Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath are the archetypal heavy metal band, the blueprint for countless imitators that sprang up in the late Seventies. While Deep Purple had classical pretensions and Led Zeppelin indulged in mysticism, Sabbath blended down-to-earth heavy rock with highly theatrical occult imagery. Their menacing presence, aided and abetted on stage by the manic leaps of singer Ozzy Osbourne, provided an aggressive contrast to late Sixties flower power. It also established a musical formula, which would, with time, come to seem restrictive, and lead to serious disagreements within the band. The four original members - guitarist Tony Iommi, born 19th February 1948, drummer Bill Ward, born 5th May 1948, bassist Geezer Butler, born 17th July 1949 and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, born 3rd December 1948 - left the same Birmingham school together in 1968 to form a group called Earth. Playing a Jazz-Blues fusion, they gigged continuously in Birmingham and Hamburg, where they broke the Beatles' house record at the Star Club. Despite their cult following, they became frustrated by their lack of international success. Under the guidance of their first manager Jim Simpson, they changed their name in 1969 to Black Sabbath (the title of one of their early songs), increased the volume and adopted a suitably macabre image. Paranoid and paranormal They continued touring the club circuit in Britain and Germany, and released a one-off single on Fontana. The same cut - Evil Woman - became their first single on Vertigo Records in March 1970. Their first LP, Black Sabbath, was released simultaneously. Recorded in two days at a cost of £600, it reflected their adherence to rock basics, although overdubbed sound effects, church bells, rain etc., added the required 'occult' flavour. Heavily promoted for its association with the paranormal, the record stayed in the UK charts for three months. Maintaining their momentum, the band returned to the studio to record what was to become their classic single, Paranoid, and the album of the same name. Released together in September 1970, these records confirmed the band's domestic popularity. Paranoid reached number 4 in the UK charts and also won interest for the band in the US. Embarking on a university tour there in the autumn of 1970, Ozzy and the band consolidated the strong impression they had made on American hard rock fans. The quick success of both LP and single surprised both the band and their record company, with the album eventually clocking up a 65-week stay in the Billboard charts. Sabbath under strain Sabbath went on to extend their popularity by maintaining a gruelling worldwide touring schedule throughout the early Seventies. Their behaviour on the road and in hotels conformed to heavy rock tradition - room wrecking, groupie and drinking binges, and so on. Ozzy in particular appeared to be interested only in alcohol and hectic rock music, drawing his energy from the rapport he created with his increasingly dedicated following. The Master Of Reality album, released in 1971, and Black Sabbath 4, released in 1972, earned Black Sabbath world-wide recognition, but it was Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, released in 1973, that finally achieved an ideal fusion of the band's live energy and the crushing, oppressive weight of their doomy songs. Success brought its problems for Black Sabbath. They had parted company from their original manager Jim Simpson, replacing him first with Patrick Meehan and then with Don Arden. Now they found themselves on the receiving end of accusations of contract breaking from Simpson, and Ozzy was handed a subpoena as he walked on stage at an American date in 1975. As a result of these wrangles, Sabbath attempted to manage themselves. Since they were writing and recording an album a year and undertaking a punishing tour schedule, including their debut in Madison Square Garden in New York in 1975, the strain was beginning to tell. Ozzy was drinking heavily, and personality conflicts were developing within the band. Ozzy's insistence that the band live up to his hard drinking image was beginning to concern the other members, while on a musical level, Tony Iommi's increasing interest in more complex arrangements was alienating Ozzy, who preferred a basic approach. Sabotage, released in September 1975, adhered to the basic heavy-rock formula, but the sessions for Technical Ecstasy the following year saw Iommi experimenting with overdubbing and even, in Ozzy's absence, a horn section. Ozzy drew away from the other members of the band, and in 1977 he left Black Sabbath only to rejoin a year later, ousting his temporary replacement, former Savoy Brown singer Dave Walker. Ozzy and Black Sabbath cut one more album together, Never Say Die in 1979, but the ill feeling remained and Ozzy departed in a flurry of insults to launch in solo project, Blizzard of Oz. Ozzy goes bats Ozzy's departure deprived the band of their front man, one who went on to develop even higher peaks of the macabre. He also took with him a sizeable portion of Black Sabbath's audience, for whom he had always been, the focal point. His albums, Blizzard of Oz (1980) and Diary of a Madman (1982) were remarkably successful, particularly in the US, where 'Diary' remained on the Billboard charts for over a year. The remaining members of Black Sabbath, meanwhile, recruited former Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio. Bill Ward retired for health reasons, to be replaced by Vinnie Appice, younger brother of Vanilla Fudge drummer Carmine Appice. Geezer Butler also left briefly but returned to the fold soon afterwards. Dio resisted the temptation to imitate Ozzy's style, stamping his own personality on the two studio albums, Heaven and Hell (1980) and Mob Rules (1981). Acrimony persisted between Ozzy and the band, especially after the 1980 release of Sabbath, Live At Last, which featured recordings made before the split. Ozzy still laid claim to much of the Sabbath catalogue, using the old numbers in his act and on a live album. Tension was developing between Dio and the other members of Black Sabbath over his dominant role in the group, with Iommi alleging that Dio had tampered with the mixes of Live Evil (1982) to make his vocals more prominent. In November 1982 they split with Dio, who took drummer Vinnie Appice with him to form a new band, entitled Dio. At the same time Butler and Iommi dissatisfied with the efforts of Sandy Perlman, who had become their manager, signed a deal with their old boss Don Arden. Although the beginning of 1983 saw Black Sabbath unsure of their future, the vitality that drove the group to worldwide success in the early Seventies had left its mark. For several years, Black Sabbath were the heavy metal band, and 'Paranoid' was the heavy metal anthem.

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