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Knives Out: When Ozzy (maybe) stopped Geezer Butler from stabbing Malcolm Young of AC/DC in 1977


Black Sabbath in 1977.
 
Kind of like when Van Halen toured with Black Sabbath, when AC/DC teamed up with Sabbath to open shows during the twelve-date European leg of their Technical Ecstasy Tour, they were a formidable, almost impossible act to follow. Many accounts would boldly state AC/DC was regularly blowing Black Sabbath off the stage. However, AC/DC also experienced technical difficulties early in the tour. At a show on April of ‘77 in Paris, a bunch of AC/DC’s new gear explicitly purchased for the tour malfunctioned, including equipment exploding on stage mid-set (noted in the book AC/DC: Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be). The band lost it and trashed the stage, stopping the gig twenty-minutes in. This would be the catalyst causing tensions between the bands to rise. On many occasions, AC/DC would leave the stage in such a state of disarray, it would take Sabbath longer to get set up. Needless to say, this didn’t go over well with some of the members of Black Sabbath. Especially Geezer Butler. But not everyone in AC/DC was on Sabbath’s last nerve.

Bon Scott took the tour as an opportunity to rekindle his friendship with Ozzy (also noted in AC/DC: Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be), as the pair shared common interests like checking out local brothels and the love of booze. Bon was often found hanging out in Sabbath’s dressing room, a bold choice given the strained relations between the bands. But it probably had everything to do with Sabbath having better party favors. On April 21st, 1977, everything would come to a head by the time the tour rolled into Lund, Sweden, and depending on who you chose to believe, Ozzy may have prevented Geezer Butler from going stab-happy on Malcolm Young. Let’s start with an account of the incident from the late Malcolm Young given during an interview with the guitarist in 2003:

“We were staying at the same hotel, and Geezer was in the hotel bar crying into his beer. He was complaining about being in the band for ten years and told me, ‘wait ‘til you guys are around ten years. You’ll feel like us.’ I said, ‘I don’t think so.’ I was giving him no sympathy. He’d had many too many (drinks), and he pulled out this silly flick knife. As luck would have it, Ozzy walked in and says to Geezer, ‘You fuckin’ idiot, Butler—GO TO BED!’ Ozzy saved the day, and we sat up all night with him.”

 

An image of AC/DC on stage in Lund, Sweden prior to getting kicked off the tour later that evening. Image source.
 
Usually, Ozzy the Friendly Drunk was the one causing problems by going missing and presumed dead, or getting arrested, but this time we maybe get to thank Ozzy for making sure things didn’t get out of hand between his pal Geezer and Malcolm Young. Geezer Butler has addressed this story many times over the decades. In an interview in 2016 he again gave his side of the mysterious knife-pulling incident with Malcolm Young in Sweden. When the tour arrived in Oslo, Butler made a bee-line to the nearest store to purchase a “flick-knife” (similar to a switchblade), which were banned for sale in England. Here’s Geezer’s account of his run-in with Malcolm Young:

“No, I didn’t pull a knife. I always had flick-knives when I was growing up because everybody used to go around stabbing each other in Aston (Butler’s birthplace in Birmingham, England). Flick-knives were banned in England, but when we were playing Switzerland, I bought one. I was just flicking it when Malcolm Young came up to me and started slagging Sabbath. I was just playing with the knife. I was really excited to get one again. I was having a drink and flicking my knife—like you do—and he came over and said: ‘You must think you’re big, having a flick-knife.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ And that was it. Nobody got hurt.”

Hmmm. No Ozzy to the rescue? No flick-knives vs. drunken-fists brawling? In the book AC/DC FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About the World’s True Rock ‘n’ Roll Band, it was alleged that Malcolm started throwing punches at Butler. I would not want to cast doubt on Butler’s version of the story. And the fact is, after the stop in Lund, AC/DC exited the tour prior to its conclusion, forcing Sabbath to cancel the last four dates. Still, I can’t help but think of his arrest in Death Valley, California in 2015 for punching a “drunken Nazi bloke” in the mug. Sure, he was drunk just like in 1977, but we all know punching Nazis is a forgivable act of well-deserved violence. It should also be noted the man Geezer attacked has told an entirely different version of the story, but stopped short of denying he was a Nazi. Geezer isn’t allowed to talk about the incident anymore because he had to sign an NDA and pay, in his own words, “the git” off. So what really happened in Lund, Sweden? Most of us probably prefer Malcolm’s “Ozzy saves the day” version, but I’m not as far to say Geezer Butler’s version isn’t the truth. Mostly because it’s pretty clear he does not fuck around when being fucked with.
 

Audio of Black Sabbath performing “Gypsy” from ‘Technical Ecstasy’ in Lund, Sweden, April 21st, 1977.

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Did Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler put a curse on a thief who stole Tony Iommi’s guitar?
David Lee Roth and Ozzy Osbourne’s insane ‘cocaine challenge’ of 1978
‘Anyone here tonight ever had gonorrhea?”: AC/DC’s dirty autobiographical version of ‘The Jack’
Glamtastic footage of AC/DC *before* Bon Scott
Photos of AC/DC live at CBGB’s in 1977

Posted by Cherrybomb
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05.07.2020
11:48 am
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Highway to Hell: Marilyn Manson’s cyber-goth covers of AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Bowie, & more
11.18.2019
09:03 am
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Marilyn Manson looking more than a bit like David Bowie.
 
It makes sense that Marilyn Manson would campaign hard to make his cover of the Eurythmics 1983 world-wide smash, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” the single of his 1995 EP Smells Like Children. Dave Stewart, praised the cover calling it “oddly infectious.” Vocalist Annie Lennox agreed with Stewart, who appreciated Manson’s “extreme” take on “Sweet Dreams.”

His instinct proved to be right on the money, and “Sweet Dreams” a-la Marilyn Manson, would become an international hit. “Sweet Dreams” was not the only cover on Smells Like Children as Manson also took on Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ signature song, “I Put a Spell on You” and Patti Smith’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll N***er.” During his career, Manson has covered songs which range from selections that totally make sense like Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” to a chilling rendition of “Suicide is Painless,” the theme song for the film and television series M*A*S*H. The list of artists and songs covered by Marilyn Manson is long and full of surprises, including a tune made famous by Johnny Cash, “God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” which Manson recorded for the soundtrack of the 2017 film 24 Hours to Live.

In 2002, Irish bootleg label Murphy Records put out Killer Wasps-The Real Ultra Rare Tracks best described as a schizophrenic sampling of Manson rarities. The various covers on the release include Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man,” AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell,” and David Bowie’s “Golden Years.” A huge Bowie fan, Manson would collaborate with Shooter Jennings (the son of Waylon Jennings) on a mystical cover of “Cat People (Putting out the Fire)”—a song Manson used for years as a warm-up for his live shows. The song appears on Jennings’ 2016 record Countach (For Giorgio)—a collection of covers originally done by electro-music wizard Giorgio Moroder. Jennings and Manson’s “Cat People” would also spawn a curious eight-plus minute NSFW video presented in old-school 16-bit style.

A selection of Marilyn Manson’s many covers follows after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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11.18.2019
09:03 am
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‘Jazz Sabbath’: Black Sabbath dabbles with bebop as Polka Tulk in 1968
11.05.2019
09:45 am
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An early photo of Earth taken in 1968. Image credit.
 

“Any band that calls itself Polka Tulk risks being doomed to obscurity.”

—author Chris Welch on Black Sabbath’s earliest incarnation Polka Tulk (or Polka Tulk Blues Band) in the 1982 book, Black Sabbath.

In the early days while still transitioning to the name Earth and then Black Sabbath, John Michael Osbourne, Anthony Frank Iommi, Terrance Michael Joseph Butler and William Thomas Ward frequented their future manager Jim Simpson‘s Birmingham club, Henry’s Blueshouse. In the late 60s, the venue played host to all kinds of musical acts, such as Locomotive and Jethro Tull. Regular patrons included Robert Plant, John Bonham, and members of Judas Priest.

During these early times Geezer Butler recalled the band practicing for months in his parent’s basement. At Henry’s, Simpson would expose the 20-somethings to his extensive collection of jazz and blues records. They would record a demo which contained a song composed in honor of Simpson called “A Song For Jim,” an undeniably jazz-influenced piece featuring an extended drum solo by Bill Ward, a devout fan of jazz drummer Gene Krupa since childhood. Other members of Sabbath were also big jazz fans; Tony Iommi considered Django Reinhardt one of his mentors. In 2005, Geezer Butler spoke about his desire to make a full-fledged jazz album and has referred to Sabbath’s sound while they were still called Earth as having a “jazz/blues influence.” Jazz influences are can be found throughout the band’s extensive catalog. On Sabbath’s debut, it’s heard loud and proud in “Wicked World.” On their follow up, Paranoid, “Electric Funeral” is an excellent example of “Jazz Sabbath.” On 1975’s Sabotage the last two minutes of “Symptom of the Universe” devolves into a jazzy blues-fueled jam. The band’s jazz vein is also pulsing hard on 1978’s Never Say Die, specifically the “Air Dance,” which Ward calls a “typical jazz song.” Additionally, (noted in Welch’s book), the author describes Tony Iommi’s style in “A Song For Jim” as being inspired by the highly influential guitarist Wes Montgomery, and jazz legend Joe Pass.
 

A membership card for Henry’s Blueshouse.
 
There was so much upheaval for the future members of Black Sabbath in 1968 that it’s not surprising Polka Tulk was destined to be called Polka Tulk for mere moments. Iommi had just left Mythology, another short-lived Birmingham band who, before breaking up sometime in the summer of ‘68, also included Bill Ward on drums. Iommi was still grappling with the loss of the tops of his ring and middle finger of his right hand (in the years following his accident in 1965, Iommi spent time crafting DIY covers for his fingers with molds he sculpted from melted plastic bottles, eventually covered with leather). Ozzy had just departed Rare Breed along with Geezer Butler. With the addition of slide-guitarist Jimmy Phillips (a pal of Ozzy’s) and sax player Alan “Aker” Clark, they would become a six-piece known as Music Machine (noted in the book Metal: The Definitive Guide by Gary Sharpe Young) which was even more short-lived than Polka Tulk. The first time Polka Tulk performed was on August 24th, 1968 at the County Ballroom in Carlisle. There would only be one more Polka Tulk show with both Phillips and Clark, at a youth club in Workington, England. They were dismissed from the band after that gig. By early September, Polka Tulk morphed into Earth. Tony Iommi abruptly left Earth to join Jethro Tull, which, like the various pre-Sabbath groupings we’ve discussed, lasted (thankfully) about a hot minute.

More after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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11.05.2019
09:45 am
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Decline IV: The lost Penelope Spheeris documentary on Ozzfest ’99


 
Sharon Osbourne came up with the idea for Ozzfest after her Prince of Darkness husband got snubbed from playing Lollapalooza in ’96. The most reputable touring festival of its kind, Ozzfest would reach peak popularity in the new millennium, with break-out artists of the hard rock and heavy metal persuasion. It’s safe to say that bands like Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, Disturbed, and Rob Zombie wouldn’t have achieved the same mainstream success if Ozzfest hadn’t riled up the head-banging degenerates of every American suburbia it blared through.
 
You are probably familiar with the work of Penelope Spheeris, most recognized for directing such films as Wayne’s World, Suburbia, The Little Rascals, and the groundbreaking underground music documentary series, The Decline of Western Civilization I-III. Spheeris is also regarded for the infamous films she declined to direct, This is Spinal Tap and Legally Blonde among them. Her refusal was due to other commitments, and in 1999, it was because of Ozzfest.
 
After releasing the third (and final) installment of The Decline, with its focus on Los Angeles gutter punks of the late-nineties, Spheeris was soon onto a new cultural phenomena, heavy metal in middle America. During the summer of 1999, the Ozzfest roadshow appeared in 26 cities throughout North America, headlined by the original lineup of Black Sabbath—their final “farewell” tour of the nineties reunion (before the next one). On the bill were soon-to-be household names of the burgeoning hard rock and nu-metal scene, including Rob Zombie, Slayer, System of a Down, Primus, Godsmack, and Static-X. And joining them to document the journey was Penelope Spheeris, directing a picture later unknown to many titled: We Sold Our Souls for Rock ’n Roll.
 

 
Envisioned with the same anthropological eye and creative brilliance that executed The Decline, Spheeris left no rock (or roll) unturned on her quest for the cultural core and essence of such a bizarre evolution within the early-internet age. Throughout the film, reckless and inebriated fans are pulled aside, musicians are questioned of their long-term relevance, and anti-satanist picketers are given the opportunity to sound even more insane. Not to mention, there are glimpses of Sabbath jamming backstage, a groupie’s tour of the Slayer tour bus, grotesque sideshow demonstrations, topless bull riding, bonfires, fights with security, and… Buckethead. Remember that scene in The Decline II when Ozzy cooks eggs? Well, in this one, we witness him pissing in the bushes of his Beverly Hills mansion. In just two years, the Osbourne family antics would gain mainstream notoriety, all thanks to MTV.
 
If the documentary had seen a wide release, I imagine it would have been as important as the other Decline films, due to like-minded outsider examination of such a raw subculture. Spheeris’ honest depiction of such a puzzling, yet beautiful, societal abnormality is truly mind-blowing and worth the attention, regardless of your take on the music. Licensing issues prevented the film from making it anywhere else besides YouTube, so I recommend that you watch ASAP before it gets pulled down.
 
Relive the glory (and madness) of Ozzfest ’99 below:
 

 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
‘I Just Want Some Skank’: They made a punk porno based on Penelope Spheeris’ cult film ‘Suburbia’
‘Turbulence 3’: The (pre-9/11) stinker of an airplane hijack film starring a fake Marilyn Manson!
“Rap Sabbath?”: Black Sabbath’s bizarre collaboration with Ice-T in 1995

Posted by Bennett Kogon
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07.02.2019
10:47 am
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Did Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler put a curse on a thief who stole Tony Iommi’s guitar?
06.14.2019
07:55 am
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Tony Iommi circa 1980 alongside his SG Custom guitar with crosses on the neck made by luthier John Birch.
 
Cocaine was the most popular party favor during the 1980s. In light of this, it’s reasonable to think that cocaine might have helped fuel a strange article edited by a journalist going by the name of Andrew Epstein, published in the December 1980 issue of Record Review magazine. In a feature called “Bits & Pieces,” Epstein relays a story regarding the alleged theft of Tony Iommi’s prized SG Custom guitar with a 24-fret neck with cross inlays made in 1975 by luthier John Birch who has also made instruments for Iommi’s bandmate, Geezer Butler. The guitar is significant for several reasons including the fact it was the primary guitar Iommi used on the albums Technical Ecstasy, Never Say Die, Heaven and Hell, and Mob Rules. Iommi used this SG heavily in live performances during this time period and fans would get to eyeball the machine, synonymous with the guitarist himself. Now that we have established the importance of this mighty axe, let’s get back to the maybe true story of how some lunkhead thought it would be cool to lift Iommi’s iconic guitar from Black Sabbath’s equipment van during, what I can only presume based on the “facts” in Epstein’s piece, the U.S. leg of the Heaven and Hell Tour.

In the article, it’s noted that the guitar was stolen while the band was in Chicago—this would mean (according to Sabbath’s tour schedule for 1980) this was when the band played the International Amphitheater on August 18th. This is also where the article starts to sound like Black Sabbath fanfiction.
 

Iommi and his John Birch 1975 SG Custom.
 
The story goes on to dramatically describe how Iommi mourned for his sweet SG until it was returned to him on a “cold, moonlit night” with a note attached. The note was not-so-shockingly from the “thief” who felt the need to return the guitar to Iommi after his life was turned upside down (and not in a good way) after he had lifted the instrument. The thief describes how his life has become one of “unending misery,” which culminated with a traffic accident which sent him to the hospital. Here are more alleged words from Iommi’s guitar grabber:

“Take it, take this cursed thing from my life so that I may never see it again.”

After reuniting with his SG, Tony’s guitar would be stolen again in Dallas—this would have been at the Convention Center Arena, though a quick review of Sabbath’s tour schedule, it would appear Epstein might have gotten his dates confused as Sabbath stopped in Dallas on July 5th, 1980, and then hit up Chicago on August 18th. The distinct possibility Epstein transposed locations does give this bit of magazine mythology some legs—until we get to the part where it reports that Geezer Butler put a “hex” on the second thief who likely only existed in Andrew Epstein’s imagination. Here’s the “warning” issued by Iommi to the thief:

“I know there are a lot of people who won’t believe this, but I’m very concerned about the person who has stolen the guitar. It’s bad luck for anyone other than me to have that axe, and I don’t want anything terrible to happen.”

Continues after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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06.14.2019
07:55 am
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Rat Salad: Eddie Van Halen’s riffy 1994 collaboration with Black Sabbath
04.15.2019
08:41 am
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Tony Iommi and Eddie Van Halen in 1978.
 

“Without Tony, heavy metal wouldn’t exist. He is the creator of heavy! Tony is a legend. He took rock and roll and turned it into heavy metal.”

-–Eddie Van Halen telling the world how he feels about Tony Iommi.

Not long after the second departure of Ronnie James Dio (as well as drummer Vinnie Appice) in 1992, Tony Iommi began formulating his plan to re-assemble Black Sabbath. In his revealing book, and in this fan’s estimation, one of the best rock bios ever, Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath, Iommi discussed in detail his experience of rebuilding Black Sabbath yet again. In the process of auditioning new UK-based timekeepers, Iommi got a call from a fellow former bandmate of Dio’s, Brooklyn native Bobby Rondinelli, who was very much interested in the gig. According to Iommi, Rondinelli flew out to play for the guitarist, and Iommi hired him on the spot. With Tony Martin back on vocals (for the first time since 1990), long-time Sabbath keyboardist Geoffrey Nicholls (RIP) and Geezer Butler firmly in place on bass, this version of Black Sabbath began the process of writing and recording their seventeenth album, Cross Purposes, at the Monnow Valley Studios in Wales. While Sabbath was busy working, Van Halen (or Van Hagar, as it was 1993) was close to wrapping up the European leg of their Right Here Right Now Tour, stopping at the National Exhibition Centre on April 25th,1993. This time, when Iommi’s phone rang it was Eddie Van Halen on the other end, asking Tony if he had time to hang out while he was in town. And this is where one of rock’s riffiest rumors got its start.

Since Tony Iommi is a class act, he personally drove to Eddie’s hotel to pick up the guitarist to bring him to Sabbath’s nearby rehearsal space, just outside of Birmingham. On the way, they stopped at a local music shop to pick up a guitar for Eddie to play, setting the stage for the possibility that Eddie Van Halen might somehow become a part of Cross Purposes. Ever since this particular meeting of the twin guitar titans, there have been persistent affirmations from fans and websites that Eddie’s signature shredding appeared on the song “Evil Eye.” And why not? If Eddie Van Halen asks if he can come over and “play” with you, not only do you say “yes,” but anyone with good sense would also be sure to capture the moment in some way, shape, or form, or as they say, “it never happened.” So here’s the story straight from Iommi on Sabbath’s jam session with Eddie Van Halen one Sunday evening in 1993.

Noted in the book, on their way to the rehearsal space, Eddie asked if his new BFF wanted to pick up some beer. Since Iommi was driving, he declined to imbibe, but the seemingly very thirsty Ed grabbed a case of beer to bring along with him anyway. Before Eddie became, in Iommi’s words, “legless” (you know—when your legs stop holding you up because booze somehow broke all your leg bones), Eddie played a solo over Iommi’s original riff for “Evil Eye.” What happened next would echo back to Sabbath’s problematic “let’s do all the cocaine” days in the 70s when they were completely fucked up all the time, including while they were in the studio laying down music for an album. In an interview with High Times magazine in 1994 with both Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne, Ozzy recalled, quite remarkably, that the band would constantly “forget” what they were doing, including not remembering to hit the “play/record” button in the studio for hours on end! This time (noted in chapter 71 in his book), Iommi put the blame squarely on his own stone-cold-sober self—and the band—for not recording his and Eddie’s epic riff/solo collaboration:

“We (Eddie, Iommi, and Sabbath) had a jam, and he played on “Evil Eye.” I played the riff, and he played a great solo over it. Unfortunately, we didn’t record it properly on our little tape player, so I never got a chance to hear it! That was a funny day.”

Much more after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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04.15.2019
08:41 am
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Dank Sabbath: Ozzy & Tony Iommi talk to High Times about weed, coke, and Quaaludes


Ozzy Osbourne on the cover of the March 1999 issue of High Times magazine. All photos by Dennis Kleiman.
 

“What other job can you imagine where the more fucked up you turn up, the better people think you’re gonna be? ‘Oh, fuckin’ Tony’s stoned’ or ‘Ozzy’s stoned’ or ‘Bill’s stoned.’ It’s going to be good fun tonight.’

—Ozzy in High Times talking about smoking ganja with Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath’s original members came together twice during the 1990s—the first occasion occurring at the conclusion of Ozzy’s first No More Tours tour when a newly sober Ozzy asked his old band to open two shows in Costa Mesa, California on November 15th and 16th, 1992. Both shows would end with Ozzy joining Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward on stage to rip through a few Sabbath classics. The second “reunion” in 1997 at Ozzfest (minus drummer Bill Ward until his return in December of that year), would eventually lead to an album, the band’s first live record (featuring the original lineup), Reunion. In October of 1998, the band arrived in New York City for their first TV appearance in 22 years on the Late Show with David Letterman. While in New York, Ozzy’s people reached out to High Times magazine saying that he wanted the magazine to interview him. When High Times journalist Chris Simunek got the news he was going to interview the Prince of Darkness (or perhaps the Prince of Dankness in this scenario), he thought he was being “pranked” as the thought of possibly doing bong hits with Ozzy was just too much. But the request was legit and Simunek and High Times production director Rob Braswell eventually set out to meet Ozzy and Iommi at their hotel. Once they were whisked away to the room where interviews were being held, they were greeted by Osbourne who asked them if they were “rolling yet.” Priorities, Ozzy has them.

Upon meeting Ozzy, Simunek described shaking the hand of the odds-defying vocalist like “shaking the hand of a man who just came out of a 30-year panic attack.” Even at 50, Ozzy’s hereditary tremors and stammering speech were front and center; however, this didn’t stop Osbourne or Iommi from sharing some stories from their drug-using/abusing past—which was the point of the interview with High Times in the first place. In the words of Simunek—if you want to read about Black Sabbath’s music “go read Guitar Player.” This discussion with Ozzy and Iommi, two of heavy metal’s most valuable players was about weed, and as it turns out, lots of other party favors the band had devoured during their smoke it/snort it/drink it days. The interview was published in the March 1999 issue and would become one of High Times’ biggest sellers. As I am a proud owner of this issue, it feels like high time to share some of the highlights.
 

Ozzy, Tony Iommi and ALL THE WEED in High Times Magazine.
 

Simunek: So I’ve got to ask you about “Sweet Leaf.” Where did that come from?

Ozzy: Well, what do you think? We used to smoke pounds of the shit man. We used to buy it by the fuckin’ sackful. We used to be so fucked up all the time. Wake up in the morning, start the day with a spliff and go to bed with it. Yeah, it started to get…I started to get the heebee-jeebees. I was mixing all kinds of other chemicals. Booze, coke, pills…

Simunek: Do you see a difference between pot and other chemicals?

Ozzy: Absolutely. This, for instance, (waving his cigarette), tobacco. I couldn’t smoke as many joints a day as I can this stuff. Gotta legalize pot. I’m all for the legalization of pot, decriminalize it. I don’t smoke it myself, but if anybody wants to smoke it, fine. I got busted for it. We all did.

Simunek: With coke, wouldn’t you record albums faster?

Ozzy: You’d do it, and then you’d forget what you were doing! We couldn’t turn the fucking tape machine on! We’d turn the ‘pause’ on instead of ‘play/record,’ you know. We’d be playing for fuckin’ twenty-four hours.

Iommi: Those neat little bags (of coke).

Ozzy: Just chop us another line out! Get another can of beer out of the fridge! Roll another joint! We used to smoke big bags of hash. Big fuckin’...we used to buy hash by the pound.

Iommi: And coke. We used to buy these sealed bottles of coke.

Ozzy: Government sealed!

Simunek: Is it rough to be sober now?

Ozzy: It sucks. I don’t like being sober, but say you chopped up some lines (of coke). I’d go, ‘Yeah, I’ll go for it.’ By twelve-o’clock I’d be hanging off of the fucking building screaming with a bottle of vodka in my hand. There was a big period of time when I used to drink cheap wine and do ‘ludes. I’d be like fucking jelly, and the audience would be like a pond, a fucking oil slick. Did you ever try the original Quaaludes?

Simunek: No. That’s a little before my time.

Ozzy: (Now addressing Iommi) They were fucking wonderful, weren’t they? I could still get them. I know somebody who froze ten thousand.

In addition to Ozzy and Iommi’s take on their own personal Fear and Loathing journey in High Times, there was also a photo shoot with Osbourne and Iommi at photographer Dennis Kleiman’s New York studio involving a shit-ton of high-quality New York grown nugs and buds. Ozzy’s publicists kept a tight wrap on the guest list for the shoot (even Simunek was barred from being there), which was probably for the best as according to those who were there, Ozzy was especially “playful” during the session as he clutched a giant bag of weed while running laps around Kleiman’s studio. While all this was going on, some of Ozzy’s crew started pocketing some of the bud used for the shoot. When word got back to High Times editor and publisher Mike Edison (as noted in his 2008 book I Have Fun Everywhere I Go: Savage Tales of Pot, Porn, Punk Rock, Pro Wrestling, Talking Apes, Evil Bosses, Dirty Blues, American Heroes, and the Most Notorious Magazines in the World), he was pissed. Here’s more from Edison on the great Ozzy Osbourne Weed Heist of 1999:

“They were stuffing their pockets with weed when they left. Fuck, why didn’t they just ask! Boosting the stash was pretty square. No class. We would have pretty much given them whatever they wanted out of respect for their boss. There was no way I was not going to exploit this, and I leaked the story to the New York Post which it ran on Page Six titled ‘Drug-Addled Rock Star Pilfers Pot, Chaos Reigns at Stoner Photo Shoot.’”

More after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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03.25.2019
08:34 am
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“Rap Sabbath?”: Black Sabbath’s bizarre collaboration with Ice-T in 1995
02.18.2019
11:02 am
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Ice-T and Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi.
 
By the time Black Sabbath took ten days to record their eighteenth record Forbidden, they had parted ways twice with vocalist Ronnie James Dio, as well as another Sabbath vocalist, Tony Martin. Dio would go back to his solo work, and Martin would return to Sabbath for Forbidden. Dio really dodged a bullet as Forbidden would go down in history as one one of the Black Sabbath’s biggest blunders, kind of like Metallica’s Lulu. This is not meant to knock Iommi’s superior riffs or the thunder brought by Bill Ward’s replacement, Cozy Powell, or to be dismissive of the multi-talented Tony Martin who, among other things, can play the fuck out of the bagpipes. Alas the combination of star power and talent does not always result in righteous ear candy.

For many fans, Forbidden falls below the categorization of “For Fans Only” to a spot lower on the rock and roll ruler somewhere around, as Blender magazine called it, “the band’s worst album.” Of course, not everyone hates Forbidden, including Tony Iommi who began the process of remastering the album in early 2018 saying he hoped to release it sometime this year. In all honesty, I do not hate this record and if you think you do, or should, maybe give it another listen. So how was Ice-T enlisted to provide some vocal assistance for the song “Illusion of Power,” which was written by Ice and Tony Martin?

For Forbidden, Sabbath brought in Detroit-born guitarist Ernie C (Ernie Cunnigan) to produce the album. Ernie and Ice-T go way back to high school, where they first met in 1975, and has been playing with Ice in Body Count for nearly three decades. Ernie headed to Par Street Studios in Liverpool to record with Sabbath completing it in just ten days. Here’s more from an interview with Tony Martin and Cozy Powell talking about when they heard Ice-T was going to “rap” on the album:

Tony Martin: We had a phone call basically. He wanted to work with us. Tony went to meet him, they got on well, and from Ice-T, Ernie C was recommended to us as a producer for some of the tracks on the album, so it all started to develop, step by step. And in the end, Ernie ended up producing the whole album, which is quite good. His input really was a “feel”-thing, all the songs were already written by the time he got there. Well, you see, we didn’t know what he was gonna sing…In fact, he didn’t know what we were gonna write, and we didn’t know what he was gonna rap! So it was kind of rap by post if you like. We did the songs in the UK, sent one of them over to him, he rapped on it and sent it back. It turned out quite good.
Cozy Powell: I mean, if it had been a typical rap-thing with us it would have been ridiculous, but what he’s done on the track is actually really good.
Tony Martin: It is different, but that’s the point, it was supposed to be.
Cozy Powell: It was meant to be a guest appearance on one track, nothing more. It’s just a little bit different.
Tony Martin: We had to ask a lot of questions… It’s not something that sort of came up, like, “oh yeah, let’s do that,” we all looked at each other and went: “Are you sure ??” Do we really wanna do this? But it turned out good.
Cozy Powell: I think Ice and Ernie were a lot influenced by Sabbath anyway, so…That was where the connection originally came from, not that we absolutely wanted some rappers on a Sabbath-album..!
Cozy Powell: Goodness only knows…! We’ll probably have Madonna on the next!
Tony Martin: (laughs) NOT!!”

Martin has also been quoted saying that during the process of recording Forbidden, the band seemed to be okay with making what he called a “rap Sabbath” record. Which really makes no sense as Ice’s lyrical contribution to the song is a whopping sixteen seconds long. And he phoned it in from Los Angeles, so there’s that. The song is posted below. You have been warned.
 

“Illusion of Power” featuring vocals by Ice-T.

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
The curious case of Black Sabbath guitar god Tony Iommi and his very 70s sweater collection
‘Kiss My Baadasssss: Ice-T’s Guide To Blaxploitation’
Black & Blue: The infamous riot at a Black Sabbath & Blue Öyster Cult gig in Milwaukee, 1980
Black Sabbath’s 1972 cocaine budget: $75,000
Did Black Sabbath lift the opening riff from ‘Paranoid’?
Metal Gods: Rob Halford of Judas Priest fronts Black Sabbath in 1992

Posted by Cherrybomb
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02.18.2019
11:02 am
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David Lee Roth and Ozzy Osbourne’s insane ‘cocaine challenge’ of 1978


 
In 1978 Van Halen and Black Sabbath teamed up for a tour to end all tours. Van Halen shared bills with a bunch of big acts in ‘78 during their first world tour, all of whom immediately regretted the decision because VH was next to impossible to upstage. I mean, how do you follow a band that shows up to a gig by parachuting from a plane, then catches a ride from a van waiting for them on the ground, and starts playing the show still wearing the jumpsuits they jumped out of the plane in? Oh, and they just happen to be Van fucking Halen, no big deal. Of course, the members of VH didn’t actually jump out of a plane in California just so they could play their set at the Anaheim Stadium Summer Fest in September of 1978, they had stuntmen do it, so they didn’t miss out on happy hour before the show. Priorities, Van Halen has ‘em.

In getting back to VH’s tour with Black Sabbath, Sabbath quickly learned their choice of opening bands might have been a mistake. Ozzy told writer Greg Renoff (author of the fantastic book, Van Halen Rising) that he and Sabbath were “stunned” after witnessing Van Halen’s set during the start of the tour in Europe in May of 1978. 1978 had been a rough year for Sabbath, and their collective drug and alcohol consumption was at an all-time high. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but this was especially true for Ozzy.

Ozzy was so messed up he actually quit the band, briefly forcing Sabbath to replace him with Dave Walker (Fleetwood Mac/Savoy Brown). Ozzy would return, and the tour rolled on through Europe, eventually wrapping up in the U.S. for the second leg of their North American shows. The night before the tour stopped in Nashville, Tennessee, Roth and Ozzy decided to stay up until nine in the morning doing blow to see which one of them would faceplant first. Score one for DLR for having the balls to challenge Ozzy to a competition involving drugs without dying in the process. Somehow, both Roth and Osbourne made it to the airport, got to Nashville, and checked into their hotel. Later on when it came time to head off to sound check, Ozzy didn’t show up. The tour manager had never given Ozzy the key to his room which would explain why Ozzy wasn’t found there either.
 

A photo of Dave Walker, a Brummie pal of Tony Iommi, during his short time with Black Sabbath. On January 6th, 1978, Black Sabbath appeared on the British TV show ‘Look Hear’ performing “War Pigs,” and an early version of the song “Junior’s Eyes” penned by Walker. Listen to it here.
 
Things got frantic quick given Ozzy’s less than stellar track record of not being a responsible human and it had everyone thinking the worst—the singer had been kidnapped or was lying dead somewhere in Nashville. At some point when it became clear Ozz wasn’t going to materialize in time for the show, Roth said members of Sabbath asked him if he could sing any of their material, but he didn’t know any of their lyrics. Van Halen would play their opening slot, but Sabbath would have to cancel for obvious reasons. By this time the hotel and surrounding areas were now swarming with the local police and the FBI, all searching for Osbourne. At the center of it all was David Lee Roth, as he was technically—as far as anyone knew—one of the last people to see Ozzy alive. Searches for the singer turned up no clues, no sightings, nothing. Then, as things were starting to seem quite bleak Roth recalls Sabbath had been hanging out sitting on a carpet in the hotel lobby, grim as fuck waiting to have their worst fears confirmed. What actually happened was a very out-of-it-Ozzy headed up to what he thought was his room, #616, as he still had the key from the previous night’s hotel in his possession. The room was being cleaned and Ozzy told the housekeeper to beat it so he could crash for eighteen hours or so after doing blow for half a day with DLR. According to the police report, when he woke up, he realized he was in the wrong room and toddled off to his real room where he picked up a call from a Nashville detective. Dave remembers at around 6:30 in the morning a not dead, maybe only half dead Ozzy walked out of the hotel lobby elevator. Here’s a hilarious quote from Lt. Sherman Nickens of the Nashville, Tennessee PD on the incident. Oh, Lt. Nickens, if you only knew!

“Ozzy Osbourne may have been kidnapped or been the victim of some other form of foul play. Here’s a man who makes a lot of money and has never missed a show in ten years. He doesn’t drink or use dope. He disappears and his people are so frantic. So it was possible that something had happened to this man. While all the time he’s sleeping.”

Let this be a lesson to you folks: never challenge David Lee Roth to a cocaine duel—you will lose.

Sabbath returned to Tennessee with VH a few days later to make up the gig and by most accounts it wasn’t great, as Osbourne’s voice was shot. What follows are photos of VH and Sabbath (one is NSFW) taken during their massive tour in 1978. Also included below is footage of Sabbath’s incredible performance at the Hammersmith Odeon on June 1st, 1978, and equally impressive bootleg audio of Van Halen’s set the same night. Your speakers are about to get a well-deserved workout.
 

A collage of amusing headlines and articles about Ozzy oversleeping in the wrong hotel room in Nashville.
 

 
More coked-up mayhem and mischief after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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09.19.2018
08:42 am
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Black & Blue: The infamous riot at a Black Sabbath & Blue Öyster Cult gig in Milwaukee, 1980
01.10.2018
09:38 am
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A poster for the concert film ‘Black & Blue’ (note producer!) which captured performances from both Black Sabbath and Blue Öyster Cult at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Hempstead, New York on October 17th, 1980.
 

“We wanted to give a lot for you, but not our blood. If you don’t want to enjoy it, then tough shit!”

—A pissed-off Ronnie James Dio’s parting words to their Black Sabbath’s Milwaukee fans before a massive riot broke out at the MECCA on October 9th, 1980.


It should have been a gig for the ages—a co-headling show between two musical juggernauts, Black Sabbath and Blue Öyster Cult. BÖC and Sabbath had been touring pretty steadily together since July (along with a bunch of other bands like Molly Hatchet, Journey, and Cheap Trick) and by all accounts, the dream bill was something to behold. With Ronnie James Dio at the helm, Sabbath had just released Heaven and Hell to much acclaim from their fans and music critics. BÖC also had a new record to promote, their seventh, Cultösaurus Erectus. It is estimated that 1.5 million people were lucky enough to witness one of the many shows the two bands did together—though one stop on the tour at Milwaukee’s MECCA (the Milwaukee Exposition Convention Center Arena) on October 9th, 1980 didn’t go exactly as planned…

Accounts of how the gig devolved into a riot, vary. Some say Blue Öyster Cult played too long leading fans to get restless for Black Sabbath. Other reports say the hour wait between the two sets got under the audience’s skin making them edgy. Whatever it was or wasn’t, the 9,000 plus, near-capacity crowd in attendance at the MECCA was fired up when Black Sabbath took the stage a few ticks before 9:30. The band kicked off their set with “War Pigs” followed by “Neon Knights.” Then, as the lights were purposefully dimmed as Dio introduced their third song, “N.I.B.”, someone hummed a bottle at the stage which struck Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler in the head, knocking him unconscious. Here are Butler’s recollections of the fateful night:

“It’s all a big misunderstanding, really, The lights were down, first of all, so unless the fellow was some sort of incredible quarterback, I don’t know how he could have hit me on purpose. But I was knocked out, and the band was busy getting me off the stage and to a hospital. When the lights came back up, there was no band on stage. And of course, the crowd freaked out. Someone should have gone out and explained—the promoter or someone. I mean, the band was worrying about getting me to the hospital, you know? So the crowd freaked out because there was suddenly no band on stage, and things got worse from there.”

 

. A shot of Buck Dharma of BÖC on stage at the MECCA.
 
Things had yet to get completely out of hand but did shortly after Dio came out and told the rowdy crowd to suck it (Dio’s actual quote appears at the top of this post). Then, Black Sabbath’s tour manager, Andrew Truman took the still darkened stage (as noted in Billboard magazine, October 25th, 1980) as did Sabbath’s production manager, Huw Price. Both Price and Truman took turns admonishing the crowd, telling them the show would not go on saying the band wanted to play Milwaukee but “didn’t appreciate being hit by unidentified flying objects.” Price was allegedly the one who got the job to tell the crowd “just cool out,” as Sabbath wouldn’t be “coming back on stage as the bass player (Butler) is too hurt.” It was now around 11:15—nearly two hours after Sabbath’s unplanned two-song set and in response to Price’s speech, they started shouting in unison “We want Sabbath! We want Sabbath!” The lights went on, and the crowd turned its rage towards the MECCA itself.

Chairs were thrown, smashed and hurled into a growing pile in the center of the floor. Fans ripped out the handrails in the balcony, and one guy tried to light a pile of wooden chairs on fire because of course, he had his handy BIC lighter with him. Pay phones (remember them?) were ripped from the walls, and random bare-knuckle brawls broke out in the crowd who were now tossing chairs at the stage and smashing windows. Once large numbers of Milwaukee’s finest moved in, all decked out in riot gear, they started indiscriminately beating the shit out of people with their billy clubs, something they would repeat a few months later on the face of Plasmatics vocalist Wendy O. Williams. The riot continued outside the MECCA where angry fans took their aggression out on police cars, private property and even the cops themselves. 160 people ended up spending the night in jail for various crimes including a large number of drug-related arrests. The next day, Milwaukee Police Chief Harold Breier announced there would be no further rock concerts at the MECCA as well as no more beer served at the concessions stands. What a buzz-kill. Thankfully, the restrictions didn’t last and in 1981 rock and roll (and BEER!) returned to the MECCA as did AC/DC and Van Halen.

I’ve posted audio of the show below where Butler gets his block rocked by a bottle as well as some visual artifacts of the riot and its aftermath.
 

Fans exiting a broken down door at the MECCA (Milwaukee Exposition Convention Center Arena) during riot that followed a Black Sabbath and Blue Öyster Cult’s show on October 9th, 1980. All photos from the show and the aftermath are via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
 

 

 

He seems nice.
 
Much more after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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01.10.2018
09:38 am
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Metal Gods: Rob Halford of Judas Priest fronts Black Sabbath in 1992


Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford onstage with Black Sabbath (guitarist Tony Iommi is pictured to the left), November 15th, 1992.
 
So here’s the backstory as to how Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford ended up fronting Black Sabbath in 1992—and man is it a doozy, mostly due to the fact that this very metal moment also involves two other pivotal members of Sabbath—original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne and Ozz’s replacement, the great Ronnie James Dio. So get out your devil horns and turn them up because here we go...

Ozzy had been riding high for a dozen years thanks to a successful solo career after getting kicked out of Sabbath for being a coke and booze-fueled mess in 1979. Then, rather suddenly in 1992, Ozz announced his retirement from touring. Osbourne said his decision to retire from the road was two-part; one was his recent diagnosis of multiple sclerosis—which turned out to later be in error. The second reason Ozzy cited is that he wanted to spend more time with his family—which turned out to be a fib as he would quickly announce after the tour he was already bored with being a homebody and jumped back into the limelight. The “No More Tours” tour concluded with two dates at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, California on November 14th and 15th. Per Ozzy’s special request, the opening band would be none other than Black fucking Sabbath led at the time by Ronnie James Dio. But it didn’t go down that way. And that’s because Dio didn’t like the idea of Sabbath seeing their old mate because it might lead to a full-fledged reunion. Here’s more from RJD on his refusal to play the show which ultimately led to his decision to break up with Black Sabbath:

“No, sorry. I have more pride than that. A lot of bad things were being said from camp to camp, and it created this horrible schism. So, by them agreeing to play the shows in LA with Ozzy, that, to me, spelled out ‘reunion with Ozzy.’ And that obviously meant the end of our particular project.”

And with that, Dio closed the iron door on Sabbath leaving them without a vocalist for the gigs, so they turned to metal god Rob Halford to save them. Halford had just called it quits with Judas Priest in May blaming his exit on the band’s long-time record label Columbia and their lack of support for his desire to pursue solo work. As Dio’s departure was unexpected and quick, Halford had very little time to learn Sabbath classics such as “Mob Rules,” “Into the Void,” “Neon Knights,” and “Sweet Leaf,” but he did. The first show was all Halford ripping through a ten-song-set including a two-song encore featuring 1972’s “Supernaut.” For the tour finale the next night the crowd got what they were all wishing for—a reunion of Sabbath with all but one of the original members of the band. During the second encore, Ozzy joined Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and drummer Vinny Appice on stage performing four songs together; “Fairies Wear Boots,” “Black Sabbath,” “Iron Man,” and “Paranoid.” The mini-gig didn’t turn into a full-on reunion as Dio had suspected until 1997 when Ozzy, Iommi, and Butler (along with Faith No More timekeeper Mike Bordin on drums who replaced Bill Ward due to health problems) headlined Ozzfest along with Ozzy’s touring band. Halford would once again sit in on vocals for Sabbath on August 26th, 2004 when Ozzy got bronchitis and wasn’t able to perform—something that Halford considered a birthday gift of sorts as the day prior he had just celebrated his 53rd year around the sun. Awww.

I’ve posted eighteen minutes of footage of Halford killing it with Sabbath on November 15th, 1992 as well as a few photos from the blessed event after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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12.13.2017
11:48 am
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Buffalo: Australia’s answer to Black Sabbath
05.22.2017
08:37 am
Topics:
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Buffalo and Black Sabbath
 
The Australian band Buffalo was one of the earliest acts to show an obvious debt to heavy metal pioneers, Black Sabbath. Their Sabbath-inspired debut, Dead Forever…, came out in 1972 and sold over 25,000 copies. The Sydney-based group was signed to Vertigo Records, which was also Sabbath’s label in Australia.

Prior to the release of their third album, a live Buffalo set was recorded for Australian TV, with portions airing over multiple nights during the GTK (as in “get to know”) program. The below video is a collection of the five clips, ending with their version of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid,” which doesn’t appear on any Buffalo LP. If you want to skip to “Paranoid,” start at 19:47, though I’d suggest you watch the whole damn thing. You’ll be glad you did.
 

 

Posted by Bart Bealmear
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05.22.2017
08:37 am
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Easy Doom: Dig the Black Sabbath soft rock remix
04.05.2017
09:37 am
Topics:
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Black Sabbath is directly responsible for some of the hardest and heaviest sounds ever created by man or beast. One fateful day in Birmingham, seventeen-year-old sheet metal worker Tony Iommi lost a couple fingertips in a bloody industrial accident, and the world gained heavy metal as a result. Well, Iommi claims it was an accident, anyway. Seems more like a deal with the devil, if you ask me.

Anyway, despite their well-earned reputation as the grandfathers of everything hard, heavy, and unholy in general and the architects of blood-freezing doom metal in particular, early Sabbath wasn’t always heavy, all the time. They mellowed the fuck out on occasion. Brit DJ Robert E. Lee proves the case with the incredible Balearic Sabbath, a 35-minute excursion into Black Sabbath’s most placid moments, a slow n’ easy Sunday morning remix full of free-flowing flutes, jazzy coffeehouse guitar noodles and softly banged bongos. From “Planet Caravan” to “Laguna Sunrise” to “Solitude” and back, this droopy-eyed foray into Sabbath’s gentler side is the perfect soundtrack to your next lost weekend.

Doom and despair have never sounded so groovy.

Have a listen after the jump…

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Posted by Ken McIntyre
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04.05.2017
09:37 am
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Remember the Alamo: The lengthy list of crimes committed by the members of Black Sabbath


Black Sabbath clearly thinking about doing all kinds of illegal stuff.
 

“I wonder what jail I’ll wake up in tomorrow?”

—Black Sabbath vocalist Ozzy Osbourne musing about what might happen after one of his routine drug and alcohol induced blackouts back in the day.

If you could only use one word to describe what it’s like to be a part of the world of rock and roll it is this one: dangerous. First of all, the job isn’t really built for longevity, and it’s well known that many notable icons punched out of their mortal time clocks before they reached the age of 28 (aka, the 27 Club). There are the non-stop parties involving two good old heathen vices—sex and drugs, which at some point catches up with you in one way or another. Another job hazard of this (apparently) illustrious gig includes the occasional skirmish—or worse—with law enforcement. Let’s face it. If you’re in a successful touring rock band and you don’t already have a mugshot in your photo album, just wait. It’ll probably happen. And this leads me to the following breakdown highlighting the many crimes committed by the members of the greatest heavy metal band in history, Black Sabbath. And since Sabbath vocalist Ozzy Osbourne’s rap sheet is the longest, let’s start with him, shall we?

Though Ozzy’s bad behavior is infamous, he was apparently never arrested while he was with Sabbath, despite the fact that he was prone to relieving himself in places other than a toilet and was stark-raving drunk most days. Prior to joining the band, Ozzy held several strange jobs including working in a factory that produced car horns, a funeral home, and even a slaughterhouse. Since Ozzy and a straight job didn’t really get along, he turned to burglary to make a living. This landed the great and powerful Ozz in Winson Green prison for six weeks for petty theft after his father refused to pay his bail. While behind bars, Ozzy gave himself his famous “OZZY” knuckle tattoo using a sewing needle and graphite polish, as well as getting the two adorable smiley faces that adorn his kneecaps.
 

Ozzy being Ozzy in the 1970s. 
 
While Sabbath’s antics are about as epic as they come, Ozz would completely run amok once he was kicked out of the band in 1979. His arrest record would grow to include public urination and intoxication after he took a piss close enough to the beloved historical landmark the Alamo in 1982 (wearing a dress no less) that he was banned from entering San Antonio for a decade. This was also the same year that Ozzy famously bit the head off of a live bat on stage in Iowa. In 1984 Ozzy was once again arrested for public intoxication and was sent off to the drunk tank after being found completely inebriated traipsing up and down the streets of Memphis’ Beale Street entertainment district. In 1989 he was charged with the attempted murder of his wife Sharon Osbourne whom he tried to strangle with his bare hands while completely blotto on whatever he could snort, pop or swill. Let’s also not forget that before Ozzy’s wife Sharon took over as his manager during his solo career, it was her father Don Arden (known not-so-affectionately as the Al Capone of pop managers), who called the shots. Arden was quite literally one of the most feared members of the music scene in England and once hung rival manager Robert Stigwood (Cream and the Bee Gees) by his feet from his office window over a dispute involving the Small Faces. Damn.

When it comes to Tony Iommi and breaking the law we start back In 1968 when the buzz-killing police raided Iommi’s home in Birmingham and found *gasp* marijuana residue for which the guitarist received the British equivalent of probation for two years. In 1973 he nearly lost his life to an overdose, technically a crime in itself, at a Sabbath show at the Hollywood Bowl. And that was after helping his bandmates snort $75K worth of blow in 1972. In 1983 he blew up a bunch of prized carp belonging to businessman and airline mogul Richard Branson while the band was recording Born Again at Branson’s studio in Oxfordshire. Then he trashed drummer Bill Ward’s car at a go-cart track and let it burn after it caught fire. Iommi has a long history of getting his kicks by blowing stuff up which he thankfully documented in his 2011 book Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath.
 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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04.03.2017
09:37 am
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On this day in 1970, Black Sabbath invented heavy metal
02.13.2017
06:04 pm
Topics:
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This morning I was alerted to the fact that the first Black Sabbath album was unveiled upon this world like an evil curse on this day 47 years ago. Try to imagine what kind of experience it was when someone first whacked Black Sabbath onto their turntable in 1970. There had never before been such a purposefully infernal-sounding racket in rock at that point and it set such a high watermark so as to almost never (ever?) have been topped in that category. Black Sabbath was radical, primal, primitive and quite unprecedented. The young group’s formula—Dennis Wheatley/Hammer Horror meets Cream/Vanilla Fudge—was ingenious and yet dumb enough to please the cheap seats.

What must Black Sabbath’s Black Sabbath‘s opening track “Black Sabbath” have sounded like when people got their first taste of the group? To properly appreciate how truly radical this must’ve been coming at you like a rock to the head just as the Sixties had ended—flower power this was definitely not—you’d really have to mentally erase the decades of imitators who have come since, which is difficult to do. If you trace heavy metal down to its root moment, its true moment of birth, it was when these four guys in their early twenties happened upon this sound:
 

 
At the time of the song’s composition, the group was still named Earth, which they knew they had to change due to another band already using it. When they noticed long lines waiting to get into a Boris Karloff film called Black Sabbath across the street from their rehearsal studio, they wondered if the punters would also line up for a sort of heavy horror rock. The band was renamed Black Sabbath and gained a new direction and winning formula that would make them famous and wealthy faster than a pact with Satan.
 

 
Writing at On This Deity, the Arch Drude Julian Cope had this to say about the album:

Cannily clad by their record company in a self-consciously Wiccan outer package more fustily archaic and holy than modern “secular” postwar New Testaments could ever have dared to be, and possessed at its centre of an enormous inverted cross, BLACK SABBATH summoned the ears of the Hippie Generation’s little brothers and dragged them jerking into the cold light of the 1970s. The Downer had begun.

More after the jump…

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Posted by Richard Metzger
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02.13.2017
06:04 pm
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