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Black Sabbath, sometimes simply called Sabbath, is a British heavy metal band originally composed of Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass), and Bill Ward (drums).
Black Sabbath formed in Birmingham, England in the late 1960s under the name Polka Tulk Blues Band (soon shortened to "Polka Tulk"), and later Earth. Initially a blues rock band, Earth moved in a darker direction when Geezer Butler, a fan of the black magic novels of Dennis Wheatley, wrote an occult-themed song titled "Black Sabbath" (some accounts report that the song name may have been inspired by a 1963 Boris Karloff horror film). When the band found themselves being confused with another local band called Earth, they adopted the song title as their new name.
The newly-named Black Sabbath adopted darker lyrical themes and a slower, ominous style, and became one of the definitive classic heavy metal bands, often ranked alongside Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Judas Priest in importance and influence.
Some have gone so far as to argue that Black Sabbath "invented" heavy metal. While this may be overstating the case, there is little argument that Black Sabbath were a profoundly important group in the music's development. A versatile group with many signature sounds, Black Sabbath are sometimes regarded as the ultimate source for the many subgenres (and sub-subgenres) of heavy metal music, including doom metal, death metal, stoner metal and other forms.
With an extremely gifted rhythm section and the extraordinary on-stage antics of Osbourne the band enjoyed success with memorable songs and brutal riffs beginning with their first album, the eponymous Black Sabbath (1970). Their followup album Paranoid (also 1970) brought them greater attention in America and the UK.
The content of the songs (both originals and cover versions) from both albums demonstrated an interest in the occult and black magic. This was a crucial step in establishing the "darkness" and "heavyness" of later heavy metal lyrics, and Black Sabbath were among the first groups to feature such lyrical content, almost to the exclusion of other topics. Led Zeppelin , The Doors and others might have hinted at magic or the occult, but few contemporaries could match Black Sabbath for directness, such as "My name is Lucifer/Please take my hand" (from Black Sabbaths "N.I.B."). Butler wrote many of the lyrics.
Another innovation was the by-product of an accident: Iommi's fretting fingers were injured in an industrial accident during his early tenure with Earth. He was working in a sheet metal factory at the time and the tops of the two middle fingers on right hand were ripped off. His fingertips were often tender, so Iommi downtuned his Gibson guitar a from standard E to D. The resultant slackness of the string allowed Iommi to play with less bother to his fingertips. Butler also downtuned his bass guitar to more easily follow Iommi's playing. The lower pitch often seemed "heavier" or more substantive, and Black Sabbath were perhaps the first popular group to downtune. The practice of downtuning is now common--perhaps even standard--among metal groups.
Black sabbath released a further three albums, Master of Reality (1971), Vol. 4 (1972) and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973) before management problems and the a label change from Vertigo to WWA disrupted the band's release schedule. The next album, Sabotage, was not released until 1975 and its follow-up, Technical Ecstasy (1976) would be the last Ozzy-Era album in the heavy Sabbath style.
In 1978 the band released Never Say Die! and rumours that Osbourne was to leave the band were proved true in 1979 (Osbourne formed Blizzard of Ozz, swiftly renamed to Ozzy Osbourne Band). He was replaced by Ronnie James Dio but Osbourne's departure was clearly the end of an era for the band.
Black Sabbath's first album with Dio, Heaven and Hell, did much to bring back the Sabbath spirit of heavy metal. However, after the departure of original member Ward, with the Mob Rules album, they started to lose their touch, effectively fading into generic heavy metal oblivion.
A moderately-successful reunion of all the original Sabbath members was mounted in 1998.
The band rarely received any critical praise ("blundering bozos" was one description) and Osbourne's vocal talent can be safely labelled as exuberant, but highly limited. Nonetheless, they are widely acknowledged, influential pioneers in the heavy metal field.
Some of the incidents and characters in the spoof rock documentary This Is Spinal Tap are based on Black Sabbath. For example the Stonehenge stage set idea in the film was taken from a real stage used Black Sabbath for their Born Again Tour.
Black Sabbath had a unique sound that emerged from diverse influences. Tony Iommi was was greatly influenced both by Hank Marvin's playing on Cliff Richard and the Shadows' heavy-guitar based recordings and by jazz guitar, particularly that of Django Reinhardt. Bill Ward has also expressed a fondness for jazz music in general, and for drummer Buddy Rich especially; this jazz influence may be heard on some of Ward's playing with Black Sabbath. Early incarnations of Black Sabbath merged elements of blues, jazz, and rock and paid their dues playing cover versions of songs by heavy rock acts including Jimi Hendrix, Blue Cheer, and Cream.
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