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Black Sabbath: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Black Sabbath
The first heavy metal album was not born in a grand concert hall, but in the cramped rehearsal room of a Birmingham pub in 1969, where four working-class musicians stumbled upon a sound that would terrify the world. Tony Iommi, a guitarist who had lost the tips of his middle and ring fingers in a factory accident, taped his fingers to make them shorter and played with a down-tuned guitar to create a heavier, darker sound. This was the birth of Black Sabbath, a band that would take the name of a 1963 Italian horror film and use the tritone, known as the Devil's Interval, to create a musical equivalent of a nightmare. The band's first song, Black Sabbath, was written after Geezer Butler had a vision of a black silhouetted figure standing at the foot of his bed, and the lyrics were inspired by the work of horror writer Dennis Wheatley. The song's ominous sound and dark lyrics pushed the band in a darker direction, a stark contrast to the popular music of the late 1960s, which was dominated by flower power, folk music and hippie culture. The band's first show as Black Sabbath took place on the 30th of August 1969 in Workington, England, and they signed to Philips Records in November 1969. Their debut album, Black Sabbath, was released on Friday the 13th, February 1970, and reached number eight in the UK Albums Chart. The album was given negative reviews by many critics, with Lester Bangs dismissing it in a Rolling Stone review as discordant jams with bass and guitar reeling like velocitised speedfreaks all over each other's musical perimeters, yet never quite finding synch. Despite the critical panning, the album sold in substantial numbers, giving the band their first mainstream exposure and eventually being certified Platinum in both the US and the UK. The band returned to the studio in June 1970, just four months after Black Sabbath was released, to record their second album, Paranoid. The album's lead single, Paranoid, was written in the studio at the last minute, taking only twenty to twenty-five minutes from top to bottom. The single was released in September 1970 and reached number four on the UK singles chart, remaining Black Sabbath's only top 10 hit. The album followed in the UK in October 1970, where, pushed by the success of the Paranoid single, it reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. The US release was held off until January 1971, as the Black Sabbath album was still on the chart at the time of Paranoid's UK release. The album reached No. 12 in the US in March 1971, and would go on to sell four million copies in the US with virtually no radio airplay. Like Black Sabbath, the album was panned by rock critics of the era, but modern-day reviewers such as AllMusic's Steve Huey cite Paranoid as one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time, which defined the sound and style of heavy metal more than any other record in rock history. The album's chart success allowed the band to tour the US for the first time, their first US show was at a club called Ungano's at 210 West 70th Street in New York City, and spawned the release of the album's second single, Iron Man. Although the single failed to reach the top 40, it remains one of Black Sabbath's most popular songs, as well as the band's highest-charting US single until 1998's Psycho Man.
When was Black Sabbath formed and where did the band originate?
Black Sabbath was formed in 1969 in a cramped rehearsal room of a Birmingham pub. The band consisted of four working-class musicians who created a heavier, darker sound that would define the genre of heavy metal.
What is the origin story of the song Black Sabbath and the band name?
The band took the name from a 1963 Italian horror film and the song Black Sabbath was written after bassist Geezer Butler had a vision of a black silhouetted figure standing at the foot of his bed. The lyrics were inspired by the work of horror writer Dennis Wheatley and the sound utilized the tritone known as the Devil's Interval.
When was the debut album Black Sabbath released and what was its chart performance?
The debut album Black Sabbath was released on Friday the 13th of February 1970 and reached number eight in the UK Albums Chart. Despite negative reviews from critics like Lester Bangs the album sold substantial numbers and was eventually certified Platinum in both the US and the UK.
Who replaced Ozzy Osbourne as the vocalist for Black Sabbath and when did the change occur?
Ronnie James Dio replaced Ozzy Osbourne as the vocalist for Black Sabbath in 1979 after Osbourne was fired by guitarist Tony Iommi. The new lineup recorded the album Heaven and Hell which was released on the 25th of April 1980 to critical acclaim.
What caused the split between Black Sabbath and Ronnie James Dio in 1982?
The split between Black Sabbath and Ronnie James Dio occurred in November 1982 following disputes over the production of the live album Live Evil. Misinformation from a mixing engineer led to accusations that Dio had manipulated the vocal levels and disagreements over artwork and creative control caused the band to disband.
When did Black Sabbath perform at the Live Aid concert and which members reunited?
Black Sabbath performed at the Live Aid concert on the 13th of July 1985 at the Philadelphia show. This event marked the first time the original line-up had appeared on stage since 1978 and featured Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward.
The band's third album, Master of Reality, was released in July 1971, just six months after the US release of Paranoid, and reached the top 10 in the US and the United Kingdom, and was certified Gold in less than two months, eventually receiving Platinum certification in the 1980s and Double Platinum in the early 21st century. The album contained Sabbath's first acoustic songs, alongside fan favourites such as Children of the Grave and Sweet Leaf. Critical response of the era was generally unfavourable, with Lester Bangs delivering an ambivalent review of Master of Reality in Rolling Stone, describing the closing Children of the Grave as naïve, simplistic, repetitive, absolute doggerel but in the tradition of rock and roll. The only criterion is excitement, and Black Sabbath's got it. In 2003, Rolling Stone would place the album at number 300 on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. Following the Master of Reality world tour in 1972, the band took their first break in three years. As Ward explained, the band started to become very fatigued and very tired. They'd been on the road non-stop, year in and year out, constantly touring and recording. I think Master of Reality was kind of like the end of an era, the first three albums, and we decided to take our time with the next album. In June 1972, the band reconvened in Los Angeles to begin work on their next album at the Record Plant. With more time in the studio, the album saw the band experimenting with new textures, such as strings, piano, orchestration and multi-part songs. Recording was plagued with problems, many as a result of substance abuse issues. Struggling to record the song Cornucopia after sitting in the middle of the room, just doing drugs, Ward was nearly fired. I hated the song, there were some patterns that were just ... horrible, the drummer said. I nailed it in the end, but the reaction I got was the cold shoulder from everybody. It was like, Well, just go home; you're not being of any use right now. I felt like I'd blown it, I was about to get fired. Butler thought that the end product was very badly produced, as far as I was concerned. Our then-manager insisted on producing it, so he could claim production costs. The album was originally titled Snowblind after the song of the same name, which deals with cocaine abuse. The record company changed the title at the last minute to Black Sabbath Vol. 4. Ward observed, There was no Volume 1, 2 or 3, so it's a pretty stupid title, really. Vol. 4 was released in September 1972, and while critics were dismissive, it achieved Gold status in less than a month, and was the band's fourth consecutive release to sell a million in the US. Tomorrow's Dream was released as a single, the band's first since Paranoid, but failed to chart. Following an extensive tour of the US, in 1973 the band travelled again to Australia, followed by a tour for the first time to New Zealand, before moving onto mainland Europe. The band were definitely in their heyday, recalled Ward, in the sense that nobody had burnt out quite yet.
The Dungeon Sessions
Following the Vol. 4 world tour, Black Sabbath returned to Los Angeles to begin work on their next release. Pleased with the Vol. 4 album, the band sought to recreate the recording atmosphere, and returned to the Record Plant studio in Los Angeles. With new musical innovations of the era, the band were surprised to find that the room they had used previously at the Record Plant was replaced by a giant synthesiser. The band rented a house in Bel Air and began writing in the summer of 1973, but in part because of substance issues and fatigue, they were unable to complete any songs. Ideas weren't coming out the way they were on Vol. 4, and we really got discontent, Iommi said. Everybody was sitting there waiting for me to come up with something. I just couldn't think of anything. And if I didn't come up with anything, nobody would do anything. After a month in Los Angeles with no results, the band opted to return to England. They rented Clearwell Castle in The Forest of Dean. We rehearsed in the dungeons and it was really creepy, but it had some atmosphere, it conjured up things and stuff started coming out again. While working in the dungeon, Iommi stumbled onto the main riff of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, which set the tone for the new material. Recorded at Morgan Studios in London by Mike Butcher and building off the stylistic changes introduced on Vol. 4, new songs incorporated synthesisers, strings and complex arrangements. Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman was brought in as a session player, appearing on Sabra Cadabra. In November 1973, Black Sabbath began to receive positive reviews in the mainstream press after the release of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, with Gordon Fletcher of Rolling Stone calling the album an extraordinarily gripping affair and nothing less than a complete success. Later reviewers such as AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia cite the album as a masterpiece, essential to any heavy metal collection, while also displaying a newfound sense of finesse and maturity. The album marked the band's fifth consecutive Platinum-selling album in the US, reaching number four on the UK Albums Chart and number 11 in the US. The band began a world tour in January 1974, which culminated at the California Jam festival in Ontario, California, on the 6th of April 1974. Attracting over 200,000 fans, Black Sabbath appeared alongside popular 1970s rock and pop bands Deep Purple, Eagles, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Rare Earth, Seals & Crofts, Black Oak Arkansas and Earth, Wind & Fire. Portions of the show were telecast on ABC Television in the US, exposing the band to a wider American audience. In the same year, the band shifted management, signing with notorious English manager Don Arden. The move caused a contractual dispute with Black Sabbath's former management, and while on stage in the US, Osbourne was handed a subpoena that led to two years of litigation. Black Sabbath began work on their sixth album in February 1975, again in England at Morgan Studios in Willesden, this time with a decisive vision to differ the sound from Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath. We could've continued and gone on and on, getting more technical, using orchestras and everything else which we didn't particularly want to. We took a look at ourselves, and we wanted to do a rock album, Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath wasn't a rock album, really. Produced by Black Sabbath and Mike Butcher, Sabotage was released in July 1975. As with its precursor, the album initially saw favourable reviews, with Rolling Stone stating Sabotage is not only Black Sabbath's best record since Paranoid, it might be their best ever, although later reviewers such as AllMusic noted that the magical chemistry that made such albums as Paranoid and Volume 4 so special was beginning to disintegrate. Sabotage reached the top 20 in both the US and the United Kingdom, but was the band's first release not to achieve Platinum status in the US, only achieving Gold certification. Although the album's only single Am I Going Insane (Radio) failed to chart, Sabotage features fan favourites such as Hole in the Sky and Symptom of the Universe. Black Sabbath toured in support of Sabotage with openers Kiss, but were forced to cut the tour short in November 1975, following a motorcycle accident in which Osbourne ruptured a muscle in his back. In December 1975, the band's record companies released a greatest hits album without input from the band, titled We Sold Our Soul for Rock and Roll. The album charted throughout 1976, eventually selling two million copies in the US.
The Unraveling
Black Sabbath began work for their next album at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, in June 1976. To expand their sound, the band added keyboard player Gerald Woodroffe, who also had appeared to a lesser extent on Sabotage. During the recording of Technical Ecstasy, Osbourne admitted that he began losing interest in Black Sabbath and began to consider the possibility of working with other musicians. Recording of Technical Ecstasy was difficult; by the time the album was completed, Osbourne was admitted to Stafford County Asylum in Britain. It was released on the 22nd of October 1976 to mixed reviews, and for the first time, later music critics gave the album less favourable retrospective reviews; two decades after its release, AllMusic gave the album two stars, and noted that the band was unravelling at an alarming rate. The album featured less of the doomy, ominous sound of previous efforts, and incorporated more synthesisers and uptempo rock songs. Technical Ecstasy failed to reach the top 50 in the US and was the band's second consecutive release not to achieve Platinum status, although it was later certified Gold in 1997. The album included Dirty Women, which remains a live staple, as well as Ward's first lead vocal on the song It's Alright. Touring in support of Technical Ecstasy began in November 1976, with openers Boston and Ted Nugent in the US, and completed in Europe with AC/DC in April 1977. In late 1977, while in rehearsal for their next album and just days before the band was set to enter the studio, Osbourne abruptly quit the band. Iommi called vocalist Dave Walker, a longtime friend of the band who had previously been a member of Fleetwood Mac and Savoy Brown, and informed him that Osbourne had left the band. Walker, who was at that time fronting a band called Mistress, flew to Birmingham from California in late 1977 to write material and rehearse with Black Sabbath. On the 8th of January 1978, Walker made his only live performance with Black Sabbath, on vocals, when they played an excerpt of War Pigs and an early version of Junior's Eyes on the BBC West Midlands Television programme Look! Hear! Walker later recalled that, while in Birmingham, he had bumped into Osbourne in a pub and came to the conclusion that Osbourne was not fully committed to leaving Black Sabbath. The last Sabbath albums were just very depressing for me, Osbourne said. I was doing it for the sake of what we could get out of the record company, just to get fat on beer and put a record out. Walker has said that he wrote a lot of lyrics during his brief time in the band, but none of them were ever used. If any recordings of this version of the band other than the Look! Hear! footage still exist, Walker says that he is not aware of them. Osbourne initially set out to form a solo project featuring former Dirty Tricks members John Frazer-Binnie, Terry Horbury and Andy Bierne. As the new band were in rehearsals in January 1978, Osbourne had a change of heart and rejoined Black Sabbath. Three days before we were due to go into the studio, Ozzy wanted to come back to the band, Iommi explained. He wouldn't sing any of the stuff we'd written with the other guy (Walker), so it made it very difficult. We went into the studio with basically no songs. We'd write in the morning so we could rehearse and record at night. It was so difficult, like a conveyor belt, because you couldn't get time to reflect on stuff. Is this right? Is this working properly? It was very difficult for me to come up with the ideas and putting them together that quick. The band spent five months at Sounds Interchange Studios in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, writing and recording what would become Never Say Die!. It took quite a long time, Iommi said. We were getting really drugged out, doing a lot of dope. We'd go down to the sessions, and have to pack up because we were too stoned, we'd have to stop. Nobody could get anything right, we were all over the place, everybody's playing a different thing. We'd go back and sleep it off, and try again the next day. The album was released on the 29th of September 1978, reaching number 12 in the United Kingdom and number 69 in the US. The press response was unfavourable and did not improve over time, with Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic stating two decades after its release that the album's unfocused songs perfectly reflected the band's tense personnel problems and drug abuse. The album featured the singles Never Say Die and Hard Road, both of which cracked the top 40 in the United Kingdom. The band also made their second appearance on the BBC's Top of the Pops, performing Never Say Die. It took nearly 20 years for the album to be certified Gold in the US. Touring in support of Never Say Die! began in May 1978 with openers Van Halen. Reviewers called Black Sabbath's performance tired and uninspired, a stark contrast to the youthful performance of Van Halen, who were touring the world for the first time. The band filmed a performance at the Hammersmith Odeon in June 1978, which was later released on DVD as Never Say Die. The final show of the tour and Osbourne's last appearance with the band until later reunions was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on the 11th of December. Following the tour, Black Sabbath returned to Los Angeles and again rented a house in Bel Air, where they spent nearly a year working on new material for the next album. The entire band were abusing both alcohol and other drugs, but Iommi says Osbourne was on a totally different level altogether. The band would come up with new song ideas, but Osbourne showed little interest and would refuse to sing them. Pressure from the record label and frustrations with Osbourne's lack of input coming to a head, Iommi made the decision to fire Osbourne in 1979. Iommi believed the only options available were to fire Osbourne or break the band up completely. At that time, Ozzy had come to an end, Iommi said. We were all doing a lot of drugs, a lot of coke, a lot of everything, and Ozzy was getting drunk so much at the time. We were supposed to be rehearsing and nothing was happening. It was like, Rehearse today? No, we'll do it tomorrow. It really got so bad that we didn't do anything. It just fizzled out. Ward, who was close with Osbourne, was chosen by Iommi to break the news to the singer on the 27th of April 1979. I hope I was professional, I might not have been, actually. When I'm drunk I am horrible, I am horrid, Ward said. Alcohol was definitely one of the most damaging things to Black Sabbath. We were destined to destroy each other. The band were toxic, very toxic.
The Dio Era
While Don Arden was trying to convince Osbourne to rejoin Black Sabbath, as he viewed the original line-up as the most profitable, the band hired former Rainbow frontman Ronnie James Dio as Osbourne's replacement, and they began writing their next album. With a notably different vocal style from Osbourne's, Dio's addition to the band marked a change in Black Sabbath's sound. They were totally different altogether, Iommi explains. Not only voice-wise, but attitude-wise. Ozzy was a great showman, but when Dio came in, it was a different attitude, a different voice and a different musical approach, as far as vocals. Dio would sing across the riff, whereas Ozzy would follow the riff, like in Iron Man. Ronnie came in and gave us another angle on writing. Butler temporarily left the band in September 1979 to deal with the divorce from his first wife. According to Dio, the band initially hired Craig Gruber, with whom Dio had previously played while in Elf and Rainbow, on bass to assist with writing the new album. Gruber was soon replaced by Geoff Nicholls of Quartz. The new line-up returned to Criteria Studios in November to begin recording work, with Butler returning to the band in January 1980 and Nicholls moving to keyboards. Produced by Martin Birch, Heaven and Hell was released on the 25th of April 1980, to critical acclaim. Over a decade after its release, AllMusic said the album was one of Sabbath's finest records, the band sounds reborn and re-energised throughout. Heaven and Hell peaked at number nine in the United Kingdom and number 28 in the US, the band's highest-charting album since Sabotage. The album eventually sold a million copies in the US, and the band embarked on an extensive world tour, making their first live appearance with Dio in Germany on the 17th of April 1980. Black Sabbath toured the US throughout 1980 with Blue Öyster Cult on the Black and Blue tour, with a show at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, filmed for Don Kirshner's Rock Concert and later released theatrically in 1981 as Black and Blue. On the 26th of July 1980, the band played to 75,000 fans at a sold-out Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with Journey, Cheap Trick and Molly Hatchet. The next day, the band appeared at the 1980 Day on the Green at Oakland Coliseum. While on tour, Black Sabbath's former label in England issued a live album culled from a seven-year-old performance, titled Live at Last without any input from the band. The album reached number five on the UK chart and saw the re-release of Paranoid as a single, which reached the top 20. On the 18th of August 1980, after a show in Bloomington, Minnesota, Ward quit the band. It was intolerable for me to get on the stage without Ozzy. And I drank 24 hours a day, my alcoholism accelerated, Ward said. Butler stated that after Ward's final show, the drummer came in drunk, stating that he might as well be a Martian. Ward then got angry, packed his things and got on a bus to leave. Following Ward's sudden departure, the group hired drummer Vinny Appice. Further trouble for the band came during their the 9th of October 1980 concert at the Milwaukee Arena, which degenerated into a riot that caused $10,000 in damages to the arena and resulted in 160 arrests. According to the Associated Press: The crowd of mostly adolescent males first became rowdy in a performance by the Blue Oyster Cult and then grew restless while waiting an hour for Black Sabbath to begin playing. A member of the audience threw a beer bottle that struck Butler and effectively ended the show. The band then abruptly halted its performance and began leaving as the crowd rioted. The band completed the Heaven and Hell world tour in February 1981 and returned to the studio to begin work on their next album. Black Sabbath's second studio album that was produced by Martin Birch and featured Ronnie James Dio as vocalist, Mob Rules, was released in October 1981 and was well received by fans, but less so by critics. Rolling Stone reviewer J. D. Considine gave the album one star, claiming Mob Rules finds the band as dull-witted and flatulent as ever. Like most of the band's earlier work, time helped to improve the opinions of the music press. A decade after its release, AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia called Mob Rules a magnificent record. The album was certified Gold and reached the top 20 on the UK chart. The album's title track, The Mob Rules, which was recorded at John Lennon's old house in England, was also featured in the 1981 animated film Heavy Metal, although the film version is an alternate take and differs from the album version. Unhappy with the quality of 1980's Live at Last, the band recorded another live album, titled Live Evil, during the Mob Rules world tour, across the United States in Dallas, San Antonio and Seattle, in 1982. During the mixing process for the album, Iommi and Butler had a falling-out with Dio. Misinformed by their then-current mixing engineer, Iommi and Butler accused Dio of sneaking into the studio at night to raise the volume of his vocals. In addition, Dio was not satisfied with the pictures of him in the artwork. Butler also accused Dio and Appice of working on a solo album during the album's mixing without telling the other members of Black Sabbath. Ronnie wanted more say in things, Iommi said. And Geezer would get upset with him and that is where the rot set in. Live Evil is when it all fell apart. Ronnie wanted to do more of his own thing, and the engineer we were using at the time in the studio didn't know what to do, because Ronnie was telling him one thing and we were telling him another. At the end of the day, we just said, That's it, the band is over. When it comes time for the vocal, nobody tells me what to do. Nobody! Because they're not as good as me, so I do what I want to do, Dio later said. I refuse to listen to Live Evil, because there are too many problems. If you look at the credits, the vocals and drums are listed off to the side. Open up the album and see how many pictures there are of Tony, and how many there are of me and Vinny. Ronnie James Dio left Black Sabbath in November 1982 to start his own band and took drummer Vinny Appice with him. Live Evil was released in January 1983, but was overshadowed by Ozzy Osbourne's Platinum-selling album Speak of the Devil.
The Chaos Years
The remaining original members, Iommi and Butler, began auditioning singers for the band's next release. Deep Purple and Whitesnake's David Coverdale, Samson's Nicky Moore and Lone Star's John Sloman were all considered, and Iommi states in his autobiography that Michael Bolton auditioned, though this claim has been disputed, with Butler suggesting that Iommi concocted the story as a joke and Bolton insisting it was only a rumour. The band settled on then-former Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan to replace Dio in December 1982. The project was initially not to be called Black Sabbath, but pressure from the record label forced the group to retain the name. The band entered The Manor Studios in Shipton-on-Cherwell, Oxfordshire, in June 1983 with a returned and newly sober Bill Ward on drums. That was the very first album that I ever did clean and sober, Ward recalled. I only got drunk after I finished all my work on the album which wasn't a very good idea. Sixty to seventy per cent of my energy was taken up on learning how to get through the day without taking a drink and learning how to do things without drinking, and thirty per cent of me was involved in the album. Born Again (the 9th of September 1983) was panned on release by critics. Despite this negative reception, it reached number four in the UK, and number 39 in the US. Even three decades after its release, AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia called the album dreadful, noting that Gillan's bluesy style and humorous lyrics were completely incompatible with the lords of doom and gloom. Unable to tour because of the pressures of the road, Ward quit the band. I fell apart with the idea of touring, he later explained. I got so much fear behind touring, I didn't talk about the fear, I drank behind the fear instead and that was a big mistake. He was replaced by former Move and Electric Light Orchestra drummer Bev Bevan for the Born Again '83, '84 world tour, often unofficially referred to as the Feighn Death Sabbath '83, '84' World Tour, which began in Europe with Diamond Head, and later in the US with Quiet Riot and Night Ranger. The band headlined the 1983 Reading Festival in England, adding Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water to their encore. The tour in support of Born Again included a giant set of the Stonehenge monument. In a move later parodied in the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, the band made a mistake in ordering the set piece. Butler explained: Following the completion of the Born Again tour in March 1984, vocalist Ian Gillan left Black Sabbath to re-join Deep Purple, which was reforming after a long hiatus. Bevan left at the same time, and Gillan remarked that he and Bevan were made to feel like hired help by Iommi. The band then recruited an unknown Los Angeles vocalist named David Donato and Ward once again rejoined the band. The new line-up wrote and rehearsed throughout 1984, and eventually recorded a demo with producer Bob Ezrin in October. Unhappy with the results, the band parted ways with Donato shortly after. Disillusioned with the band's revolving line-up, Ward left shortly after stating This isn't Black Sabbath. Butler would quit Sabbath next in November 1984 to form a solo band. When Ian Gillan took over that was the end of it for me, he said. I thought it was just a joke and I just totally left. When we got together with Gillan it was not supposed to be a Black Sabbath album. After we had done the album we gave it to Warner Bros. and they said they were going to put it out as a Black Sabbath album and we didn't have a leg to stand on. I got really disillusioned with it and Gillan was really pissed off about it. That lasted one album and one tour and then that was it. Following both Ward's and Butler's exits, sole remaining original member Iommi put Sabbath on hiatus, and began work on a solo album with long-time Sabbath keyboardist Geoff Nicholls. While working on new material, the original Sabbath line-up agreed to a spot at Bob Geldof's Live Aid on the 13th of July 1985, performing at the Philadelphia show. This event which also featured reunions of the Who and Led Zeppelin marked the first time the original line-up had appeared on stage since 1978. We were all drunk when we did Live Aid, recalled Geezer Butler, but we'd all got drunk separately. Returning to his solo work, Iommi enlisted bassist Dave Spitz (ex-Great White), drummer Eric Singer and initially intended to use multiple singers, including Rob Halford of Judas Priest, former Deep Purple and Trapeze vocalist Glenn Hughes, and former Sabbath vocalist Ronnie James Dio. This plan did not work as he forecasted. We were going to use different vocalists on the album, guest vocalists, but it was so difficult getting it together and getting releases from their record companies. Glenn Hughes came along to sing on one track and we decided to use him on the whole album. The band spent the remainder of the year in the studio, recording what would become Seventh Star (1986). Warner Bros. refused to release the album as a Tony Iommi solo release, instead insisting on using the name Black Sabbath. Pressured by the band's manager, Don Arden, the two compromised and released the album as Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi in January 1986. It opened up a whole can of worms, Iommi explained. If we could have done it as a solo album, it would have been accepted a lot more. Seventh Star sounded little like a Sabbath album, incorporating instead elements popularised by the 1980s Sunset Strip hard rock scene. It was panned by the critics of the era, although later reviewers such as AllMusic gave album verdicts, calling the album often misunderstood and underrated. The new line-up rehearsed for six weeks preparing for a full world tour, although the band were eventually forced to use the Sabbath name. I was into the Tony Iommi project, but I wasn't into the Black Sabbath moniker, Hughes said. The idea of being in Black Sabbath didn't appeal to me whatsoever. Glenn Hughes singing in Black Sabbath is like James Brown singing in Metallica. It wasn't gonna work. Just four days before the start of the tour, Hughes got into a bar fight with the band's production manager John Downing which splintered the singer's orbital bone. The injury interfered with Hughes' ability to sing, and the band brought in vocalist Ray Gillen to continue the tour with W.A.S.P. and Anthrax, although nearly half of the US dates would be cancelled because of poor ticket sales. Black Sabbath began work on new material in October 1986 at AIR Studios in Montserrat with producer Jeff Glixman. The recording was fraught with problems from the beginning, as Glixman left after the initial sessions to be replaced by producer Vic Coppersmith-Heaven. Bassist Dave Spitz quit over personal issues, and former Rainbow and Ozzy Osbourne bassist Bob Daisley was brought in. Daisley re-recorded all of the bass tracks, and wrote the album's lyrics, but before the album was complete, he left to join Gary Moore's backing band, taking drummer Eric Singer with him. After problems with second producer Coppersmith-Heaven, the band returned to Morgan Studios in England in January 1987 to work with new producer Chris Tsangarides. While working in the United Kingdom, new vocalist Ray Gillen abruptly left Black Sabbath to form Blue Murder with guitarist John Sykes (ex-Tygers of Pan Tang, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake) and then Badlands with former Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee. The band auditioned a number of singers, including Jon Oliva of Savatage.
The Reunions
The band enlisted heavy metal vocalist Tony Martin to re-record Gillen's tracks, and Bevan rejoined to complete a few percussion overdubs. Before the release of the new album, Black Sabbath accepted an offer to play six shows at Sun City, South Africa, during the apartheid era. The band drew criticism from activists and artists involved with Artists United Against Apartheid, who had been boycotting South Africa since 1985. Bevan refused to play the shows, and was replaced by Terry Chimes, formerly of the Clash, while Dave Spitz returned on bass. After nearly a year in production, The Eternal Idol was released in November 1987 and ignored by contemporary reviewers. On-line internet era reviews were mixed. AllMusic said that Martin's powerful voice added new fire to the band, and the album contained some of Iommi's heaviest riffs in years. Blender gave the album two stars, claiming the album was Black Sabbath in name only. The album would stall at No. 66 in the United Kingdom, while peaking at 168 in the US. The band toured in support of Eternal Idol in Germany, Italy and for the first time, Greece. In part due to a backlash from promoters over the South Africa incident, other European shows were cancelled. Bassist Dave Spitz left the band again shortly before the tour, and was replaced by Jo Burt, formerly of Virginia Wolf. Following the poor commercial performance of The Eternal Idol, Black Sabbath were dropped by both Vertigo Records and Warner Bros. Records, and signed with I.R.S. Records. The band took time off in 1988, returning in August to begin work on their next album. As a result of the recording troubles with Eternal Idol, Tony Iommi opted to produce the band's next album himself. It was a completely new start, Iommi said. I had to rethink the whole thing, and decided that we needed to build up some credibility again. Iommi enlisted former Rainbow drummer Cozy Powell, long-time keyboardist Nicholls and session bassist Laurence Cottle, and rented a very cheap studio in England. Black Sabbath released Headless Cross in April 1989, and it was also ignored by contemporary reviewers, although AllMusic contributor Eduardo Rivadavia gave the album four stars and called it the finest non-Ozzy or Dio Black Sabbath album. Anchored by the number 62 charting single Headless Cross, the album reached number 31 on the UK chart, and number 115 in the US. Queen guitarist Brian May, a good friend of Iommi's, played a guest solo on the song When Death Calls. Following the album's release the band added touring bassist Neil Murray, formerly of Colosseum II, National Health, Whitesnake, Gary Moore's backing band, and Vow Wow. The unsuccessful Headless Cross US tour began in May 1989 with openers Kingdom Come and Silent Rage, but because of poor ticket sales, the tour was cancelled after just eight shows. The European leg of the tour began in September, where the band were enjoying chart success. After a string of Japanese shows the band embarked on a 23 date Russian tour with Girlschool. Black Sabbath was one of the first bands to tour Russia, after Mikhail Gorbachev opened the country to western acts for the first time in 1989. The band returned to the studio in February 1990 to record Tyr, the follow-up to Headless Cross. While not technically a concept album, some of the album's lyrical themes are loosely based on Norse mythology. Tyr was released on the 6th of August 1990, reaching number 24 on the UK albums chart, but was the first Black Sabbath release not to break the Billboard 200 in the US. The album would receive mixed internet-era reviews, with AllMusic noting that the band mix myth with metal in a crushing display of musical synthesis, while Blender gave the album just one star, claiming Iommi continues to besmirch the Sabbath name with this unremarkable collection. The band toured in support of Tyr with Circus of Power in Europe, but the final seven United Kingdom dates were cancelled because of poor ticket sales. For the first time in their career, the band's touring cycle did not include US dates. While on his Lock Up the Wolves US tour in August 1990, former Sabbath vocalist Ronnie James Dio was joined onstage at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium by Geezer Butler to perform Neon Knights. Following the show, the two expressed interest in rejoining Sabbath. Butler convinced Iommi, who in turn broke up the current line-up, dismissing vocalist Tony Martin and bassist Neil Murray. I do regret that in a lot of ways, Iommi said. We were at a good point then. We decided to reunite with Dio and I don't even know why, really. There's the financial aspect, but that wasn't it. I seemed to think maybe we could recapture something we had. Dio and Butler joined Iommi and Cozy Powell in autumn 1990 to begin the next Sabbath release. While rehearsing in November, Powell suffered a broken hip when his horse died and fell on the drummer's legs. Unable to complete the album, Powell was replaced by former drummer Vinny Appice, reuniting the Mob Rules line-up, and the band entered the studio with producer Reinhold Mack. The year-long recording was plagued with problems, primarily stemming from writing tension between Iommi and Dio. Songs were rewritten multiple times. It was just hard work, Iommi said. We took too long on it, that album cost us a million dollars, which is bloody ridiculous. Dio recalled the album as difficult, but worth the effort: It was something we had to really wring out of ourselves, but I think that's why it works. Sometimes you need that kind of tension, or else you end up making the Christmas album. The resulting Dehumanizer was released on the 22nd of June 1992. In the US, the album was released on the 30th of June 1992 by Reprise Records, as Dio and his namesake band were still under contract to the label at the time. While the album received mixed, it was the band's biggest commercial success in a decade. Anchored by the top 40 rock radio single TV Crimes, the album peaked at number 44 on the Billboard 200. The album also featured Time Machine, a version of which had been recorded for the 1992 film Wayne's World. Additionally, the perception among fans of a return of some semblance of the real Sabbath provided the band with much needed momentum. Sabbath began touring in support of Dehumanizer in July 1992 with Testament, Danzig, Prong, and Exodus. While on tour, former vocalist Ozzy Osbourne announced his first retirement, and invited Sabbath to open for his solo band at the final two shows of his No More Tours tour in Costa Mesa, California. The band agreed, aside from Dio, who told Iommi, I'm not doing that. I'm not supporting a clown. Dio spoke of the situation years later: Dio quit Sabbath following a show in Oakland, California on the 13th of November 1992, one night before the band were set to appear at Osbourne's retirement show. Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford stepped in at the last minute, performing two nights with the band. Iommi and Butler joined Osbourne and former drummer Ward on stage for the first time since 1985's Live Aid concert, performing a brief set of Sabbath songs. This set the stage for a longer-term reunion of the original line-up, though that plan proved short-lived. Ozzy, Geezer, Tony and Bill announced the reunion of Black Sabbath again, remarked Dio. And I thought that it was a great idea. But I guess Ozzy didn't think it was such a great idea. I'm never surprised when it comes to whatever happens with them. Never at all. They are very predictable. They don't talk. Drummer Vinny Appice left the band following the reunion show to rejoin Ronnie James Dio's solo band, later appearing on Dio's Strange Highways and Angry Machines. Iommi and Butler enlisted former Rainbow drummer Bobby Rondinelli, and reinstated former vocalist Tony Martin. The band returned to the studio to work on new material, although the project was not originally intended to be released under the Black Sabbath name. As Geezer Butler explains: Under pressure from their record label, the band released their seventeenth studio album, Cross Purposes, on the 8th of February 1994, under the Black Sabbath name. The album received mixed reviews, with Blender giving the album two stars, calling Soundgarden's 1994 album Superunknown a far better Sabbath album than this by-the-numbers potboiler. AllMusic's Bradley Torreano called Cross Purposes the first album since Born Again that actually sounds like a real Sabbath record. The album just missed the Top 40 in the UK reaching number 41, and also reached 122 on the Billboard 200 in the US. Cross Purposes contained the song Evil Eye, which was co-written by Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen, although uncredited because of record label restrictions. Touring in support of Cross Purposes began in February with Morbid Angel and Motörhead in the US. The band filmed a live performance at the Hammersmith Apollo on the 13th of April 1994, which was released on VHS accompanied by a CD, titled Cross Purposes Live. After the European tour with Cathedral and Godspeed in June 1994, drummer Bobby Rondinelli quit the band and was replaced by original Black Sabbath drummer Ward for five shows in South America. Following the touring cycle for Cross Purposes, bassist Geezer Butler quit the band for the second time. I finally got totally disillusioned with the last Sabbath album, and I much preferred the stuff I was writing to the stuff Sabbath were doing. Butler formed a solo project called GZR, and released Plastic Planet in 1995. The album contained the song Giving Up the Ghost, which was critical of Tony Iommi for carrying on with the Black Sabbath name, with the lyrics: You plagiarised and parodied the magic of our meaning a legend in your own mind left all your friends behind you can't admit that you're wrong the spirit is dead and gone. I heard it's something about me, said Iommi. I had the album given to me a while back. I played it once, then somebody else had it, so I haven't really paid attention to the lyrics. It's nice to see him doing his own thing getting things off his chest. I don't want to get into a rift with Geezer. He's still a friend. Following Butler's departure, newly returned drummer Ward once again left the band. Iommi reinstated former members Neil Murray on bass and Cozy Powell on drums, effectively reuniting the 1990 Tyr line-up. The band enlisted Body Count guitarist Ernie C to produce the new album, which was recorded in London in autumn of 1994. The album featured a guest vocal on Illusion of Power by Body Count vocalist Ice-T. The resulting Forbidden was released on the 8th of June 1995, but failed to chart in the US. The album was widely panned by critics; AllMusic's Bradley Torreano said with boring songs, awful production, and uninspired performances, this is easily avoidable for all but the most enthusiastic fan, while Blender magazine called Forbidden an embarrassment the band's worst album. Black Sabbath embarked on a world tour in July 1995 with openers Motörhead and Tiamat, but two months into the tour, drummer Cozy Powell left the band, citing health issues, and was replaced by former drummer Bobby Rondinelli. The members I had in the last lineup Bobby Rondinelli, Neil Murray they're great, great characters, Iommi told Sabbath fanzine Southern Cross. That, for me, was an ideal lineup. I wasn't sure vocally what we should do, but Neil Murray and Bobby Rondinelli I really got on well with. After completing Asian dates in December 1995, Tony Iommi put the band on hiatus, and began work on a solo album with former Black Sabbath vocalist Glenn Hughes, and former Judas Priest drummer Dave Holland. The album was not officially released following its completion, although a widely traded bootleg called Eighth Star surfaced soon after. The album was officially released in 2004 as The 1996 DEP Sessions, with Holland's drums re-recorded by session drummer Jimmy Copley. In 1997, Tony Iommi disbanded the current line-up to officially reunite with Ozzy Osbourne and the original Black Sabbath line-up. Vocalist Tony Martin claimed that an original line-up reunion had been in the works since the band's brief reunion at Ozzy Osbourne's 1992 Costa Mesa show, and that the band released subsequent albums to fulfill their record contract with I.R.S. Records. Martin later recalled Forbidden as a filler album that got the band out of the label deal, rid of the singer, and into the reunion. However I wasn't privy to that information at the time. I.R.S. Records released a compilation album in 1996 to fulfill the band's contract, titled The Sabbath Stones, which featured songs from Born Again (1983) to Forbidden.
The Final Curtain
In the summer of 1997, Iommi, Butler and Osbourne reunited to coheadline the Ozzfest tour alongside Osbourne's solo band. The line-up featured Osbourne's drummer Mike Bordin filling in for Ward. It started off with me going off to join Ozzy for a couple of numbers, explained Iommi, and then it got into Sabbath doing a short set, involving Geezer. And then it grew as it went on. We were concerned in case Bill couldn't make it couldn't do it because it was a lot of dates, and important dates. The only rehearsal that we had to do was for the drummer. But I think if Bill had come in, it would have took a lot more time. We would have had to focus a lot more on him. In December 1997, the group was joined by Ward, marking the first reunion of the original quartet since Osbourne's 1992 retirement show. This line-up recorded two shows at the Birmingham NEC, released as the double album Reunion on the 20th of October 1998. The album reached number eleven on the Billboard 200, went platinum in the US and spawned the single Iron Man, which won Sabbath their first Grammy Award in 2000 for Best Metal Performance, 30 years after the song was originally released. Reunion featured two new studio tracks, Psycho Man and Selling My Soul, both of which cracked the top 20 of the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Shortly before a European tour in the summer of 1998, Ward had a heart attack and was temporarily replaced by former drummer Vinny Appice. Ward returned for a US tour with openers Pantera, which began in January 1999 and continued through the summer, headlining the annual Ozzfest tour. Following these appearances, the band was put on hiatus while members worked on solo material. Iommi released his first official solo album, Iommi, in 2000, while Osbourne continued work on Down to Earth (2001). Sabbath returned to the studio to work on new material with all four original members and producer Rick Rubin in the spring of 2001, but the sessions were halted when Osbourne was called away to finish tracks for his solo album in the summer. It just came to an end, Iommi said. It's a shame because the songs were really Iommi commented on the difficulty getting all the members together to work: In March 2002, Osbourne's Emmy-winning reality show The Osbournes debuted on MTV, and quickly became a worldwide hit. The show introduced Osbourne to a broader audience and, to capitalise, the band's back catalogue label Sanctuary Records released a double live album, Past Lives (2002), which featured concert material recorded in the 1970s, including the Live at Last (1980) album. The band remained on hiatus until the summer of 2004 when they returned to headline Ozzfest 2004 and 2005. In November 2005, Black Sabbath were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame, and in March 2006, after eleven years of eligibility Osbourne famously refused the Hall's meaningless initial nomination in 1999, the band were inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The original line-up of Black Sabbath reunited in 1997, releasing a live album, Reunion (1998), and touring sporadically until 2005. The following year, the Mob Rules line-up (Iommi, Butler, Dio, Appice) reunited as Heaven & Hell, touring during the late 2000s and releasing one studio album, The Devil You Know (2009), before disbanding after Dio's death in 2010. The original line-up resumed again in 2011, though Ward departed prior to the recording of their final studio album 13 (2013). To conclude their farewell tour, Black Sabbath played its last concert for eight years in their home city in 2017. Occasional partial reunions have occurred, most notably when Osbourne and Iommi performed at the closing ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The original line-up of Black Sabbath reunited for a final show for both the band and Osbourne as a solo artist, titled Back to the Beginning, at Villa Park on the 5th of July 2025; Osbourne died seventeen days after the performance. Black Sabbath had sold over 70 million records as of 2013, making them one of the most commercially successful heavy metal bands. The band have been referred to as being part of the unholy trinity of British hard rock and heavy metal in the early to mid-seventies, along with Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. Black Sabbath were ranked by MTV as the Greatest Metal Band of All Time and placed second on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock list. Rolling Stone magazine ranked them 85 on its 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. They were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. They have won two Grammy Awards for Best Metal Performance, and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.