When it comes to Heavy Metal, the first name that comes to mind is Metallica. But when we consider the first examples of the species and then how it spread to the world, the first name we will mention is Black Sabbath.
The story of Black Sabbath, considered the founding ancestor of Heavy Metal, began in 1968 in Birmingham. Their first name was ‘Polka Tulk Blues’. Ozzy Osbourne on vocal, Tony Iommi on guitar, Geezer Butler on bass guitar and Bill Ward on drums later became Earth. The band’s bassist, Geezer Butler, was in front of Aston cinema and saw people lining up to watch Mario Bava’s horror film Black Sabbath, and he immediately told Ozzy Osbourne the revived idea. ‘If people go to the movies to be scared, they can listen to music to be scared,’ he thought. The Osbourne and Butler duo wrote the song ‘Black Sabbath’ under the influence of the film, and the band’s name changed for the last time.
Firt and Second Albums
His first album ‘Black Sabbath’ was released in February 1970 and made a quick entry to all lists. The team, which describes the music they made on the first album as ‘The Dark Blues’, received harsh criticism, but achieved remarkable sales figures both in the United States and the UK.
Entering the studio for the second album, band members wanted to call it ‘War Pigs’ under the influence of the Vietnam War. Warner Bros Record company was uncomfortable with this name, the album ‘Paranoid’ led to the name. The album, released in September 1970, was a great success.
With the second album, heavy metal had become more talked about and increased its audience. Meanwhile, Led Zeppelin became one of the new sounds of metal, contributing to the spread of the species. After ‘Master of Reality’ and ‘Volume 4’ albums, alcohol and drug problems began to emerge at Black Sabbath. The fourth album opened the world tour for Black Sabbath, and the band was recognized as the number one name in metal music because of its success.
Ronnie James Dio Period
When the calendars showed in June 1976, Ozzy Osbourne began to get tired of the band and embraced the idea of continuing his career alone. The ‘Technical Ecstasy’ and ‘Never Say Die’ albums received heavy criticism from the authorities. “This album may be the beginning of the end,” says Geezer Butler, one of the band’s prominent figures. Ozzy Osbourne’s departure from the group, the drug and alcohol problem, forced the other members of the group to decide to leave.
Ozzy Osbourne was fired from the band after the New Mexico concert on December 11, 1978. Sharon Arden, the daughter of Black Sabbath’s manager Don Arden, who will later marry Ozzy Osbourne, offers the group Ronnie James Dio. In 1980, Geoff Nicholls joined the band as a keyboard player. Black Sabbath, who was reborn from his ashes with two new names joining the band and the album ‘Heaven and Hell’, received positive reviews.
The album sales exploded, making a great entry into the Dio era and once again touring the world. Osbourne, who continues his music career alone, draws a successful line in his solo career thanks to his loyal fans. The friction between Tony Iommi and Dio, who has always maintained his faith in the group, despite everything going well for two years, turns into a separation. Dio leaves the group to form his own band.
After Dio, many different names join Black Sabbath for many years. But Black Sabbath’s path will cross with Ronnie James Dio once again. In August 1990, Iommi persuaded Dio to return to the group. The team entered the studio without delay and worked hard and two years later released the album ‘Dehumanizer’. After the album, he toured Black Sabbath and invited Ozzy Osbourne, who was on tour in California, to perform as a pre-group. The group members accept this invitation, but Dio leaves the group saying “I don’t support that clown.”
Great Meeting
In 1997, Tony Iommi was still the only member who did not leave the group. Iommi, who has maintained her belief in the group from the beginning, has reunited the original members. The return of Ozzy Osborne to the band had a big impact in the music world and the album ‘Reunion’, released on October 20, 1998, ravaged all the lists. The song ‘Iron Man’ was awarded the ‘Best Metal Performance Grammy Award’. Although everything went well, Osbourne wanted to pursue a solo career.
In 2006, after a six-year hiatus, Ozzy Osbourne, not Iommi, would unite the group members who once again parted ways. In 2010, Osbourne said that he wanted to bring the group’s original quartet together, and in 2012 he realized his dream. Iommi, Butler and Ward are back on stage with Osbourne. The Black Sabbath crowned this merger with a wonderful album which once again earned the respect of the music world with their concerts despite their advanced years. The album ’13’ was their last album. Black Sabbath, who has been regarded as the creator of heavy metal and its derivatives with the music he has produced since 1968, gave his last concert in his hometown of Birmingham and left his fans in February 2017.
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