Ten Reasons To Dig Black Sabbath

Xmas 2007. As you can see, party streamers and Sabbath t-shirts were all the rage back then. Barack Obama was that dude running against Hilary Clinton, Kevin was 07, actually it was a pretty good year.

Anyway, on to a blog with a topic, a rare diversion indeed.

Ten Reasons To Dig Black Sabbath

Now I have to confess I am just making this up as I go along. But while a few songs will get a mention as reasons, too many would be cheating. And this blog would be called "At least fifty reasons to dig Black Sabbath". Some are personal, some are not. But they're my ten reasons, in no order whatsoever except as I think of them.

1. Tony Iommi's Moustache.
The second-longest serving band member, just behind "The Rest Of Tony Iommi". You see, there was a period there around 1974 when the moustache disappeared. Thankfully sanity prevailed and it never missed the album cover pix. While some might argue that the moustache has presided over some of Sabbath's lesser moments, the fact remains that it is there for everything that counts. What other conclusion can be drawn, but that T.I.M., as the cognoscenti call him, is as integral to Sabbath's unique sound as a Gibson SG or a nostril full of cocaine.

2. Dirty Big Fat Gibson SG.
If you think that I think that a Mr T. Iommi, or "Frank" as the early sheet music credits him, is primarily responsible for the Sabbath sound, then you'd be as right as a 90 degree angle. But even a man and a moustache can't do it alone. Strangely enough, as a guitarist I think we need to consider his weapon of choice. I love the pic from the inside of Volume 4 where he is cranking it out on a cherry red SG. It's also my favourite Sabbath album (see below) and look, really, is there a more Iommi-ish looking guitar than the SG? Without his sound modern music would be completely different, and there's not many you can say that about.

3. Geezer Butler.
What a fantastic bass player. He is one of the best. I love watching him play, unlike most rock and metal bassplayers he is all over the neck and often fingerpicking at a million miles an hour. Melodic, dark, heavy, holding it down or driving it up, you name it and Geezer, or Terry to his mother, does it. N.I.B. is his signature tune, with the "Bassically" intro (as described on the American release of the "Black Sabbath" album) being a rare example of a recorded - as opposed to live - bass solo. Aside from that he wrote most of the early lyrics and his moustache has remained a constant. He has worn some of the worst pants in rock history. We don't care.

4. Symptom Of The Universe.
Greatest opening riff ever? Well it's this, Riff Raff and Brown Sugar for mine - and yeah then about 400 others but anyway. The entire future of metal in one mid-70s song. I can well do without the acoustic outro - yes guys try something different if you're bored but not in THIS song - but who cares. Seriously one of the greatest songs ever. I first heard this song in my best mate Lee's bedroom, someone had given him a second hand copy of Sabotage and I sat there with my jaw on the ground. When I saw the live 1978 video with this as the first track, I thought it was the best thing in the history of the universe. It's still up there.

5. Neon Knights.
Talk about a reborn band coming out of the traps and kicking critics' arses with stack heeled boots. "Heaven and Hell" was a monster album in 1980, especially after the last few lightweight efforts with Ozzy. Oh when I was fifteen and taped the clip off the TV one afternoon. I watched it every day. Every day. I just thought it was the coolest thing in the world to actually have a Black Sabbath video that I could watch whenever I wanted. Countdown and other music shows did not feature metal except on the rarest of occasions (Iron Maiden, Krokus) when a band did well in the local charts. "Oh, no, here it comes again". Tony goes off. Ronnie goes off. Guess what Geezer and Bill do?

6. Volume 4 (album)
My favourite, over the first one, Sabotage, and Heaven and Hell. Full of utterly awesome, uniquely brilliant songs. Yes, each side has a "why?" track, but if you can't dig Wheels of Confusion, Tomorrow's Dream, Supernaut, Snowblind, Cornucopia, St Vitus Dance, and the mighty Under The Sun, then you seriously need medical help, because your ears have fallen off of your head. I bought it second hand when I was 14 and I still have the original vinyl, in its super fold out gatefold bonus photo inner sleeve sleeve, complete with a very pinkish-purple looking Ozzy Osbourne.. Great guitars, great songs, awesome performances from everyone, apparently recorded amongst a blizzard of cocaine and groupies, well more fucking power to them, they were about 24 years old and a huge rock band with all the trappings in the early 70s.

7. Writing their name in a crucifix shape

as in

S
BLACK
B
B
A
T
H

which I did on many a surface, legally or otherwise, in my teens. How cool can it get when you discover you can write your favourite 'evil' band's name in a crucifix shape? However I can't work out how to bloody do it properly on this page !

8. Inventing (or Inspiring) Heavy Metal.
Black Sabbath invented heavy metal, even if they deny involvement...'we're a bloody rock band' etc etc...there would be no Judas Priest, no Iron Maiden, no Venom, no Celtic Frost, no Slayer, let alone non-metal bands like Queens of the Stone Age, soundgarden and Nirvana who owe them plenty. I love Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, but you can stick them up your arse when it comes to being metal bands, as many writers used to claim. Tony Iommi's guitar sound, Sabbath's dark power, Ozzy's vocals and charisma, the power chords, detuning, bleak lyrical themes...maybe "invented" could be disputed but certainly not "inspired". Today's metal sound, and that of decades past, can't be imagined without the primary existence of Black Sabbath.

9. Have I Mentioned The Drummer?
Bill Ward is one of the most tedious interview subjects ever to exorcise his personal demons to a long suffering music writer. For a man who played some of the most inventive drums of the 70s - and that is a big call - he can really drone on about alcohol, drugs, abstinence, suicidal thoughts, and anything else you're not that interested in after the first three times. Thankfully when you listen to his work as opposed to his guilt complex, you realise, well, how fucking good he was. Sabbath would not be Sabbath without him behind the kit. His replacement Vinnie Appice is a talented drummer who has nothing to prove, but I just love Bill Ward's individual approach to the kit, often changing tempos, styles and beats several times within a song. Sorry I can't do technical drum comments, he's just really inventive and does interesting stuff all over the place while thundering this mighty band along. And his pants on the Sabotage album cover are a high point in 70s rock fashion.

10. Ozzy and Ronnie.
Ronnie James Dio has a truly amazing voice. His performing, songwriting, and general all round awesomely huge sleeves have enthralled hard rock and metal fans since the 70s. Ozzy Osbourne can say exactly the same things. When it comes to actual vocal ability, you'd have to say Ronnie is the winner. I have heard some appalling Ozzy live stuff - a couple of songs mind you among dozens of great ones - but Ozzy makes up for it with personality and really the two of them are very different but equally matched in many ways. Without Ozzy there would have been no Sabbath, Ronnie took them in another direction very skilfully but not for very long. I love them both.