| BLACK SABBATH |
| Black Sabbath is known for having taken the late 60's blues sound of Cream, and mixing it with the melodic styles popularized by The Beatles to create the early hard rock scene. Heavy base, screaming guitar solo's and lyrics that spoke of mental anguish would go on to define 70's metal and influence rock artist for years to come. The, now legendary, band was formed by four teenage friends from Aston, near Brimingham, England. The band consisted of Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, Terrance Butler and of course the imfamous John "Ozzy" Osbourne. They originaly thought of themselves as a Jazz-Blues folk band and called themselves "Earth", that name was later scraped due to complications with a band of the same name. Their song, "Black Sabbath", which got its name from a novel by occult writer Dennis Wheatley, soon inspired the band to change their name to it as well. |
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| The band was soon signed to major lable Phillips Records in 1969 and released their self titled debut which reached the U.K. top 10. The band quickly released their second album, the classic, Paranoid. The title track, which was released as a single, reached the U.K. top five and the album went number one as well. |
The band remained intact throughout most of the 70's. It wasn't untill 1977 that conflicts within the band began to take their toll. In addition the band had lost it's earlier orchestral sound and had become unplesantly consistant. Tony Iommi wanted to revise the Sabbath sound and add other elements, including horns. Meanwhile, Ozzy resisted any change in the format. "Technical Ecstacy", which included some of Iommi's renivations selled well, but not as well as previous albums had. Ozzy, frustrated with the band left in 1977. He was replaced for some live concerts by Savory Brown frontman, Dave Walker, but Ozzy returned in January of 1978. Without Ozzy the band released "Heaven And Hell" which was a tremendous success for the suffering members. The band seemed to be doing well until Dio and Iomi argued over the mixing of their 10th album, "Live Evil". Dio left the band and forced Tony Iommi to reorganize the band again. In a move that surprised everyone, Iommi recruted former Black Sabbath rival, Ian Gillan from Deep Purple. This partnership lasted for a while, but the band would not release any other great albums from this point on. Black Sabbath had exausted their commercial appeal as a record selling band. A tribute album was released in 1994 and sparked new interest in the band. The album featured appearences from all four original members plus Megadeath, White Zombie, Seputlura, Biohazard, Ugly Kid Joe, Bruce Dickinson, Therapy?, Corrosion Of Conformity, and Type O Negitive. In December of 1997, the band released the 2-CD set "Reunion" which went platnum in the U.S. Black Sabbath won it's first Grammy with "Iron Man" for best Metal performance. Black Sabbath agreed once again to headline OZZFEST 2001, and surprisingly have agreed to release a new studio album of all new material. |
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| With Ozzy back on for the moment, the band began work on their 8th album, "Never Say Die!". The album released several singles, none of which improved Sabbath's commercial problems. In 1979 Osbourne left Black Sabbath for a solo career. He was replaced by Ronnie James Dio. |