Black Sabbath, in any of their incarnations across their 57-year career to date, are a force of nature. Inventing heavy metal and doom metal at a stroke, thrilling the wise with their epic fantasy lyrics and scaring the weak-witted with their satanic flirtations, Sabbath have somehow survived it all.
They’ve been through lows and highs – in commercial and narcotic senses – and have navigated periods of total unfashionability as well as others of godlike regard.
The original – and best – Sabbath lineup of John “Ozzy” Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Terence “Geezer” Butler (bass) and Bill Ward (drums) just completed the apex of their existence: Back to the Beginning at Villa Park in Birmingham. How big is this show? The support acts include Metallica, Guns N’ Roses and Tool, arena-sized acts who haven’t felt the need to support another band in decades.
How did they get to this exalted point? Well, since you asked…
It’s a bit weird, but not unreasonable, to conclude that the four musicians, all born in Aston, Birmingham, in 1948 or ’49, should never have become superstars. That kind of thing just didn’t happen in Aston, especially in the aftermath of World War II, when young men were expected to spend 45 years working in a factory before dying in their sixties.
Ozzy’s first job was as a tool-maker’s apprentice, where he cut the end of his thumb off on the very first day. Having had the missing chunk sewed back on, he moved through a succession of more or less desperate jobs, including killing livestock in an abattoir.
The tedium was briefly interrupted in 1966 by a stint in prison for breaking and entering – he was an incompetent burglar at best, once wearing fingerless gloves while attempting to steal goods from a clothing store – and another stretch after he punched a police officer in the face.
Music was his only solace, as it was for Iommi, Butler and Ward – three boys with fewer antisocial tendencies than Ozzy, but with just as poor a career outlook. Ward had started learning to play the drums as a pre-teen; Butler was playing rhythm guitar; and Iommi was pouring his efforts into mastering a cheap Watkins Rapier 22.
The future guitar hero came very close to having no musical career of any kind. When his band secured dates in Europe in 1965, Iommi was ready to quit his job as a machine-press operator, but on his last day at the factory his hand became trapped inside the machine – and the ends of his two middle right-hand fingers were severed. Doctors stopped the bleeding and managed to re-implant Iommi’s fingernails, but the damage was serious.
As he told me, “To this day it hasn’t really healed; there’s only a couple of layers of skin over the ends of the bone, and if I bend those fingers, they still hurt. I’ve looked into every conceivable way of getting them repaired surgically. They want to pull the skin forward from the rest of the finger to make a bigger covering at the fingertip, but I really don’t want to do that.”
One of the obvious problems posed to Iommi by the injury to his right hand was how to hold guitar strings down with two fingertips missing. Fortunately for the future of heavy metal, he was inspired by gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, who had evolved a way of fretting notes without using the third and fourth fingers of his left hand, which had been damaged in a fire.
Noting this, Iommi hit on the strategy of attaching home-made plastic clips to his injured fingertips to reduce the pain of holding down the strings.
As time passed, Iommi improved this further by switching to light-gauge strings and tuning down, thus reducing the string tension and making it easier to fret the notes. The consequence of this was that the riffs he played were what we would now call “heavier,” although in 1965 this was pretty meaningless.
In 1966, drummer Bill Ward formed a band called the Rest and soon asked Iommi – now playing his guitar with dexterity again – to come onboard. Ozzy, too, had decided in the absence of other options to become a singer and placed an ad on a musicians’ noticeboard.
It read “Ozzy Zig requires gig. Owns own PA” and was read with interest by Butler, who was playing in a band called Rare Breed; he contacted Ozzy and recruited him into the group.
The Rest soon split up, and Rare Breed changed their name to Mythology, although a drug bust in 1968 caused them to call it a day. Iommi and Ward knew Butler, who had by now switched to bass, and invited him to form a band with them. The latter recommended Ozzy as a singer, and by the summer of ’68 the quartet of Osbourne, Iommi, Butler and Ward had solidified.
![A black-and-white portrait of Black Sabbath in 1970 [L-R]: Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, Ozzy Osbourne.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/JHBSFd4WSxEdAqzhREHZD5-1200-80.jpg.webp)
Renaming themselves Earth, the band adopted an overdriven, blues-indebted sound, and a manager – Jim Simpson – started to handle their affairs, although in December 1968 there was a hitch when Iommi quit to join Jethro Tull, then – as now – a successful folk-rock band.
He didn’t stay long, fortunately; although he did stick around just long enough to perform with Tull in The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, in December.
Returning to Earth – literally – Iommi warned his bandmates that a new level of discipline would be required if they were to succeed. A new band name was borrowed from the 1963 horror movie Black Sabbath, and an independent producer, Tony Hall, gave the group £500 to record a debut album…
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
- Label: Warner
- U.S. release: June 1, 1970
- Producer: Rodger Bain
- Personnel: Ozzy Osbourne (vocals, blues harp), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass), Bill Ward (drums)
This album’s first song is the unholy trinity of metal – Black Sabbath on Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath. It’s based on a tritone, the infamous flattened fifth or diabolus in musica, and Ozzy’s wail of “What is this that stands before me?” is spine-chilling to this day.
Other high points on this primitive but enormously influential album include Behind the Wall of Sleep, an expert exercise in allowing a riff to breathe. There’s tangible subtlety in the songwriting, with the riffage replaced at times by a warm, pastoral range of tones, and as the drums fade out, a slick bass solo from Butler stretches out for 40 seconds, aided by a Tycho Brahe wah pedal.
The songs, the artwork, the image, Ozzy’s sinister, untrained monotone, Iommi’s monolithic riffs… all combined to create the impression of a musical phenomenon far greater than the four scruffy musicians who inhabited it. This was the emerging sound of heavy metal, and the public lapped it up, sending it to Number 23 in the U.S.
Jim Simpson began shopping the album to record companies, looking for a deal, although most of them were unimpressed. Eventually his efforts paid off and a deal was struck with Vertigo in the U.K. and Warner Brothers in North America. Suddenly Black Sabbath were a hot property, commercially speaking, even if the musicians themselves remained flat broke.
Paranoid
- Label: Warner
- U.S. release: January 7, 1971
- Producer: Rodger Bain
- Personnel: Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar, flute), Geezer Butler (bass), Bill Ward (drums)
Paranoid, which appeared a mere eight months after its predecessor, is one of the most influential metal albums of all time. Its dark, lustrous appeal helped to make it Sabbath’s first Number 1, while the Paranoid single was an international hit. These were remarkable achievements for a band who had been practically unknown a year before.
The album’s high points are many, including War Pigs, where Sabbath take a stance against the warmongering regimes of the day, widely presumed to include the U.S. administration responsible for the final stages of the Vietnam War. Lyrically, the song doesn’t win any prizes – famously, lyricist Butler rhymes “Generals gathered in their masses” with “Just like witches at black masses” – but that’s an integral part of its charm.
Planet Caravan is a surprise; a gorgeous ballad laden with echoing textures, it demonstrated that a mellower side lay within the Sabbath songwriting team. That said, Iron Man – with its carved-in-stone riff and almost comedically threatening intro, featuring Ozzy’s electronically treated wail of “I am Iron Man!” – made it clear that this band didn’t want to be friends with you. They wanted to terrify you.
Master of Reality
- Label: Warner
- U.S. release: August 6, 1971
- Producer: Rodger Bain
- Personnel: Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar, keyboards, flute), Geezer Butler (bass), Bill Ward (drums, percussion)
Master of Reality, recorded from February to April 1971, is a milestone by any standards.
Butler explained in an interview with the author: “With Master of Reality, we wanted to change the music a bit because we didn’t want to keep playing the same stuff all the time. We all bought different instruments, Tony started playing piano, we wanted to expand our musical horizons a bit. We took our time because we could afford to.”
Master begins with an ode to marijuana, Sweet Leaf, introduced by the sound of Iommi taking a hit from a joint and coughing, with the sound taped, looped and panned slowly across the speakers.
Elsewhere, the guitarist’s mellower side was on full display; see Orchid, an instrumental lasting just a minute and a half and effectively an acoustic guitar symphony. However, the immense Lord of This World and Into the Void are based on all-time classic riffs: success hadn’t taken away any of Iommi’s desire to make heavy music, evidently.
With the three-album run of Black Sabbath, Paranoid and Master of Reality, Sabbath had distinguished themselves beyond all reasonable expectations. Could they keep the momentum rolling?
Vol. 4
- Label: Warner
- U.S. release: September 30, 1972
- Producer: Black Sabbath, Patrick Meehan
- Personnel: Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar, piano, Mellotron), Geezer Butler (bass, Mellotron), Bill Ward (drums, percussion)
Vol. 4 IS a great album, if a slightly unusual one. Changes is nothing less than a piano-and-strings ballad, Supernaut is an uptempo rock anthem based on a harmony riff and huge cymbals from Ward, and Snowblind is an anthem to cocaine (“Feeling happy in my pain/Icicles within my brain” intones Ozzy.)
Laguna Sunrise is another sweet instrumental and works perfectly in context, showcasing once more Tony Iommi’s many-sided writing talents, but it’s an example of how Vol. 4 could – and did – leave a few Black Sabbath followers more than a little confused.
On the other hand, the musicianship (by all four members of the band) was superior to anything they’d done before, and the band had also successfully expanded their lyrical approach.
The album went gold in the U.S. within eight weeks of its release, where a celebrated tour followed. In fact, this was the beginning of the era of Black Sabbath’s heaviest period of rock ’n’ roll indulgence; the message on the album’s sleeve of “We wish to thank the great COKE-Cola company of Los Angeles” made it clear where the band were headed. Indeed, Iommi recalled in his 2011 autobiography, Iron Man, that Sabbath ordered cocaine to be delivered to the recording studio, hidden inside speaker boxes.
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
- Label: Warner
- U.S. release: November 1973
- Producer: Black Sabbath
- Personnel: Ozzy Osbourne (vocals, keyboards, tambourine), Tony Iommi (guitar, piano, keyboard, harpsichord, flute, bagpipes), Geezer Butler (bass, keyboards, Mellotron), Bill Ward (drums, bongos, timpani), Rick Wakeman (piano, Minimoog)
“I’d reached a point where I was addicted to narcotics,” said Bill Ward mournfully when I asked him what he recalled of the recording of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Geezer Butler saw it differently, telling me, “It was a great atmosphere – good times, great coke! Just like a new birth for me,” which reveals, if nothing else, that perspective is everything.
The pace certainly wasn’t letting up. In early ’73, Sabbath put in yet another row of international dates, this time in New Zealand, with Fairport Convention in tow. Curiously, the second support was local heroes Split Enz, who made a huge impact in the ’80s and ’90s when the core duo of Neil and Tim Finn made their names as Crowded House.
This didn’t exactly leave much gas in the creative tank when it came to writing new material. After time wasted in a Bel Air (Los Angeles) house – rented for songwriting purposes – had led to zero results due to writer’s block and exhaustion on Iommi’s part, Sabbath switched locations to Clearwell Castle, an ancient country manor in Gloucestershire, southern England.
Apparently inspired by their surroundings, where tales of hauntings were rife, the band came up with a set of songs that were their most compositionally ambitious yet.
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’s standout tracks include the now-classic title cut, kicking off with one of Iommi’s best, and best-known riffs, and Sabbra Cadabra, a chunk of melodic rock ’n’ roll. The most impressive cut, technically speaking, is Spiral Architect, a grandiose ending to the album that features a lustrous string accompaniment and triple-tracked vocals. Believe it or not, Iommi also contributes bagpipes.
Very much back in business, the Black Sabbath gang hit the road in support of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, performing through Europe before a U.S. tour in February.
A Long Island, New York, show saw them perform over Bedlam, a band in which the supremely talented drummer named Cozy Powell played, before what was undoubtedly the most ambitious live gig of their career to date, the California Jam on April 6, 1974, at Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California, about an hour’s drive east of L.A.
And yes, Ozzy was up all night beforehand doing coke; we know because he told us.
Sabotage
- Label: Warner
- U.S. release: July 28, 1975
- Producer: Black Sabbath, Mike Butcher
- Personnel: Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar, piano, keyboards, harp), Geezer Butler (bass), Bill Ward (drums, percussion, piano)
Sabbath's next album, Sabotage, was recorded in early 1975 at Morgan Studios in London and was the first LP to be produced by Iommi, although the overall credit went to Sabbath with Mike Butcher.
The high point of Sabotage is the majestic Symptom of the Universe, six-and-a-half minutes of riffs and solos, with multiple key and tempo changes underpinning Ozzy’s bat-like vocals. At 04:30, the track resolves into a piano and acoustic section, and in doing so becomes possibly the first progressive metal song.
The vocals were a problem, said Butler: “We always try to get Ozzy to sing Symptom of the Universe, but he never will. He says that he can’t reach the notes… It’s a psychological thing, I think. He won’t do it.”
The road was calling again, and Sabbath finished 1975 with another European and American tour. Business might have been good, but for some reason or other – drugs? Pressure? The rise of punk rock? – Sabbath were not to record a truly excellent album for some years.
Fortunately, a compilation, We Sold our Souls for Rock ’n’ Roll, was released in late 1975 and went some way toward reminding the kids what a tremendous early catalog Sabbath had.
Technical Ecstasy
- Label: Warner
- U.S. release: October 22, 1976
- Producer: Black Sabbath
- Personnel: Ozzy Osbourne (vocals, blues harp), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass), Bill Ward (drums, vocals), Gerald Woodroffe (keyboards)
Recorded and mixed at Criteria Studios in Miami and mastered in California, this album is almost devoid of classic riffage, focusing on light, radio-friendly rock.
Although it reached Number 13 in the U.K., it remained on the charts there for only six weeks before dropping off entirely – a far cry from the 42 and 27 weeks achieved by Black Sabbath and Paranoid, respectively.
Tour dates were as relentless as ever, though; for six months straight, starting in October 1976, Black Sabbath hit the road on a huge American tour. In March ’77, they played the U.K. and Europe, this time with fellow rockers AC/DC.
A backstage incident between Geezer Butler and AC/DC’s Malcolm Young has gone down in the annals of rock; the former is reported to have drawn a switchblade comb from his pocket, causing Young to misconstrue it as a flick-knife.
These were the least of Sabbath’s problems in late 1977. Ozzy’s father, Jack, was seriously ill with cancer, and as the end approached, the singer decided to quit the band. Iommi immediately recruited Dave Walker from Savoy Brown, although Walker and Ozzy could not have been more different in looks or singing style.
The prospect of an Ozzy-less Black Sabbath seemed not to deter the new lineup, who – along with session keyboard player Don Airey – rehearsed new material for the next album.
The Walker-fronted band even appeared on a BBC TV show, Look Hear, performing a new song, Junior’s Eyes. The program was broadcast on January 6, 1978, three weeks before Ozzy asked if he could rejoin. Shortly afterwards, he was reinstated.
Never Say Die!
- Label: Warner
- U.S. release: September 29, 1978
- Producer: Black Sabbath
- Personnel: Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass), Bill Ward (drums, vocals), Don Airey (keyboards), Jon Elstar (blues harp)
The problem now was that Black Sabbath had lost ground in the face of a tedious last album – so their next album, Never Say Die!, recorded in early 1978 at Sound Interchange Studios in Toronto, needed to be significantly better than 1976’s Technical Ecstasy.
Never Say Die! was basically the last gasp of a band that had run out of enthusiasm, and Sabbath’s choice of Van Halen as the support act for the subsequent tour didn’t help
It wasn’t. As it turned out, Never Say Die! was basically the last gasp of a band that had run out of enthusiasm, and Sabbath’s choice of Van Halen as the support act for the subsequent tour didn’t help, either. The youngsters from Pasadena were probably the hottest rock band on the planet in 1979, whereas Sabbath seemed old and tired in comparison.
As the writer Sylvie Simmons, who witnessed Van Halen’s rise, recalled: “Van Halen were almost like a one-off blip. They came out of Pasadena with this thrust of power that absolutely knocked you sideways. It was absolutely fantastic; they were this completely don’t-give-a-fuck band. They toured with Sabbath on that last tour – and blew them out of the water.”
A new album was planned, of course, but Ozzy’s heart wasn’t in it. Songwriting sessions, once again in Bel Air, failed to produce anything of note – and on April 27, 1979, Bill Ward was delegated to tell Ozzy that he was being fired.
Heaven and Hell
- Label: Warner
- U.S. release: April 18, 1980
- Producer: Martin Birch
- Personnel: Ronnie James Dio (vocals, blues harp), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass), Bill Ward (drums, percussion), Geoff Nicholls (keyboards)
Sabbath’s new singer was Ronnie James Dio, a warbler of unearthly vocal prowess who had hit the big time with Rainbow, the band formed by Deep Purple’s Ritchie Blackmore.
Dio’s arrival was beset by a certain amount of chaos; Geezer Butler quit Sabbath temporarily after Ozzy’s departure, apparently feeling unsure if anyone could fill their long-time singer’s boots.
Recording sessions for the new lineup’s debut album, Heaven and Hell, began at Criteria Studios in Miami in September 1979, without Butler, who was still on a temporary break from Sabbath.
An acquaintance of Iommi’s, Geoff Nicholls, who played in a band called Quartz, stepped in on bass, switching to the position of touring keyboard player when Butler returned a few days later.
Martin Birch, who had engineered several early Fleetwood Mac and Faces albums as well as producing five Deep Purple albums, was brought in to produce Heaven and Hell. He gave the album a slick, precise feel that was a huge step up from previous Sabbath releases, not least in its radio-friendly arrangements.
The obvious example of this new, taut sound was Neon Knights, the highly catchy opener, and Children of the Sea, which begins with an ocean of acoustic guitars. The song Heaven and Hell is riffier in nature, recalling the glory days of Iron Man, and so is Die Young with its complex midsection.
Heaven and Hell was the perfect antidote to the humdrum albums recorded in the last years of Ozzy’s tenure, but Bill Ward, whose parents had both died in recent months, was finding life in Sabbath tough to endure. In urgent need of rehab, he left Sabbath on August 21, replaced by ex-Axis drummer Vinny Appice.
Mob Rules
- Label: Warner
- U.S. release date: November 4, 1981
- Producer: Martin Birch
- Personnel: Ronnie James Dio (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass), Bill Ward (drums, percussion), Geoff Nicholls (keyboards)
In 1981, Sabbath scheduled the recording of a second LP with Ronnie James Dio, this time featuring Appice on drums. Mob Rules was scheduled for release in the autumn, after another huge tour in the summer.
Its title track was solid, featuring on the soundtrack for the cult Canadian film Heavy Metal, but the rest of the album didn’t quite match up to Heaven and Hell, unfortunately for Sabbath, who now faced the dread specter of their former singer outstripping them. Ozzy had recruited a firebrand guitarist in Randy Rhoads and was about to embark on a phenomenally successful solo career.
In fact, the Sabs were about to find themselves on the outside of modern heavy metal: in the early ’80s, American thrash metal was only a couple of years away from the dominance it achieved later in the decade, spearheaded by Metallica and Slayer and a host of lesser bands such as Exciter, who supported Sabbath in Canada that year.
Sabbath’s gradual descent from the top of the heavy metal pile began here, especially when Dio and Appice quit after the release of a live LP, Live Evil.
Born Again
- Label: Warner
- U.S. release: September 9, 1983
- Producer: Black Sabbath, Robin Black
- Personnel: Ian Gillan (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar, flute), Geezer Butler (bass), Bill Ward (drums, percussion), Geoff Nicholls (keyboards)
A night at the pub in 1983 led to a remarkable new lineup. Deep Purple singer and then-solo artist Ian Gillan became temporary frontman, perhaps improbably; although Purple and Sabbath had co-existed in a state of more or less mutual respect for a decade or more, the image of the two groups was dissimilar, to say the least.
The ensuing dates became infamous, thanks to the extravagant stage set – a replica of the Stonehenge columns in Wiltshire, England – and also This Is Spinal Tap, which lampooned it mercilessly the following year
Gillan joined the band in a state of serious intoxication, he later revealed, having forgotten to inform his manager that he was joining what was jocularly referred to as “Purple Sabbath” until the morning after the fateful night.
Before rehearsals could begin, a drummer was needed, so a call was placed to Bill Ward, who was on his way toward sobriety by the end of ’82, but he fell off the wagon when the album was finished and was unable to play the subsequent tour.
The ensuing dates became infamous, thanks to the extravagant stage set – a replica of the Stonehenge columns in Wiltshire, England – and also This Is Spinal Tap, which lampooned it mercilessly the following year. The columns were 15 meters in height rather than the intended 15 feet and barely fit into the venues on the tour, if at all.
Ward took off after only a year or so back in the band, and to make things worse, Butler also quit, leaving Iommi as the last man standing.
Seventh Star
- Label: Warner
- U.S. release: January 28, 1986
- Producer: Jeff Glixman
- Personnel: Glenn Hughes (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Dave Spitz (bass), Eric Singer (drums), Geoff Nicholls (keyboards)
This sorry state of affairs was overshadowed, at least temporarily, by the Live Aid concert on July 13, 1985, when the original foursome of Ozzy, Iommi, Butler and Ward made an appearance at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.
Take a look at the performance on YouTube; you’ll witness Black Sabbath kicking off their three-song, 15-minute set with a version of Children of the Grave. Note the spandex, the mirrored shades and lack of chemistry between the musicians. Everything points to a fairly uninspired collaboration. Iron Man and Paranoid were delivered with conviction, although any possibility of a full reunion was soon quashed.
Back to work for Iommi, then, whose concept for a solo album – which he wanted to call Seventh Star – had extended as far as bass and drum tracks. He required a singer and called Glenn Hughes, the singer/bassist whose unearthly vocals had graced albums by Trapeze, Deep Purple and a host of other heavy-rock projects since the late ’60s.
Once on board, Hughes recorded his vocals at Cherokee Studios in Hollywood in July and August. Lyrics came from keyboardist Geoff Nicholls, producer Jeff Glixman and Hughes. Iommi added a bassist, Dave Spitz – nicknamed “The Beast” for his Wookiee-like hair – and the new lineup was ready to tour.
A single, Stranger to Love, proved there was still life in the new band, albeit of a painfully weak AOR nature. However, Hughes was ousted after a few dates, unable to sing properly after being punched by one of Sabbath’s road crew in an argument. Once more, Sabbath were singerless.
The Eternal Idol
- Label: Warner
- U.S. release: December 8, 1987
- Producer: Jeff Glixman, Vic Coppersmith-Heaven, Chris Tsangarides
- Personnel: Tony Martin (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Bob Daisley, Dave Spitz (bass), Eric Singer (drums), Geoff Nicholls (keyboards, bass)
Black Sabbath singer number nine in seven years was Ray Gillen, a 25-year-old New Jersey resident who had sung with the Brooklyn-born former Rainbow drummer Bobby Rondinelli. Gillen – not to be confused with Ian Gillan – arrived before Glenn Hughes’ departure and played a series of shows.
Once again left only with his long-term musical partner Geoff Nicholls, Iommi recruited a whole new lineup to complete the next album
The crowd seemed to accept the new recruit, and both Iommi and management breathed a collective sigh of relief… just before the entire band quit.
Once again left only with his long-term musical partner Geoff Nicholls, Iommi recruited a whole new lineup to complete the next album. His new singer was the golden-larynxed Tony Martin, while Bev Bevan played drums and Bob Daisley signed up to play bass.
The Eternal Idol was released November 28, 1987 (U.K.), and had some high-quality songs, including Nightmare, with its Tubular Bells-style keyboard intro, the instrumental Scarlet Pimpernel and the title track.
The subsequent European tour featured bassist Jo Burt, who had worked with Freddie Mercury, and Terry Chimes of the Clash came aboard as drummer, making this incarnation of Sabbath one of the strangest to date.
Headless Cross
- Label: I.R.S.
- U.S. release: April 17, 1989
- Producer: Tony Iommi, Cozy Powell
- Personnel: Tony Martin (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Laurence Cottle (bass), Cozy Powell (drums), Geoff Nicholls (keyboards)
1987 was Black Sabbath’s worst year yet, despite Iommi’s attempts to keep the band credible. The band ended their deal with the Vertigo label, signing with IRS Records, the American company founded by Police and Sting manager Miles Copeland.
Headless Cross contained some moderately entertaining tunes, notably When Death Calls, with its Wagnerian conclusion
Yet another Sabbath lineup, featuring the two Tonys, Blue Murder drummer Cozy Powell and a session bassist, Laurence Cottle, gathered in August 1988 to rehearse for a new album, Headless Cross.
As Ozzy had recruited Geezer Butler to play on his No Rest for the Wicked tour in 1989, Iommi asked the session bassist Neil Murray to accompany him on tour that summer. Things were looking up a little; Headless Cross contained some moderately entertaining tunes, notably When Death Calls, with its Wagnerian conclusion, and went some way toward alleviating the damage done by the feebly performing Eternal Idol.
Fans of Iommi’s sheet-metal playing also appreciated the master’s melodic touch on Devil & Daughter, while the slick AOR sheen of Kill in the Spirit World was redeemed a little by the finger-twisting riff at the song’s core. Still, what a dismal period this was for the remnants of this once-great band.
Tyr
- Label: I.R.S.
- U.S. release: August 20, 1990
- Producer: Tony Iommi, Cozy Powell
- Personnel: Tony Martin (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Neil Murray (bass), Cozy Powell (drums), Geoff Nicholls (keyboards)
Grunge and alternative rock were about to make life very hard for Black Sabbath as they entered the ’90s. It was a strange time for heavy metal in general, because the new, more serious dynamic emerging from Seattle made the old guard look, well, a touch silly. We were all a bit embarrassed – admit it...
That said, Sabbath managed to pull themselves out of the creative doldrums of the period to an extent, with Tony Martin’s expert vocals generally regarded by fans as a decent vehicle for Iommi’s songs. The next album, Tyr, released in the summer of 1990, enthralled more than a few fans with The Sabbath Stones, a near-seven-minute dinosaur of a track.
The Tyr tour was a success, with British and European dates lasting until November. Highlights included guest appearances at shows by Ian Gillan and Brian May, not to mention Geezer Butler, whose presence fuelled rumors that a classic lineup reunion might be on the cards — not the first, or last, time that such an idea had been suggested.
Dehumanizer
- Label: Reprise
- U.S. release: June 10, 1992
- Producer: Reinhold Mack
- Personnel: Ronnie James Dio (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass), Vinny Appice (drums, percussion), Geoff Nicholls (keyboards)
Reunion fever was definitely in the air in January 1991, when Ronnie James Dio replaced Tony Martin and Vinny Appice took over from Cozy Powell, who had sustained an injury while horse riding.
When a new album, Dehumanizer, was released in the summer of 1992, the song TV Crimes was a high point, with the technical riffing shared by Butler and Iommi a reminder of their advanced musicianship.
A tour rolled through South America in the month before the album release, gained momentum as Dehumanizer took off and passed through the U.S. before arriving at Ozzy’s supposed “retirement” show in Costa Mesa, California.
The idea had been that Dio, Iommi, Butler and Ward would support him before he closed the show, but Dio was not keen on the idea.
The show was a landmark nonetheless, with Ozzy joining his old band for four songs, and behind the scenes, real plans for a full-scale Osbourne, Iommi, Butler and Ward reunion were being hatched.
As the last of these told me, “After the Costa Mesa show, we had our mind on this for at least nine months… We had conversations with [Ozzy] by phone, and our managers were in touch. Dates had already been scheduled before Ozzy decided not to carry on with the project.”
Ozzy did indeed pass on the idea, and his retirement turned out to be brief. For their part, Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice departed to re-form the band Dio, so Iommi called Tony Martin and asked if he would be interested in taking back his place in the band. The singer agreed, and the drummer Bobby Rondinelli signed up too, although some tough times lay ahead.
Cross Purposes
- Label: Warner
- U.S. release: January 31, 1994
- Producer: Leif Mases, Black Sabbath
- Personnel: Tony Martin (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass), Bobby Rondinelli (drums), Geoff Nicholls (keyboards)
New songs were ready by summer 1993, and Cross Purposes was released in early ’94, just as Korn debuted with their self-titled album. There were still plenty of decent musical ideas coming from Sabbath, and Cross Purposes was respectable.
Virtual Death was a throwback to the style of their glory days, while Immaculate Deception featured an unusual but weighty guitar riff. The next step was a tour, and although the album performed only mildly well, ticket sales were strong; support came from Motörhead and Morbid Angel. Sabbath were starting to do well, which made it all the more strange when Butler and Ward quit again.
Ward still couldn’t face the band without Ozzy, and Butler wanted to start his own group with a sound that would fit better with modern metal. Neil Murray and Cozy Powell came back to the fold, but Sabbath fans began to wonder if the ’90s would only be about reunions and breakups.
Forbidden
![Black Sabbath - The Illusion Of Power (feat. Ice-T) [Official Audio] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/wn_FwapJpdo/maxresdefault.jpg)
- Label: Warner U.S.
- Release: June 5, 1995
- Producer: Ernie Cunnigan
- Personnel: Tony Martin (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Neil Murray (bass), Cozy Powell (drums), Geoff Nicholls (keyboards)
All of Sabbath’s uncertainty about their role in modern music came to the fore on Forbidden. The band and management asked Ernie Cunnigan – a member of rapper Ice-T’s metal side-project, Body Count – to produce.
Body Count had a serious profile, thanks to the controversy over Cop Killer, and the group maintained a dangerous air that Sabbath presumably wanted for themselves. Still, the ruse smacked of desperation. That said, Forbidden wasn’t bad.
Illusion of Power, had its moments, including a guest rant from Ice-T. But that was it for Sabbath, studio albums-wise, for the next 18 years. The classic lineup reunited from 1997 to ’99 and again from 2004 to ’06 to play Ozzfest and tour the world, with a live album, Reunion, keeping the coffers full, and Sabbath were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in ’06.
From 2007 to 2010, Iommi and Butler reunited with Dio and Appice to form a new band, Heaven & Hell, a world-class act that toured widely and released an excellent album, The Devil You Know, in 2009. Sadly, the group ended when Dio succumbed to stomach cancer in 2010.
13
- Label: Republic
- U.S. release: June 10, 2013
- Producer: Rick Rubin
- Personnel: Ozzy Osbourne (vocals, blues harp), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass), Brad Wilk (drums)
In November 2011, promotional images bearing “11-11-11” appeared on Black Sabbath’s social media pages. Sabbath’s third reunion, fourth if you include Live Aid in 1985, was about to occur – and when it did, it was an occasion to remember. All four original members confirmed that live dates and an album produced by Rick Rubin were on their way.
The delight that many observers felt at Sabbath’s return was diminished when Iommi issued the dismal news in January 2012 that he was suffering from lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system. The following month, Bill Ward compounded the disappointment by announcing that he would not be taking part in the album and tour after all, citing contractual reasons.
Ultimately, 13 was recorded with Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk; Ozzy’s drummer, Tommy Clufetos, stepped up to play the subsequent tour dates. 13 instantly went to Number 1 in the U.S., largely because it consisted of the most charismatic recordings Sabbath had created in decades.
Highlights included God Is Dead?, End of the Beginning and the convincing Zeitgeist, the best Sabbath ballad in years. Sabbath toured for the rest of 2013, with dates in Australia and New Zealand – their first shows there for 40 years – and then North and South America, before more gigs in Europe.
Black Sabbath have remained busy in the decade-plus since 13, with a final run of dates called The End taking the Clufetos-anchored live band through North America, Europe and Australasia from January 2016 to February 2017. The final shows of The End tour took place at the Genting Arena in Birmingham on February 2 and 4, 2017, leaving most of us unconvinced that they were really calling time on their careers.
Only Iommi – who revealed that his cancer was in remission in the summer of ’16 – kept things vague, hinting that one-off shows and an album weren’t out of the question. Butler said in 2017 that the band had considered recording a blues album, a fascinating possibility, but that the tour “got in the way”.
There was always a slight feeling of unfinished business about Sabbath; Ozzy hinted at some regrets regarding Bill Ward in 2020, saying, “The only thing I do regret is not doing the last farewell show in Birmingham with Bill. I felt really bad about that. It would have been so nice.”
A medley of Iron Man and Paranoid by Ozzy and Iommi at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham was more or less the last we’ve seen of them since then.
However, things were moving behind the scenes, and in 2024 Ozzy admitted, “It’s unfinished. If they wanted to do one more gig with Bill, I would jump at the chance,” and in February, news broke of Back to the Beginning. And the rest, as they say, is history…
- This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.
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