Black Sabbath Songs

The “Black Sabbath” is a four-man band formed in Birmingham, England, in 1968 by Ozzy Osbourne (vocalist), Tony Iommi (guitarist), Bill Ward (drummer), and Geezer Butler (bassist). They were widely recognized as the pioneers of heavy metal music. The English rock band embodied significant aspects of the heavy-metal aesthetic and helped define the genre with their releases that include Black Sabbath (1970), Paranoid (1970), and Master of Reality (1971). Black Sabbath was a controversial band. After the band was finally inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005, the band vocalist, Ozzy, asked that their name be taken off the list as they felt they had been overlooked for so long - considering they had become eligible since 1995. Another issue happened in 2006 when Black Sabbath was inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The airport security told Guitarist Tony Iommi, who was at the time in possession of the award, that the large sculpture could be used as a weapon, thereby almost preventing him from taking his award home with him. In January 1970, following the band’s signing to Philips Records in November 1969, they dropped their first record, "Evil Woman." Their debut album which was named "Black Sabbath," was released the following month. Despite the lots of critical remarks by individuals and music critics on its release, the album became a huge commercial breakthrough for the band, motivating their follow-up record, Paranoid, later the same year. Lester Bangs of Rolling Stone reviewed the album as "discordant jams with bass and guitar reeling like velocitised speedfreaks all over each other's musical perimeters, yet never quite finding synch." The Black Sabbath album has since been certified platinum in both the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and in the United Kingdom by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Paranoid, released as the lead-off single to their next album, also “Paranoid,” was released in September 1970. It reached number four on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Black Sabbath's only top ten hit. The full album release was followed in the UK the following month in October 1970. This release came off strategic as the wave and success already set by the “Paranoid” single helped to further shoot it, making it number one in the UK Albums Chart. Steve Huey of AllMusic referred to 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 peaked at No. 12 in the U.S. in March 1971 following its delayed US release until January 1971; The delay was reportedly an intentional one as the Black Sabbath album was still on the chart at the time of Paranoid's U.K. release. Just six months after the U.S release of paranoid, the band released their third studio album, Master of Reality in July1971 - despite having completed its production since April. Aside from making the top ten in the United states and the United Kingdom, the “Master of reality” album was certified gold in less than two months. The album eventually became certified platinum in the 1980s and Double Platinum in the early 21st century. The band’s career was all banging until Osborne quit in 1978, following the checkered Never Say Die! tour. Apparently, the band’s last three albums, namely; Sabotage (1975), Technical Ecstasy (1976) and Never Say Die! (1978) did not meet the high expectations set by its predecessors. Aside from pioneering the heavy metal, Black Sabbath has been credited for its contribution to the creation of heavy metal subgenres like stoner rock, sludge metal, thrash metal, black metal and doom metal as well as for alternative rock subgenre grunge. The original foursome has had to reunite on several occasions. They reunited in 1997 for a series of stadium shows back home in Birmingham, and also in 1999, 2002, 2004, and 2005, when Black Sabbath headlined Osbourne’s “Ozzfest” festival.