Black Sabbath

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This article is about the British heavy metal band. For the 1946 British attack on Jewish paramilitary organizations, see Operation Agatha.

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Black Sabbath are a British heavy metal band originally composed of Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass), and Bill Ward (drums).

Black Sabbath started in Birmingham, England in the late 60s under the name Earth. Initially a blues band, Black Sabbath became one of the definitive classic heavy metal bands, to be ranked alongside Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Judas Priest.

With a competent rhythm section and the extraordinary on-stage antics of Osbourne the band enjoyed success with their British metal of brutal riffs beginning with their first album, the eponymous Black Sabbath (1970). Its followup, Paranoid (also 1970) brought them a success in America. The content of the songs (both originals and cover versions from both albums marked the band as influenced by the occult and black magic. Butler wrote much of the lyrics. Black Sabbath have been cited by some as the source of much death metal and black metal.

They released a further three albums, Master of Reality (1971), Vol. 4 (1972) and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973) before management problems and the a label change from Vertigo to WWA disrupted the band's release schedule. The next album, Sabotage, was not released until 1975 and its follow-up, Technical Ecstasy (1976) would be the last Ozzy-Era album in the heavy Sabbath style.

In 1978 the band released Never Say Die and rumours that Osbourne was to leave the band were proved true in 1979 (Osbourne formed Blizzard of Ozz, swiftly renamed to Ozzy Osbourne Band). He was replaced by Ronnie James Dio but Osbourne's departure was clearly the end of an era for the band.

Black Sabbath's first album with Dio, Heaven and Hell, did much to bring back the Sabbath spirit of heavy metal. However, after the departure of original member Ward, with the Mob Rules album, they started to lose their touch, effectively fading into generic heavy metal oblivion. A moderately-successful reunion of all the original Sabbath members was mounted in 1998.

The band rarely received any critical praise ("blundering bozos" was one description) and Osbourne's vocal talent can be safely labelled as exuberant but highly limited. Their musical talent and ingenuity are however irrefutable. They were acknowledged pioneers in the heavy metal field, and many heavy metal bands cite Sabbath as an inspiration, including such famous and successful groups as Iron Maiden and Metallica.

Some of the incidents and characters in the spoof rock documentary This Is Spinal Tap are based on Black Sabbath.

Personnel:

• Tony Iommi - guitar
• Ozzy Osbourne - vocals
• Geezer Butler - bass
• Bill Ward - drums
• Geoff Nichols - keyboards
• Rick Wakeman - keyboards (guest musician)
• Dave Walker - vocals (never recorded)
• Don Airey - keyboards (guest musician)
• Ronnie James Dio - vocals
• Vinny Appice - drums
• Ian Gillan - vocals
• Bev Bevan - drums
• Dave Donato - vocals (never recorded)
• Jeff Fenholt - vocals (never officially released)
• Glenn Hughes - vocals
• Ray Gillen - vocals (recorded "Eternal Idol," vocals redone by Tony Martin)
• Dave Spitz - bass
• Eric Singer - drums
• Jo Burt - bass (never recorded)
• Terry Chimes - drums (never recorded)
• Gordon Copley - bass
• Tony Martin - vocals
• Bob Daisley - bass
• Laurence Cottle - bass
• Cozy Powell - drums
• Rob Halford - vocals (never recorded)
• Neil Murray - bass
• Bobby Rondinelli - drums
• Joey DeMaio - bass/light-effects technician ("Heaven and Hell" Tour)

Discography:

• 1970 Black Sabbath (Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward)
• 1970 Paranoid (Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward)
• 1971 Master of Reality (Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward)
• 1972 Vol. 4 (Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward)
• 1973 Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward)
• 1975 Sabotage (Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward)
• 1976 We Sold Our Souls For Rock 'n' Roll (Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward)
• 1976 Technical Ecstasy (Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward)
• 1978 Never Say Die (Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward)
• 1980 Heaven and Hell (Iommi, Dio, Butler, Ward)
• 1981 Mob Rules (Iommi, Dio, Butler, Ward)
• 1982 Live Evil (live - Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward)
• 1983 Born Again (Iommi, Gillan, Butler, Ward, Nicholls)
• 1986 Seventh Star (Iommi, Hughes, Spitz, Singer, Nicholls, Copley)
• 1987 The Eternal Idol (Iommi, Martin, Spitz, Daisley, Singer, Bevan, Nicholls)
• 1989 headless Cross (Iommi, Martin, Cottle, Powell, Nicholls)
• 1990 Tyr (Iommi, Martin, Murray, Powell, Nicholls)
• 1992 Dehumanizer (Iommi, Dio, Butler, Appice, Nicholls)
• 1994 Cross Purposes (Iommi, Martin, Butler, Rondinelli, Nicholls)
• 1995 Cross Purposes Live (live - Iommi, Martin, Butler, Rondinelli, Nicholls)
• 1995 Forbidden (Iommi, Martin, Murray, Powell, Nicholls)
• 1996 (4-disc compilation)
• 1996 The Sabbath Stones (compilation of later works)
• 1998 Reunion (live - Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward)
• 2002 Past Lives (live - Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward)

External links

• Black Sabbath Online Joe Siegler's Black Sabbath Site Fan site