You can read more about the event here: http://www.blabbermouth.net/blacksabbathnews
As this news sinks in, I feel weird, as though the end of Sabbath means the end of an era. Thankfully, we will have their massive catalogue of music and concert videos to re-live the many classic moments of this monumental rock band. The grand-daddies of heavy metal. The pioneers of the genre. Some argue that Black Sabbath were not the first to play such heavy music, but I'd argue it this way: okay, so Blue Cheer and a few other 60's bands came up with some songs featuring loud, heavily-distorted guitar. Fine. But it was Sabbath who took those elements, and more, and refined them into a style that they successfully splayed across their eponymous first album... everyone agreed this was no longer just rock'n'roll or bluesy rock... this was something brand new, a genre as yet undiscovered.
The sound of rain, lightning, and church-bells tolling set the stage. Then the doomy, ominous guitar announces an unearthly presence through the use of the tritone, also known as the diminished fifth, and even as the Devil's Interval. That dark, unsettling set of notes was the basis for the first song on the first album, Black Sabbath. Ozzy and his cohorts resurrected that diabolus in musica (yet another name for the Devil's Interval), which had supposedly been banned by clerics in the Middle Ages for fear of raising the devil himself. The interval violates music conventions, creating unease in the listener. And with that device, Sabbath injected anxiety and dread into their music, much to the delight of their faithful fans.
I've been intrigued by the music of Sabbath ever since I first heard them on the radio back in the late 70's, when I was in my early teens. The time was right for such subversive music to make its mark upon me. Though Kiss and Led Zeppelin were my introduction to heavy music, it was Black Sabbath who truly won me over to the dark side of actual heavy metal. Not that I worshipped Satan or anything; I simply loved loud riffs, complex solos, aggressive drumming, wailing vocals, and most importantly, songs containing dark lyrical imagery.
Ozzy Osborne wrote the lyrics to the song Black Sabbath after hearing bassist Geezer Butler's account of a spooky real-life experience. Guitarist Tony Iommi responded with his now-famous tritone riff - borrowed from classical composer Holst's "Mars, The Bringer of War". Drummer Bill Ward laid down a jazz-influenced percussive backdrop that mimicked the creaking doors and slamming window shutters of a haunted house.
I followed Black Sabbath on and off during my life, tape-recording the "hits" off the radio back in the late 70's, then buying a handful of their albums during the 80's. A hefty double-album compilation was the meat of the Sab section of my music collection. So I was sort of missing out on their lesser known tunes for a long time. I loved the Ronnie James Dio years, but after a luke-warm response to Born Again with singer Ian Gillan, I lost touch entirely.
Though I didn't follow Tony Iommi and his various incarnations of Sabbath through the 90's, I did hear bits of news here and there about reunion tours with Ozzy. And I still relived the excitement of the old albums on my stereo. I eventually filled out the Ozzy-years part of my collection when I picked up a nice box set. That, along with the four Dio albums, Born Again, and the latest "13", are my idea of Sabbath. I've heard some of the other records with other singers and bassists and drummers, and it was easy to forget them. I am all about vintage Black Sabbath, or at least vintage "sounding" Black Sabbath. Both Ozzy and Dio recaptured some of that magic on their more recent albums with the crew.
And when I discovered a 1963 Boris Karloff horror movie entitled Black Sabbath, that got me to wondering. A little investigating uncovered the fact that the boys in the band, then under the moniker of Earth - and fans of frightful cinema, renamed themselves after that creepy film. A most appropriate connection.
On the concert front, it took me a good long time to get around to seeing Sab. I was a bit young when I first discovered the band, and even when Dio was on board, I didn't have any like-minded metal friends who'd go see such earth-shattering live music. And of course, the complete lack of cohesion in the band left little for me to enjoy in subsequent years.
When I heard that Heaven and Hell - the old Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio line-up - was coming to town back in 2007, I nearly hit the roof. I rounded up a crew of friends and we spent an evening bathing in the glory of Dio belting out all of the powerful music he produced with Sabbath. That was perhaps the best concert I ever saw. Certainly unforgettable and special, considering dear Ronnie passed away just a few years later. Read more here. 2009 saw a pretty good return to form as Dio and his Sabbath mates recorded their fourth and final album together, The Devil You Know.
Though I'd seen Ozzy solo (hashing out a handful of Sabbath oldies) a few times in years past, it wasn't until friggin' 2014 that I finally saw him onstage with his old mates. Only drummer Bill Ward was absent, but the show was still a blast. And original bass maestro Geezer was back in the fold, after having skipped the Sabbath gig for a long spell. What a show... not quite as impactful as the Dio performance I saw, but definitely a milestone in my life. More here.
I can't imagine what the music world would have been like without Black Sabbath. They, along with Judas Priest (who began their recording career a few years after Sabbath), lay the framework for what heavy metal would become. Sab was responsible for the shift in musical and lyrical themes in popular music. In contrast to the bright and happy melodies and sing-a-longs on the charts, Sabbath told stories of both dark fantasy and fact, describing the horrors of our imagination and the supernatural as well as those of our real world, like war, drug abuse, mental illness, social instability, and political corruption. Not much in the way of flowers and lovey-dovey stuff.
There had to be an antithesis to the Top 40 sounds that dominated until 1970, when the Black Sabbath album dropped. It was shocking and thought-provoking. Though critics of the band have long derided them for creating simple, lunk-headed music, those who paid close attention recognized the basis upon classical music and the intelligent and reflective commentary in the lyrics.
So... without Sabbath, would there have been a Judas Priest as we now know them? Or would metal gods Iron Maiden or Metallica even exist? Or Slayer, Megadeth, or Motorhead? All of these later groups carved their own successes out of what Sabbath did in their early days. Guitar playing styles in metal may have evolved over the decades, yet the basis for all of it, from doomy riffs to spine-tingling soloing, began with Sabbath.
I salute you all, Ozzy, Tony, Geezer, and Bill (plus Ronnie and Vinny) for creating the most timeless and important music in my life. And in the lives of generations of millions of metal fans across the globe. Enjoy the show tonight!
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