Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath

Origin: Aston, Birmingham, England, UK
Genres: heavy metal
Years Active: 1969-2006, 2011-present
Website: http://www.blacksabbath.com/

Members
-Tony Iommi: lead guitarist

-Ozzy Osbourne: lead singer

-Geezer Butler: bassist

-Bill Ward: Drummer

-English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne(lead vocals), Tony Iommi(guitar), Geezer Butler(bass guitar) and Bill Ward(drums).
-The band has gone through many lineup changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant member.
-Was originally formed in 1968 as a heavy blues rock band named Earth and gained the name Black Sabbath in 1969.

-The band's theme is occult and horror-inspired lyrics, tuned down guitars.
-They composed songs dealing with social instability, political corruption, dangers of drug abuse, apocalyptic prophesies of the horror of war.

-Along with Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and the other 2 bands are listed as the modern pioneers of heavy metal.
-In 2006, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

-Ozzy Osbourne's heavy alcohol and cocaine useage led to his being fired from the band in April 1979. He was then replaced by Rainbow lead singer Ronnie James Dio. During the 1980s and 1990s, the band changed lineups again, this time with Ian Gillian, Glenn Hughes, Ray Gillen, and Tony Martin as the lead singers, one right after the other. In 1992, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler rejoined Dio and drummer Vinny Appice to record Dehumanizer. In 1997, the original lineup started, with Osbourne and they released a live album, Reunion.

-The band is scheduled to perform a headlining slot at the Download Festival on June 10, 2012, with a world tour following.

History
-In 1968, guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward formed a band in Aston, Birmingham. They enlisted bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, both of whom played in a band called Rare Breed.
-In Dec. 1968, Iommi left the band briefly to join Jethro Tull. Unhappy with where Tull was going, he joined back up with the band Earth, which was the early name for Black Sabbath in January 1969.

-How they came up with the name Black Sabbath is across the street from the studio where the band practiced was a movie theater playing the 1963 Boris Karloff movie Black Sabbath. Following the band watching the movie, they wrote a song called Black Sabbath, which was inspired by the work of occult writer Dennis Wheatley. They also had a vision of a black silhouetted figure standing at the end of his bed.
-This pushed the band in a darker direction, which was a heavy comparison to the flower power, folk music, and hippie culture of the 1960s.

-So they changed their name to Black Sabbath and decided on making music that sounded like horror movies
-In 2003, the band got a #130 rating on Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time for their Paranoid album.
-One of the band's most popular songs is Iron Man.

-In 1979, Sharon Arden, daughter of Black Sabbath manager Don Arden, suggested that former Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio replace Osbourne. Dio joined in June of that year, thus changing the sound of the band's music. When Dio was with the band, he brought the "metal horns"
-On August 18, 1980, after a show in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bill Ward quit the band. He quit because he thought his alcoholism was accelerating and also because Ozzy's alcoholism was accelerating.

-Dio left the band in November 1982 to start another band, and took drummer Vinny Appice with him.
-On May 16, 2010, Ronnie James Dio died from a battle with stomach cancer.
-These guys are often referred to as "The Beatles of heavy metal"