98-580: Black Sabbath was a British heavy metal band. Black Sabbath may refer to: Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi , drummer Bill Ward , bassist Geezer Butler , and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne . They are often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music . The band helped define the genre with their first three albums Black Sabbath , Paranoid (both 1970), and Master of Reality (1971). Following Osbourne's departure in 1979,
196-584: A Rolling Stone review as "discordant jams with bass and guitar reeling like velocitised speedfreaks all over each other's musical perimeters, yet never quite finding synch". It sold in substantial numbers despite being panned, giving the band their first mainstream exposure. It has since been certified Platinum in both U.S. by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and in the UK by British Phonographic Industry (BPI), and
294-594: A UK wide audience. Their eponymous debut album Black Sabbath was released on Friday the 13th , February 1970, and reached number eight in the UK Albums Chart . Following its U.S. and Canadian release in May 1970 by Warner Bros. Records , the album reached number 23 on the Billboard 200 , where it remained for over a year. The album was given negative reviews by many critics. Lester Bangs dismissed it in
392-517: A children's hospital nurse in England who was convicted of serial infanticide in 1993. The video features a young girl, assumably in reference to this. The song "Cardinal Sin" was originally intended to be titled "Sin Cardinal Sin" (or "Sin, Cardinal Sin") but a printing error on the album sleeve caused the first word to be removed. Sabbath simply adopted the title "Cardinal Sin" as the name of
490-659: A cover of the Crow song " Evil Woman ", in January 1970, and their debut album, Black Sabbath , was released the following month. Though it received a negative critical response, the album was a commercial success, leading to a follow-up record, Paranoid , later that year. The band's popularity grew, and by 1973's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath , critics were starting to respond favourably. This album, along with its predecessor Vol. 4 (1972) and its successors Sabotage (1975), Technical Ecstasy (1976) and Never Say Die! (1978), saw
588-476: A day, my alcoholism accelerated". Butler stated that after Ward's final show, the drummer came in drunk, stating that "he might as well be a Martian". Ward then got angry, packed his things and got on a bus to leave. Following Ward's sudden departure, the group hired drummer Vinny Appice . Further trouble for the band came during their 9 October 1980 concert at the Milwaukee Arena , which degenerated into
686-490: A decisive vision to differ the sound from Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath . "We could've continued and gone on and on, getting more technical, using orchestras and everything else which we didn't particularly want to. We took a look at ourselves, and we wanted to do a rock album – Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath wasn't a rock album, really". Produced by Black Sabbath and Mike Butcher, Sabotage was released in July 1975. As with its precursor,
784-567: A demo with producer Bob Ezrin in October. Unhappy with the results, the band parted ways with Donato shortly after. Disillusioned with the band's revolving line-up, Ward left shortly after stating "This isn't Black Sabbath". Butler would quit Sabbath next in November 1984 to form a solo band. "When Ian Gillan took over that was the end of it for me," he said. "I thought it was just a joke and I just totally left. When we got together with Gillan it
882-527: A head, Iommi made the decision to fire Osbourne in 1979. Iommi believed the only options available were to fire Osbourne or break the band up completely. "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". Ward, who
980-480: A house in Bel Air, where they spent nearly a year working on new material for the next album. The entire band were abusing both alcohol and other drugs, but Iommi says Osbourne "was on a totally different level altogether". The band would come up with new song ideas, but Osbourne showed little interest and would refuse to sing them. Pressure from the record label and frustrations with Osbourne's lack of input coming to
1078-458: A live album culled from a seven-year-old performance, titled Live at Last without any input from the band. The album reached number five on the UK chart and saw the re-release of "Paranoid" as a single, which reached the top 20. On 18 August 1980, after a show in Bloomington, Minnesota , Ward quit the band. "It was intolerable for me to get on the stage without Ozzy. And I drank 24 hours
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#17327647184681176-489: A local music shop: "OZZY ZIG Needs Gig – has own PA". The new group was initially named the Polka Tulk Blues Band, the name taken either from a brand of talcum powder or an Indian/Pakistani clothing shop; the exact origin is confused. The Polka Tulk Blues Band included slide guitarist Jimmy Phillips, a childhood friend of Osbourne's, and saxophonist Alan "Aker" Clarke. After shortening the name to Polka Tulk,
1274-643: A lot of dope. We'd go down to the sessions, and have to pack up because we were too stoned, we'd have to stop. Nobody could get anything right, we were all over the place, everybody's playing a different thing. We'd go back and sleep it off, and try again the next day". The album was released in September 1978, reaching number 12 in the United Kingdom and number 69 in the U.S. Press response was unfavourable and did not improve over time, with Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic stating two decades after its release that
1372-538: A motorcycle accident in which Osbourne ruptured a muscle in his back. In December 1975, the band's record companies released a greatest hits album without input from the band, titled We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll . The album charted throughout 1976, eventually selling two million copies in the U.S. Black Sabbath began work for their next album at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, in June 1976. To expand their sound,
1470-657: A new version of the band the following year. For the next twelve years, the band endured many personnel changes that included vocalists Glenn Hughes (who appeared on 1986's Seventh Star ), Ray Gillen and Tony Martin , as well as several drummers and bassists; of the vocalists during these years, Martin's tenure was the longest, joining the band in 1987 and recording three studio albums before his initial departure in 1991: The Eternal Idol (1987), Headless Cross (1989), and Tyr (1990). That same year, Iommi reunited with Butler, Dio and Appice to record Dehumanizer (1992), though Dio and Appice had both departed again by
1568-713: A one-off performance at the Myponga Pop Festival in Australia, Black Sabbath returned to the studio to begin work on their third album. Following the chart success of Paranoid , the band were afforded more studio time, along with a "briefcase full of cash" to buy drugs. "We were getting into coke, big time", Ward explained. "Uppers, downers, Quaaludes, whatever you like. It got to the stage where you come up with ideas and forget them, because you were just so out of it." Production completed in April 1971, and in July
1666-437: A pretty stupid title, really". Vol. 4 was released in September 1972, and while critics were dismissive, it achieved Gold status in less than a month, and was the band's fourth consecutive release to sell a million in the U.S. "Tomorrow's Dream" was released as a single – the band's first since "Paranoid" – but failed to chart. Following an extensive tour of the U.S., in 1973 the band travelled again to Australia, followed by
1764-462: A record out." Walker has said that he wrote a lot of lyrics during his brief time in the band, but none of them were ever used. If any recordings of this version of the band other than the Look! Hear! footage still exist, Walker says that he is not aware of them. Osbourne initially set out to form a solo project featuring former Dirty Tricks members John Frazer-Binnie, Terry Horbury and Andy Bierne. As
1862-593: A riot that caused $ 10,000 in damages to the arena and resulted in 160 arrests. According to the Associated Press: "The crowd of mostly adolescent males first became rowdy in a performance by the Blue Oyster Cult" and then grew restless while waiting an hour for Black Sabbath to begin playing. A member of the audience threw a beer bottle that struck Butler and effectively ended the show. "The band then abruptly halted its performance and began leaving" as
1960-938: A solo album with long-time Sabbath keyboardist Geoff Nicholls . While working on new material, the original Sabbath line-up agreed to a spot at Bob Geldof 's Live Aid , performing at the Philadelphia show on 13 July 1985. This event – which also featured reunions of The Who and Led Zeppelin – marked the first time the original line-up had appeared on stage since 1978. "We were all drunk when we did Live Aid," recalled Geezer Butler , "but we'd all got drunk separately." Returning to his solo work, Iommi enlisted bassist Dave Spitz (ex- Great White ), drummer Eric Singer and initially intended to use multiple singers, including Rob Halford of Judas Priest , former Deep Purple and Trapeze vocalist Glenn Hughes , and former Sabbath vocalist Ronnie James Dio. This plan didn't work as he forecasted. "We were going to use different vocalists on
2058-470: A song by the band Crow ), at Trident Studios . "Evil Woman" was released on 9 January 1970 through Philips subsidiary Fontana Records . Later releases were handled by Philips' newly formed progressive rock label, Vertigo Records . "Evil Woman" failed to chart. The band were afforded two days of studio time in November 1969 to record their debut album with producer Rodger Bain . Iommi recalls recording live: "We thought, 'We have two days to do it, and one of
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#17327647184682156-581: A stark contrast to the "youthful" performance of Van Halen, who were touring the world for the first time. The band filmed a performance at the Hammersmith Odeon in June 1978, which was later released on DVD as Never Say Die . The final show of the tour – and Osbourne's last appearance with the band until later reunions – was in Albuquerque, New Mexico , on 11 December. Following the tour, Black Sabbath returned to Los Angeles and again rented
2254-452: A tour for the first time to New Zealand, before moving onto mainland Europe. "The band were definitely in their heyday", recalled Ward, "in the sense that nobody had burnt out quite yet". Following the Vol. 4 world tour, Black Sabbath returned to Los Angeles to begin work on their next release. Pleased with the Vol. 4 album, the band sought to recreate the recording atmosphere, and returned to
2352-540: Is Christian evangelist and former Joshua frontman Jeff Fenholt . Fenholt insists he was a singer in Sabbath between January and May 1985. Iommi has never confirmed this. Fenholt gives a detailed account in Garry Sharpe-Young's book Sabbath Bloody Sabbath: The Battle for Black Sabbath . Following both Ward's and Butler's exits, sole remaining original member Iommi put Sabbath on hiatus, and began work on
2450-461: Is now generally accepted as the first heavy metal album. The band returned to the studio in June 1970, just four months after Black Sabbath was released. The new album was initially set to be named War Pigs after the song " War Pigs ", which was critical of the Vietnam War ; however, Warner changed the title of the album to Paranoid . The album's lead single, " Paranoid ", was written in
2548-677: The Mob Rules line-up reunited as Heaven & Hell , touring during the late 2000s and releasing its sole studio album, The Devil You Know , in 2009 before disbanding after Dio's death in the following year. The original line-up of Black Sabbath reunited once again in 2011, though Ward departed prior to the recording of their final studio album and 19th overall, 13 (2013). During their farewell tour , Black Sabbath played its final concert in their home city of Birmingham on 4 February 2017. Occasional partial reunions have occurred since, most recently when Osbourne and Iommi performed together at
2646-594: The "Black and Blue" tour, with a show at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York , filmed for Don Kirshner's Rock Concert and later released theatrically in 1981 as Black and Blue . On 26 July 1980, the band played to 75,000 fans at a sold-out Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with Journey , Cheap Trick and Molly Hatchet . The next day, the band appeared at the 1980 Day on the Green at Oakland Coliseum . While on tour, Black Sabbath's former label in England issued
2744-514: The "Greatest Metal Band of All Time" and placed second on VH1 's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" list. Rolling Stone magazine ranked them number 85 on its "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" list. Black Sabbath were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. They have also won two Grammy Awards for Best Metal Performance , and in 2019,
2842-399: The 1980s Sunset Strip hard rock scene. It was panned by the critics of the era, although later reviewers such as AllMusic gave album verdicts, calling the album "often misunderstood and underrated". The new line-up rehearsed for six weeks preparing for a full world tour, although the band were eventually forced to use the Sabbath name. "I was into the 'Tony Iommi project', but I wasn't into
2940-561: The Black Sabbath moniker," Hughes said. "The idea of being in Black Sabbath didn't appeal to me whatsoever . Glenn Hughes singing in Black Sabbath is like James Brown singing in Metallica . It wasn't gonna work." Just four days before the start of the tour, Hughes got into a bar fight with the band's production manager John Downing which splintered the singer's orbital bone . The injury interfered with Hughes' ability to sing, and
3038-596: The Earth moniker, they recorded several demos written by Norman Haines such as "The Rebel", "When I Came Down" and "Song for Jim", the latter of which being a reference to Jim Simpson , who was a manager for the bands Bakerloo Blues Line and Tea & Symphony, as well as the trumpet player for the group Locomotive. Simpson had recently started a new club named Henry's Blueshouse at The Crown Hotel in Birmingham and offered to let Earth play there after they agreed to waive
Black Sabbath (disambiguation) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3136-546: The Grave " and " Sweet Leaf ". Critical response of the era was generally unfavourable, with Lester Bangs delivering an ambivalent review of Master of Reality in Rolling Stone , describing the closing "Children of the Grave" as "naïve, simplistic, repetitive, absolute doggerel – but in the tradition [of rock 'n' roll] ... The only criterion is excitement, and Black Sabbath's got it". (In 2003, Rolling Stone would place
3234-582: The Record Plant studio in Los Angeles. With new musical innovations of the era, the band were surprised to find that the room they had used previously at the Record Plant was replaced by a "giant synthesiser". The band rented a house in Bel Air and began writing in the summer of 1973, but in part because of substance issues and fatigue, they were unable to complete any songs. "Ideas weren't coming out
3332-580: The U.S. with Quiet Riot and Night Ranger . The band headlined the 1983 Reading Festival in England, adding Deep Purple's " Smoke on the Water " to their encore. The tour in support of Born Again included a giant set of the Stonehenge monument. In a move later parodied in the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap , the band made a mistake in ordering the set piece. Butler explained: We had Sharon Osbourne's dad, Don Arden , managing us. He came up with
3430-862: The album as a "masterpiece, essential to any heavy metal collection", while also displaying "a newfound sense of finesse and maturity". The album marked the band's fifth consecutive Platinum-selling album in the U.S., reaching number four on the UK Albums Chart and number 11 in the U.S. The band began a world tour in January 1974, which culminated at the California Jam festival in Ontario, California , on 6 April 1974. Attracting over 200,000 fans, Black Sabbath appeared alongside popular 1970s rock and pop bands Deep Purple , Eagles , Emerson, Lake & Palmer , Rare Earth , Seals & Crofts , Black Oak Arkansas and Earth, Wind & Fire . Portions of
3528-457: The album at number 300 on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. ) Following the Master of Reality world tour in 1972, the band took their first break in three years. As Ward explained: "The band started to become very fatigued and very tired. We'd been on the road non-stop, year in and year out, constantly touring and recording. I think Master of Reality was kind of like the end of an era,
3626-421: The album initially saw favourable reviews, with Rolling Stone stating " Sabotage is not only Black Sabbath's best record since Paranoid , it might be their best ever", although later reviewers such as AllMusic noted that "the magical chemistry that made such albums as Paranoid and Volume 4 so special was beginning to disintegrate". Sabotage reached the top 20 in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom, but
3724-409: The album one star, claiming " Mob Rules finds the band as dull-witted and flatulent as ever". Like most of the band's earlier work, time helped to improve the opinions of the music press. A decade after its release, AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia called Mob Rules "a magnificent record". The album was certified Gold and reached the top 20 on the UK chart. The album's title track, "The Mob Rules", which
3822-447: The album was panned by rock critics of the era, but modern-day reviewers such as AllMusic's Steve Huey cite Paranoid as "one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time", which "defined the sound and style of heavy metal more than any other record in rock history". The album was ranked at number 131 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time . Paranoid ' s chart success allowed
3920-657: The album's "unfocused songs perfectly reflected the band's tense personnel problems and drug abuse". The album featured the singles " Never Say Die " and " Hard Road ", both of which cracked the top 40 in the United Kingdom. The band also made their second appearance on the BBC's Top of the Pops , performing "Never Say Die". It took nearly 20 years for the album to be certified Gold in the U.S. Touring in support of Never Say Die! began in May 1978 with openers Van Halen . Reviewers called Black Sabbath's performance "tired and uninspired",
4018-424: The album, guest vocalists, but it was so difficult getting it together and getting releases from their record companies. Glenn Hughes came along to sing on one track and we decided to use him on the whole album." The band spent the remainder of the year in the studio, recording what would become Seventh Star (1986). Warner Bros. refused to release the album as a Tony Iommi solo release, instead insisting on using
Black Sabbath (disambiguation) - Misplaced Pages Continue
4116-492: The band added keyboard player Gerald Woodroffe , who also had appeared to a lesser extent on Sabotage . During the recording of Technical Ecstasy , Osbourne admits that he began losing interest in Black Sabbath and began to consider the possibility of working with other musicians. Recording of Technical Ecstasy was difficult; by the time the album was completed, Osbourne was admitted to Stafford County Asylum in Britain. It
4214-403: The band again changed their name to Earth (which Osbourne hated) and continued as a four-piece without Phillips and Clarke. Iommi became concerned that Phillips and Clarke lacked the necessary dedication and were not taking the band seriously. Rather than asking them to leave, they instead decided to break up and then quietly reformed the band as a four-piece. While the band was performing under
4312-401: The band brought in vocalist Ray Gillen to continue the tour with W.A.S.P. and Anthrax , although nearly half of the U.S. dates would be cancelled because of poor ticket sales. Cross Purposes Cross Purposes is the seventeenth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath , released through I.R.S. Records on 31 January 1994. The album marked the return of Tony Martin as
4410-514: The band explore more experimental and progressive styles. Black Sabbath's first line-up change occurred in late 1977, when Osbourne left to pursue a solo career and was replaced by Dave Walker ; however, he rejoined just prior to the recording of Never Say Die! . Osbourne was dismissed from the band a second time in 1979 due to substance abuse, and was replaced by former Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio . Sabbath recorded three albums with Dio: Heaven and Hell (1980), Mob Rules (1981) and
4508-453: The band received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award . Following the break-up of their previous band, Mythology , in 1968, guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward sought to form a heavy blues rock band in Aston , Birmingham. They enlisted bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne , who had played together in a band called Rare Breed, Osbourne having placed an advertisement in
4606-407: The band released Master of Reality , just six months after the U.S. release of Paranoid . The album reached the top 10 in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, and was certified Gold in less than two months, eventually receiving Platinum certification in the 1980s and Double Platinum in the early 21st century. It contained Sabbath's first acoustic songs, alongside fan favourites such as " Children of
4704-502: The band sounds reborn and re-energised throughout". Heaven and Hell peaked at number nine in the United Kingdom and number 28 in the U.S., the band's highest-charting album since Sabotage . The album eventually sold a million copies in the U.S., and the band embarked on an extensive world tour, making their first live appearance with Dio in Germany on 17 April 1980. Black Sabbath toured the U.S. throughout 1980 with Blue Öyster Cult on
4802-482: The band to tour the U.S. for the first time – their first U.S. show was at a club called Ungano's at 210 West 70th Street in New York City – and spawned the release of the album's second single, " Iron Man ". Although the single failed to reach the top 40, it remains one of Black Sabbath's most popular songs, as well as the band's highest-charting U.S. single until 1998's " Psycho Man ". In February 1971, after
4900-431: The band underwent multiple line-up changes, with Iommi being the only constant member throughout its history. After previous iterations of the group – the Polka Tulk Blues Band, and Earth – the band settled on the name Black Sabbath in 1969. They distinguished themselves through occult themes with horror-inspired lyrics and down-tuned guitars . Signing to Philips Records in November 1969, they released their first single,
4998-547: The band was set to enter the studio, Osbourne abruptly quit the band. Iommi called vocalist Dave Walker , a longtime friend of the band who had previously been a member of Fleetwood Mac and Savoy Brown , and informed him that Osbourne had left the band. Walker, who was at that time fronting a band called Mistress, flew to Birmingham from California in late 1977 to write material and rehearse with Black Sabbath. On 8 January 1978, Walker made his only live performance with Black Sabbath, on vocals, when they played an early version of
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#17327647184685096-529: The band's lead vocalist, after the second departure of Ronnie James Dio . In 2024, a remaster of the album was announced as part of the box set Anno Domini 1989–1995 , marking the first time the album has been officially reissued. The CD edition of the album contains the Japanese bonus track "What's the Use?". A stand alone remastered CD with bonus track was released on November 15th, 2024 . Dehumanizer saw
5194-574: The band. "I fell apart with the idea of touring," he later explained. "I got so much fear behind touring, I didn't talk about the fear, I drank behind the fear instead and that was a big mistake." He was replaced by former Move and Electric Light Orchestra drummer Bev Bevan for the Born Again '83–'84 world tour , (often unofficially referred to as the 'Feighn Death Sabbath '83–'84' World Tour) which began in Europe with Diamond Head , and later in
5292-417: The closing ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Black Sabbath have sold over 70 million records worldwide as of 2013, making them one of the most commercially successful heavy metal bands. Black Sabbath, together with Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin , have been referred to as the "unholy trinity of British hard rock and heavy metal in the early to mid-seventies". They were ranked by MTV as
5390-578: The completion of the Born Again tour in March 1984, vocalist Ian Gillan left Black Sabbath to re-join Deep Purple, which was reforming after a long hiatus. Bevan left at the same time, and Gillan remarked that he and Bevan were made to feel like "hired help" by Iommi. The band then recruited an unknown Los Angeles vocalist named David Donato and Ward once again rejoined the band. The new line-up wrote and rehearsed throughout 1984, and eventually recorded
5488-572: The crowd rioted. The band completed the Heaven and Hell world tour in February 1981 and returned to the studio to begin work on their next album. Black Sabbath's second studio album that was produced by Martin Birch and featured Ronnie James Dio as vocalist, Mob Rules , was released in October 1981 and was well received by fans, but less so by critics. Rolling Stone reviewer J. D. Considine gave
5586-590: The day, we just said, 'That's it, the band is over'". "When it comes time for the vocal, nobody tells me what to do. Nobody! Because they're not as good as me, so I do what I want to do", Dio later said. "I refuse to listen to Live Evil , because there are too many problems. If you look at the credits, the vocals and drums are listed off to the side. Open up the album and see how many pictures there are of Tony, and how many there are of me and Vinny". Ronnie James Dio left Black Sabbath in November 1982 to start his own band and took drummer Vinny Appice with him. Live Evil
5684-504: The days is mixing.' So we played live. Ozzy was singing at the same time; we just put him in a separate booth and off we went. We never had a second run of most of the stuff". On 11 November 1969 Black Sabbath recorded a 4-song session for John Peel 's Top Gear radio show. The four songs were " Black Sabbath ", " N.I.B. ", "Behind the Wall of Sleep" and "Sleeping Village". Broadcast on 29 November 1969, this gave them their first exposure to
5782-536: The dungeons and it was really creepy, but it had some atmosphere, it conjured up things and stuff started coming out again". While working in the dungeon, Iommi stumbled onto the main riff of " Sabbath Bloody Sabbath ", which set the tone for the new material. Recorded at Morgan Studios in London by Mike Butcher and building off the stylistic changes introduced on Vol. 4 , new songs incorporated synthesisers, strings and complex arrangements. Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman
5880-514: The end of 1992. Martin returned as vocalist for two more studio albums, Cross Purposes (1994) and Forbidden (1995), and one live album before the band went on a one-year hiatus during 1996. The original line-up of Iommi, Osbourne, Butler and Ward reunited in 1997, releasing a live album, Reunion , in the following year, and continuing to tour sporadically until 2005, most of which saw Black Sabbath headline Osbourne's annual festival tour Ozzfest . The band went on another hiatus in 2006 when
5978-526: The end of the month. "It just wasn't right, so I left", Iommi said. "At first I thought Tull were great, but I didn't much go for having a leader in the band, which was Ian Anderson 's way. When I came back from Tull, I came back with a new attitude altogether. They taught me that to get on, you got to work for it." While playing shows in England in 1969, the band discovered they were being mistaken for another English group named Earth, so they decided to change their name again (this name change would give rise to
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#17327647184686076-400: The end product "was very badly produced, as far as I was concerned. Our then-manager insisted on producing it, so he could claim production costs". The album was originally titled Snowblind after the song of the same name, which deals with cocaine abuse. The record company changed the title at the last minute to Black Sabbath Vol. 4 . Ward observed, "There was no Volume 1, 2 or 3, so it's
6174-495: The first three albums, and we decided to take our time with the next album." In June 1972, the band reconvened in Los Angeles to begin work on their next album at the Record Plant . With more time in the studio, the album saw the band experimenting with new textures, such as strings, piano, orchestration and multi-part songs. Recording was plagued with problems, many as a result of substance abuse issues. Struggling to record
6272-456: The idea of having the stage set be Stonehenge. He wrote the dimensions down and gave it to our tour manager. He wrote it down in metres but he meant to write it down in feet. The people who made it saw fifteen metres instead of fifteen feet. It was 45 feet high and it wouldn't fit on any stage anywhere so we just had to leave it in the storage area. It cost a fortune to make but there was not a building on earth that you could fit it into. Following
6370-427: The live album Live Evil (1982), the last two featuring drummer Vinny Appice replacing Ward. Following Dio and Appice's departures, Iommi and Butler recorded Born Again (1983) with then-former Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan and Ward returning on drums, while the latter was replaced by then- Electric Light Orchestra drummer Bev Bevan on the subsequent tour. Black Sabbath split in 1984, with Iommi assembling
6468-466: The lyrics for a song called " Black Sabbath ", which was inspired by the work of horror and adventure-story writer Dennis Wheatley , along with a vision that Butler had of a black silhouetted figure standing at the foot of his bed. Making use of the musical tritone , also known as "the Devil's Interval", the song's ominous sound and dark lyrics pushed the band in a darker direction, a stark contrast to
6566-412: The mixing process for the album, Iommi and Butler had a falling-out with Dio. Misinformed by their then-current mixing engineer, Iommi and Butler accused Dio of sneaking into the studio at night to raise the volume of his vocals. In addition, Dio was not satisfied with the pictures of him in the artwork. Butler also accused Dio and Appice of working on a solo album during the album's mixing without telling
6664-408: The name Black Sabbath. Pressured by the band's manager, Don Arden , the two compromised and released the album as "Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi" in January 1986. "It opened up a whole can of worms," Iommi explained. "If we could have done it as a solo album, it would have been accepted a lot more." Seventh Star sounded little like a Sabbath album, incorporating instead elements popularised by
6762-436: The new album. Gruber was soon replaced by Geoff Nicholls of Quartz . The new line-up returned to Criteria Studios in November to begin recording work, with Butler returning to the band in January 1980 and Nicholls moving to keyboards. Produced by Martin Birch , Heaven and Hell was released on 25 April 1980, to critical acclaim. Over a decade after its release, AllMusic said the album was "one of Sabbath's finest records,
6860-444: The new band were in rehearsals in January 1978, Osbourne had a change of heart and rejoined Black Sabbath. "Three days before we were due to go into the studio, Ozzy wanted to come back to the band", Iommi explained. "He wouldn't sing any of the stuff we'd written with the other guy (Walker), so it made it very difficult. We went into the studio with basically no songs. We'd write in the morning so we could rehearse and record at night. It
6958-406: The other members of Black Sabbath. "Ronnie wanted more say in things", Iommi said. "And Geezer would get upset with him and that is where the rot set in. Live Evil is when it all fell apart. Ronnie wanted to do more of his own thing, and the engineer we were using at the time in the studio didn't know what to do, because Ronnie was telling him one thing and we were telling him another. At the end of
7056-752: The popular music of the late 1960s, which was dominated by flower power , folk music and hippie culture . Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford has called the track "probably the most evil song ever written". Inspired by the new sound, the band changed their name to Black Sabbath in August 1969, and made the decision to focus on writing similar material in an attempt to create the musical equivalent of horror films. The band's first show as Black Sabbath took place on 30 August 1969 in Workington , England. They were signed to Philips Records in November 1969. They recorded their first single, " Evil Woman " (a cover of
7154-547: The reunion of Mob Rules -era Black Sabbath, but, after the tour, Ronnie James Dio (vocals) and Vinny Appice (drums) departed. They were replaced by former Sabbath vocalist Tony Martin and former Rainbow drummer Bobby Rondinelli . Geezer Butler remained with the group, although he would depart later in the year again before the recording of the Forbidden album. Rondinelli left the recording sessions for Quiet Riot 's album Terrified to join Black Sabbath. The album
7252-569: The show were telecast on ABC Television in the U.S., exposing the band to a wider American audience. In the same year, the band shifted management, signing with notorious English manager Don Arden . The move caused a contractual dispute with Black Sabbath's former management, and while on stage in the U.S., Osbourne was handed a subpoena that led to two years of litigation. Black Sabbath began work on their sixth album in February 1975, again in England at Morgan Studios in Willesden , this time with
7350-432: The song "Cornucopia" after "sitting in the middle of the room, just doing drugs", Ward was nearly fired. "I hated the song, there were some patterns that were just ... horrible," the drummer said. "I nailed it in the end, but the reaction I got was the cold shoulder from everybody. It was like, 'Well, just go home; you're not being of any use right now.' I felt like I'd blown it, I was about to get fired". Butler thought that
7448-497: The song "Junior's Eyes" on the BBC Television programme Look! Hear! Walker later recalled that, while in Birmingham, he had bumped into Osbourne in a pub and came to the conclusion that Osbourne was not fully committed to leaving Black Sabbath. "The last Sabbath albums were just very depressing for me", Osbourne said. "I was doing it for the sake of what we could get out of the record company, just to get fat on beer and put
7546-483: The song. "What's the Use?" was released only on the Japanese edition of Cross Purposes , which also contained a free sticker of the artwork. A nearly identical version of the "burning angel" image was featured on the Scorpions single Send Me an Angel three years earlier. Bradley Torreano of AllMusic rated the album 3 stars out of 5, praising it for bridging various aspects of the band's different eras. He said it
7644-571: The story as "a joke" and Bolton insisting it was "only a rumour". The band settled on former Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan to replace Dio in December 1982. The project was initially not to be called Black Sabbath, but pressure from the record label forced the group to retain the name. The band entered The Manor Studios in Shipton-on-Cherwell , Oxfordshire, in June 1983 with a returned and newly sober Bill Ward on drums. "That
7742-478: The studio at the last minute. Ward explains: "We didn't have enough songs for the album, and Tony just played the [Paranoid] guitar lick and that was it. It took twenty, twenty-five minutes from top to bottom." The single was released in September 1970 and reached number four on the UK Singles Chart , remaining Black Sabbath's only top 10 hit. The album followed in the UK in October 1970, where, pushed by
7840-463: The success of the "Paranoid" single, it reached number one on the UK Albums Chart . The U.S. release was held off until January 1971, as the Black Sabbath album was still on the chart at the time of Paranoid ' s UK release. The album reached No. 12 in the U.S. in March 1971, and would go on to sell four million copies in the U.S. with virtually no radio airplay. Like Black Sabbath ,
7938-524: The top 50 in the U.S. and was the band's second consecutive release not to achieve Platinum status, although it was later certified Gold in 1997. The album included " Dirty Women ", which remains a live staple, as well as Ward's first lead vocal on the song "It's Alright". Touring in support of Technical Ecstasy began in November 1976, with openers Boston and Ted Nugent in the U.S., and completed in Europe with AC/DC in April 1977. In late 1977, while in rehearsal for their next album and just days before
8036-485: The usual support band fee in return for free T-shirts. The audience response was positive and Simpson agreed to manage Earth. In December 1968, Iommi abruptly left Earth to join Jethro Tull . Although his stint with the band would be short-lived, Iommi made an appearance with Jethro Tull on The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus TV show. Unsatisfied with the direction of Jethro Tull, Iommi returned to Earth by
8134-462: The way they were on Vol. 4 , and we really got discontent", Iommi said. "Everybody was sitting there waiting for me to come up with something. I just couldn't think of anything. And if I didn't come up with anything, nobody would do anything". After a month in Los Angeles with no results, the band opted to return to England. They rented Clearwell Castle in The Forest of Dean . "We rehearsed in
8232-518: The well-known debate about the alleged aesthetic influence of Coven , which the British band always denied ). A cinema across the street from the band's rehearsal room was showing the 1963 Italian horror film Black Sabbath , starring Boris Karloff and directed by Mario Bava . While watching people line up to see the film, Butler noted that it was "strange that people spend so much money to see scary movies". Following that, Osbourne and Butler wrote
8330-505: Was "the first album since Born Again that actually sounds like a real Sabbath record" and "probably the best thing they'd released since The Mob Rules , even with the filler tracks and keyboards." In July 2014, Guitar World magazine ranked Cross Purposes at number six in the "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list. The album peaked at number 122 on the US Billboard 200 charts but made it to number 41 on
8428-572: Was a great showman, but when Dio came in, it was a different attitude, a different voice and a different musical approach, as far as vocals. Dio would sing across the riff, whereas Ozzy would follow the riff, like in "Iron Man". Ronnie came in and gave us another angle on writing." Geezer Butler temporarily left the band in September 1979 for personal reasons. According to Dio, the band initially hired Craig Gruber , with whom Dio had previously played while in Elf and Rainbow , on bass to assist with writing
8526-433: Was at this point still trying to convince Osbourne to rejoin the band, as he viewed the original line-up as the most profitable. Dio officially joined in June, and the band began writing their next album. With a notably different vocal style from Osbourne's, Dio's addition to the band marked a change in Black Sabbath's sound. "They were totally different altogether", Iommi explains. "Not only voice-wise, but attitude-wise. Ozzy
8624-410: Was brought in as a session player, appearing on " Sabbra Cadabra ". In November 1973, Black Sabbath began to receive positive reviews in the mainstream press after the release of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath , with Gordon Fletcher of Rolling Stone calling the album "an extraordinarily gripping affair" and "nothing less than a complete success". Later reviewers such as AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia cite
8722-549: Was close with Osbourne, was chosen by Iommi to break the news to the singer on 27 April 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". Sharon Arden (later Sharon Osbourne ), daughter of Black Sabbath manager Don Arden , suggested former Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio to replace Ozzy Osbourne in 1979 . Don Arden
8820-420: Was not supposed to be a Black Sabbath album. After we had done the album we gave it to Warner Bros. and they said they were going to put it out as a Black Sabbath album and we didn't have a leg to stand on. I got really disillusioned with it and Gillan was really pissed off about it. That lasted one album and one tour and then that was it." One vocalist whose status is disputed, both inside and outside Sabbath,
8918-408: Was panned on release by critics. Despite this negative reception, it reached number four in the UK, and number 39 in the U.S. Even three decades after its release, AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia called the album "dreadful", noting that "Gillan's bluesy style and humorous lyrics were completely incompatible with the lords of doom and gloom". Unable to tour because of the pressures of the road, Ward quit
9016-550: Was recorded at John Lennon 's old house in England, was also featured in the 1981 animated film Heavy Metal , although the film version is an alternate take and differs from the album version. Unhappy with the quality of 1980's Live at Last , the band recorded another live album – titled Live Evil – during the Mob Rules world tour, across the United States in Dallas , San Antonio and Seattle , in 1982. During
9114-669: Was recorded at Monnow Valley Studio , in Wales. Tony Martin explained during the show at Roseland in NYC on February 12, 1995, that "Psychophobia" was about David Koresh , and the Waco, Texas, incident. A promo video in black-and-white was shot for the song "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle". Tony Martin explained in a 2011 interview with Martin Popoff that he wrote this song about Beverly Allitt ,
9212-509: Was released in January 1983, but was overshadowed by Ozzy Osbourne's Platinum-selling album Speak of the Devil . The remaining original members, Iommi and Butler, began auditioning singers for the band's next release. Deep Purple and Whitesnake 's David Coverdale , Samson 's Nicky Moore and Lone Star 's John Sloman were all considered, and Iommi states in his autobiography that Michael Bolton auditioned, though this claim has been disputed, with Butler suggesting that Iommi concocted
9310-450: Was released on 25 September 1976 to mixed reviews, and – for the first time – later music critics gave the album less favourable retrospective reviews; two decades after its release, AllMusic gave the album two stars, and noted that the band was "unravelling at an alarming rate". The album featured less of the doomy, ominous sound of previous efforts, and incorporated more synthesisers and uptempo rock songs. Technical Ecstasy failed to reach
9408-516: Was so difficult, like a conveyor belt, because you couldn't get time to reflect on stuff. 'Is this right? Is this working properly?' It was very difficult for me to come up with the ideas and putting them together that quick". The band spent five months at Sounds Interchange Studios in Toronto , Ontario, Canada, writing and recording what would become Never Say Die! . "It took quite a long time", Iommi said. "We were getting really drugged out, doing
9506-523: Was the band's first release not to achieve Platinum status in the U.S., only achieving Gold certification. Although the album's only single " Am I Going Insane (Radio) " failed to chart, Sabotage features fan favourites such as " Hole in the Sky " and " Symptom of the Universe ". Black Sabbath toured in support of Sabotage with openers Kiss , but were forced to cut the tour short in November 1975, following
9604-423: Was the very first album that I ever did clean and sober," Ward recalled. "I only got drunk after I finished all my work on the album – which wasn't a very good idea... Sixty to seventy per cent of my energy was taken up on learning how to get through the day without taking a drink and learning how to do things without drinking, and thirty per cent of me was involved in the album." Born Again (9 September 1983)
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