Some say that Black Sabbath was one of the most influential metal bands of the 70's. They were crowned second in VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock", and defined the 70's rock scene. With over 15 million records sold in the US alone, you'd have to have been living under a rock to not hear about them.
It started when the band's founding members, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward left their previous band, Mythology in 1968. The pair recruited bassist Geezer Butler, and singer Ozzy Osbourne. Butler and Osbourne had been in a band previously, called Rare Breed. Together, they formed the first version of Black Sabbath, called The Polka Tulk Blues Band. Obviously, their style of music was headed in a different direction at that time, as they had another guitarist (Jimmy Phillips) and a saxophonist (Alan "Aker" Clarke). Eventually, the band's name became simply Earth.
Upon noticing how much money people were willing to spend to see horror films, the band got an idea - They decided to try for the same direction that horror films move in, but with music instead. Darker tones, heavier riffs, and horror lyrics were the focus now. Upon discovering that an English band with the same band name existed, they decided to change the name yet again, to the name of the movie they saw people paying to see. The movie was called "Black Sabbath", and the band adapted the name for good.
Finally, they signed to Philips Records in 1969. They released their first single as well, titled "Evil Woman". It failed to hit the charts, and they were given two more days to record their debut album. Deciding to record the album live to save time, they breezed through the songs they had written with minimal retakes.
Their first album, Black Sabbath, was released on Friday the 13th, February 1970. It peaked at number 8 on the UK Albums Chart, gaining similar popularity on the US and Canadian boards as well. Quickly, they returned to the studio that following year to record another album, one that they had originally planned on calling "War Pigs". However, since the Vietnam War was taking place at that time, they decided to change it to Paranoid, fearing backlash from supporters of the war.
The album hit number 1 in the UK, and reached number 12 in the US. Some cited it as "One of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time", but it received negative reviews as well. The Rolling Stones dismissed the albums as "Discordant jams with bass and guitar reeling like velocitised speedfreaks all over each other's musical perimeters, yet never quite finding synch."
Each album that they released continued to sound better and better, and garnered more and more praise from the critics. One of their memorable breakthrough's include Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, one of their first albums to gain huge success in 1973. The album was the band's fifth platinum selling album in the US.
But not all was well within the band. While in Toronto, Canada, recording Never Say Die!, substance abuse and alcohol ran rampant through the group. "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." Critics called the album "A perfect reflection of the band's inner workings, the tense personal problems, and the drug abuse."
Due to pressure from the record label, Tony Iommi made the decision to dismiss Ozzy. Mostly, it was due to his heavy alcohol addiction, along with coke abuse as well. Ronnie James Dio was drafted to replace him.
Black Sabbath is a band that defined the genre of Dark metal. Time Magazine placed Paranoid on their Top 100 Albums of All Time, noting that it was "The birthplace of heavy metal." Black Sabbath went on to release several more albums, each of them gaining more attention than the last. Paranoid went on to become Platinum certified by both the RIAA and the UK's BPI.
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