butler told Osbourne about the dream and together they wrote the lyrics to Black Sabbath, and their trademark sound of dark, haunting heavy metal was born !! I still get tingles when I put that 1st album on and hear the thunder and rain and still consider the song "Black Sabbath" one of the best heavy metal songs of all time !! Paranoid was released in 1970 and went straight to no 1 in the UK !! They released "Master Of Reality" in 1971, with the classics "Sweet Leaf" and "Children Of The Grave" followed by Volume 4 in 1972, which contains one of the most beautiful ballads you will ever hear "Changes" !! I consider these first 4 albums to be Sabbath's best, until the release of "13" in 2013. "13" ranks up there with the best Sabbath albums !! They would release 4 more albums, "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath(1973), Sabotage(1975), Technical Ecstasy(1976) and Never Say Die(1978), which would be Ozzy's last album with Sabbath until 2013 !!
In 1979, the decision was made to fire Ozzy. "At that time, Ozzy had come to an end", Iommi said. "We were all doing a lot of drugs, a lot of coke, a lot of everything, and Ozzy was getting drunk so much at the time. We were supposed to be rehearsing and nothing was happening. It was like 'Rehearse today? No, we'll do it tomorrow.' It really got so bad that we didn't do anything. It just fizzled out." Drummer Ward, who was close with Osbourne, was picked by Tony to break the news to the singer on April 27,1979. "I hope I was professional, I might not have been, actually. When I'm drunk I am horrible, I am horrid," Ward said. "Alcohol was definitely one of the most damaging things to Black Sabbath. We were destined to destroy each other. The band were toxic, very toxic." The band continued on with Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio and later Ian Gillan of Deep Purple and then again Dio. Iommi, Butler, Ward & Dio changed their name to "Heaven And Hell" in 2006, and recorded one album "The Devil You Know" in 2009, before Dio's death in 2010. RIP Ronnie !!
The band reunited, minus Bill Ward and recorded "13" and have toured through 2012 to present !! I have benn listening to Sabbath since I was 12 years old and after going my whole life without seeing Black Sabbath, I finally got to see them earlier this year in Halifax,NS,CA and it was everything I had hoped it would be !! They were tight and Ozzy's vocals were XXXcellent !! The best line-up was and always will be the 4 originals : Ozzy,Tony,Geezer,Billy !! From the opening line to the song Black Sabbath "What is this that stands before me?" The best fucking heavy metal band of all time !! Here's the timeless classic "Iron Man" !! Enjoy !!
Keep on ROCKIN !!
Trike :-)
Trike :-)
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