1
Black Sabbath nearly broke up before recording a single song
-Tony Iommi left briefly to join Jethro Tull in 1969, but thankfully left
Black Sabbath supposedly took their name from a horror movie
-In reality, American psych rockers Coven wrote a song called "Black Sabbath" and even had a bass player named Oz Osbourne
3
No one knows the history of the mysterious woman on the debut album
-The woman is a complete mystery
4
The album Paranoid wasn't always known as that
-The neon image on the front shows a man holding a shield and sword- a "war pig". The album was renamed at the last moment because it was released in 1970, when Vietnam was still raging on
"Fairies Wear Boots" was inspired by true stories
-This song was inspired by one of Sabbath's early concerts, where combat boot-wearing skinheads interrupted a concert
6
Bill Ward is known for bashing his drums
-His main inspirations were big band-style people like Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich
7
They called in a little help for an album
-When the band started working on 1973's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, the band called in Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman
8
Black Sabbath hired art designers at Hipgnosis to design their album covers
-The designers at Hipgnosis designed the cover art for the band's 1976 Technical Ecstasy album
Ozzy supposedly left in 1979, but records say otherwise
-He supposedly left that year after being both fired from the band for missing a concert and his desire to do some solo work. But in reality, he left in 1977, forcing the band to use Dave Walker, a singer with British blues-rock band Savoy Brown
10
Sharon Arden found the band's next singer
-Before she became known as Sharon Osborne, she was still known as Sharon Arden, daughter of Don Arden, Black Sabbath's manager. When Ozzy left, Tony came to her for help. She recommended Ronnie James Dio
Geoff Nicholls has been in and out of the band since 1979
-Since then, he has contributed keyboards and bass playing on 1980's "Heaven and Hell"
12
Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillen joins in 1983
-When he joined, there were plans to start a new band. 1986's Seventh Star was supposed to be a solo album by Tony Iommi but both were released under the Black Sabbath name
The Seventh Star-era lineup consisted of...everybody
-This 1986 lineup consisted of Tony Iommi, Deep Purple vocalist Glenn Hughes, future Kiss drummer Eric Singer, bass player Dave "The Beast" Spitz, brother of Anthrax member Dan Spitz
14
Another musician joins on vocals
-Badlands member Ray Gillen, who was in the same band as Eric Singer, recorded all his vocals for 1987's The Eternal Idol, only to have his tracks redone by Tony Martin
 |
| Ray Gillen |
 |
| Tony Martin |
15
Tony Iommi was supposed to marry Lita Ford
-During the 1980s, Iommi and Ford were engaged to be married. But somehow, she got angry that he needed her drummer Eric Singer for his band and his unfortunate drug use didn't help. She broke off the engagement and later did the song "Close My Eyes Forever" with Ozzy Osbourne!
16
Brian May of Queen helps out
-He played guitar on "When Death Calls" from the 1989 album Headless Cross
17
Out with Ozzy, in with Rob
-When Ozzy was unavailable to sing with Black Sabbath in the 1990s, Rob Halford of Judas Priest filled in, singing "Iron Man" "Paranoid" and "War Pigs" among other songs
Geezer Butler and his friend both love football
-Terence "Geezer" Butler and his friend, actor Tom Hanks, both frequent games by Birmingham football team Aston Villa
19
The original members almost reunite
-In 2001, the original lineup almost reunited, but problems arose
20
Tony Iommi does stuff other than metal
-In 2013, he wrote a pop song for the Eurovision Song Contest, which ended up being covered by Armenian band Dorians
No comments:
Post a Comment