Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
in 1968 by guitarist
Tony Iommi
Anthony Frank Iommi Jr. (born 19 February 1948) is an English musician. He co-founded the pioneering Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's guitarist, leader, primary composer, and sole continuous member for over ...
, drummer
Bill Ward, bassist
Geezer Butler
Terence Michael Joseph "Geezer" Butler (born 17 July 1949) is an English musician, best known as the bassist and primary lyricist of the pioneering Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath. He has also recorded and performed with Heave ...
, and vocalist
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and media personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead singer of the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which per ...
. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band were previously named Earth, and before that the Polka Tulk Blues Band), they distinguished themselves through
occult
The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...
themes with horror-inspired lyrics and
down-tuned guitars. Their first three albums, ''
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...
'', ''
Paranoid
Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety, suspicion, or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of con ...
'' (both 1970), and ''
Master of Reality
''Master of Reality'' is the third studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in United Kingdom on 6 August 1971 by Vertigo Records. It is regarded by some critics as the foundation of doom metal, stoner rock, and slud ...
'' (1971), were commercially successful, and are now cited as pioneering albums in the development of
heavy metal music
Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a Music genre, genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal band ...
.
Subsequent albums ''
Vol. 4'' (1972), ''
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
''Sabbath Bloody Sabbath'' is the fifth studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in November 1973. It was produced by the band and recorded at Morgan Studios in London in September 1973. The writing process for the al ...
'' (1973), ''
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...
'' (1975), ''
Technical Ecstasy
''Technical Ecstasy'' is the seventh studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, produced by guitarist Tony Iommi and released in October 1976 by Vertigo Records. The album received mixed reviews from critics but was a commercial success ...
'' (1976), and ''
Never Say Die!
''Never Say Die!'' is the eighth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, released on 29 September 1978. It was the last studio album with the band's original line-up and the last studio album to feature original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne ...
'' (1978) saw the band explore more
experimental
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...
and
progressive styles.
Osbourne was fired from Black Sabbath in 1979 and replaced by former
Rainbow
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...
vocalist
Ronnie James Dio, who recorded three albums with the band, ''
Heaven and Hell'' (1980), ''
Mob Rules'' (1981), and their first authorised live album ''
Live Evil'' (1983), the last two featuring drummer
Vinny Appice
Vincent Samson Appice (born September 13, 1957) is an American rock and metal drummer best known for his work with the bands Dio (band), Dio, Black Sabbath, and Heaven & Hell (band), Heaven & Hell. Of Italian descent, he is the younger brother ...
replacing Ward. Following Dio and Appice's departures, Iommi and Butler recorded ''
Born Again
To be born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelical Christianity, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is d ...
'' (1983) with Ward returning on drums, and
Ian Gillan
Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945) is an English singer who is best known as the lead singer and lyricist for the rock band Deep Purple. He is known for his powerful and wide-ranging singing voice.
Initially influenced by Elvis Presley, Gillan ...
, then-formerly of
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...
, on vocals. By 1984, Butler, Ward, and Gillan had all departed, leaving Iommi to assemble a new version of Black Sabbath. For the next 13 years, the band endured many personnel changes that included vocalists
Glenn Hughes (another former Deep Purple member, who sang on the 1986 album ''
Seventh Star'') and
Tony Martin, as well as several bassists and drummers. Of the vocalists during these years, Martin's tenure was the longest, joining in 1987 and recording three albums – ''
The Eternal Idol'' (1987), ''
Headless Cross'' (1989), and ''
Tyr'' (1990) – before his initial departure in 1991. That same year, Iommi reunited with Butler, Dio and Appice to record ''
Dehumanizer'' (1992), though Dio and Appice both departed again by the end of 1992. Martin returned for two more studio albums, ''
Cross Purposes'' (1994) and ''
Forbidden'' (1995), and one live album, ''
Cross Purposes Live'' (1995), before the band went on a one-year hiatus.
The original line-up of Iommi, Osbourne, Butler and Ward reunited in 1997, releasing a live album, ''
Reunion'' (1998), and touring sporadically until 2005. The band went on hiatus in 2006 when the ''Mob Rules'' line-up (Iommi, Butler, Dio, Appice) reunited as
Heaven & Hell, touring during the late 2000s and releasing one studio album, ''
The Devil You Know'' (2009), before disbanding after Dio's death in 2010. The original line-up reunited again in 2011, though Ward departed prior to the recording of their final studio album ''
13'' (2013). To conclude their
farewell tour, Black Sabbath played its
last concert for eight years in their home city in 2017.
Occasional partial reunions have occurred, most notably when Osbourne and Iommi performed at the closing ceremony of the
2022 Commonwealth Games
The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England betw ...
in Birmingham.
The original line-up will reunite for a final show for both the band and Osbourne as a solo artist, titled
Back to the Beginning, at
Villa Park
Villa Park is a association football, football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, with a seating capacity of 42,918. It has been the home of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witt ...
on 5 July 2025.
Black Sabbath have sold over 70 million records as of 2013, making them one of the most commercially successful heavy metal bands. The band have been referred to as being part of the "unholy trinity of British hard rock and heavy metal in the early to mid-seventies", along with
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...
and
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...
. Black Sabbath were ranked by
MTV
MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
as the "Greatest Metal Band of All Time" and placed second on
VH1
VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...
's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" list. ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' magazine ranked them 85 on its "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". They were inducted into the
UK Music Hall of Fame
The UK Music Hall of Fame was an awards ceremony to honour musicians, of any nationality, for their lifetime contributions to music in the United Kingdom. The hall of fame started in 2004 with the induction of five founder members and five mo ...
in 2005 and
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...
in 2006. They have won two
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
s for
Best Metal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality performances in the heavy metal music genre. The Grammy Awards is an annual ceremony, where ...
, and received a
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is a special Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achiev ...
.
History
1968–1969: Formation and early days
Following the break-up of their previous band,
Mythology
Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...
, in 1968, guitarist
Tony Iommi
Anthony Frank Iommi Jr. (born 19 February 1948) is an English musician. He co-founded the pioneering Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's guitarist, leader, primary composer, and sole continuous member for over ...
and drummer
Bill Ward sought to form a heavy blues rock band in
Aston
Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Located immediately to the north-west of Birmingham city centre, Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a wards of the United Kingdom, war ...
, Birmingham. They enlisted bassist
Geezer Butler
Terence Michael Joseph "Geezer" Butler (born 17 July 1949) is an English musician, best known as the bassist and primary lyricist of the pioneering Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath. He has also recorded and performed with Heave ...
and vocalist
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and media personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead singer of the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which per ...
, who had played together in a band called Rare Breed, Osbourne having placed an advertisement in a local music shop: "OZZY ZIG Needs Gig – has own PA".
The new group was initially named the Polka Tulk Blues Band, the name taken either from a brand of talcum powder or an Indian/Pakistani clothing shop; the exact origin is confused. The Polka Tulk Blues Band included slide guitarist Jimmy Phillips, a childhood friend of Osbourne's, and saxophonist Alan "Aker" Clarke. After shortening the name to Polka Tulk, the band again changed their name to Earth (which Osbourne hated) and continued as a four-piece without Phillips and Clarke.
Iommi became concerned that Phillips and Clarke lacked the necessary dedication and were not taking the band seriously. Rather than asking them to leave, they instead decided to break up and then quietly reformed the band as a four-piece. While the band was performing under the Earth moniker, they recorded several demos written by Norman Haines such as "The Rebel", "When I Came Down" and "Song for Jim",
the latter of which being a reference to
Jim Simpson, who was a manager for the bands
Bakerloo Blues Line and Tea & Symphony, as well as the trumpet player for the group Locomotive. Simpson had recently started a new club named
Henry's Blueshouse at The Crown Hotel in Birmingham and offered to let Earth play there after they agreed to waive the usual support band fee in return for free T-shirts. The audience response was positive and Simpson agreed to manage Earth.
In December 1968, Iommi abruptly left Earth to join
Jethro Tull. Although his stint with the band would be short-lived, Iommi made an appearance with Jethro Tull on ''
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus
''The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus'' is a British concert film hosted by and featuring the Rolling Stones, filmed on 11–12 December 1968. It was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who proposed the idea of a "rock and roll circus" to Jag ...
'' TV show. Unsatisfied with the direction of Jethro Tull, Iommi returned to Earth by the end of the month. "It just wasn't right, so I left", Iommi said. "At first I thought Tull were great, but I didn't much go for having a leader in the band, which was
Ian Anderson
Ian Scott Anderson (born 10 August 1947) is a British musician best known for being the chief vocalist, Flute, flautist, and acoustic guitarist of the British rock band Jethro Tull (band), Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist who also p ...
's way. When I came back from Tull, I came back with a new attitude altogether. They taught me that to get on, you got to work for it."
While playing shows in England in 1969, the band discovered they were being mistaken for another English group named Earth, so they decided to change their name again (this name change would give rise to the well-known debate about the alleged aesthetic influence of
Coven
A coven () is a group or gathering of Witchcraft, witches. The word "coven" (from Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman ''covent, cuvent'', from Old French ''covent'', from Latin ''conventum'' = convention) remained largely unused in English lan ...
, which the British band always denied). A cinema across the street from the band's rehearsal room was showing the 1963 Italian horror film ''
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...
,'' starring
Boris Karloff
William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), known professionally as Boris Karloff () and occasionally billed as Karloff the Uncanny, was a British actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstei ...
and directed by
Mario Bava
Mario Bava (; 31 July 1914 – 27 April 1980) was an Italian filmmaker who worked variously as a director, cinematographer, special effects artist and screenwriter. His low-budget genre films, known for their distinctive visual flair and stylish ...
. While watching people line up to see the film, Butler noted that it was "strange that people spend so much money to see scary movies". Following that, Osbourne and Butler wrote the lyrics for a song called "
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...
", which was inspired by the work of horror and adventure-story writer
Dennis Wheatley
Dennis Yates Wheatley (8 January 1897 – 10 November 1977) was an English writer whose prolific output of thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors from the 1930s through to the 1960s.
Early life
Wheatley w ...
, along with a vision that Butler had of a black silhouetted figure standing at the foot of his bed. Making use of the musical
tritone
In music theory, the tritone is defined as a interval (music), musical interval spanning three adjacent Major second, whole tones (six semitones). For instance, the interval from F up to the B above it (in short, F–B) is a tritone as it can be ...
, also known as "the Devil's Interval", the song's ominous sound and dark lyrics pushed the band in a darker direction,
a stark contrast to the popular music of the late 1960s, which was dominated by
flower power
Flower power was a slogan used during the late 1960s and early 1970s as a symbol of passive resistance and nonviolence. It is rooted in the Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War, opposition movement to the Vietnam War. The ex ...
,
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
and
hippie culture.
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...
frontman
Rob Halford
Robert John Arthur Halford (born 25 August 1951) is an English heavy metal singer. He is best known as the lead vocalist of Judas Priest, which was formed in 1969 and has received accolades such as the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Metal Perform ...
has called the track "probably the most evil song ever written".
Inspired by the new sound, the band changed their name to Black Sabbath in August 1969,
and made the decision to focus on writing similar material in an attempt to create the musical equivalent of horror films.
1969–1971: ''Black Sabbath'' and ''Paranoid''
The band's first show as Black Sabbath took place on 30 August 1969 in
Workington
Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...
, England. They were signed to
Philips Records
Philips Records is a record label founded by Netherlands, Dutch electronics company Philips and in 1999 was absorbed into Netherlands, Dutch-United States, American music corporation Universal Music Group. It was founded as Philips Phonograph ...
in November 1969. They recorded their first single, "
Evil Woman" (a cover of a song by the band
Crow
A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly, a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not linked scientifically to any certain trait but is rathe ...
), at
Trident Studios
Trident Studios was a British recording facility, located at 17 St Anne's Court in London's Soho district between 1968 and 1981. It was constructed in 1967 by Norman Sheffield, drummer of the 1960s group the Hunters, and his brother Barry ...
. "Evil Woman" was released on 9 January 1970 through Philips subsidiary
Fontana Records
Fontana Records is a record label that started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records. Fontana Distribution, an independent label distributor, takes its name from the label.
History
Fontana began in the 1950s as a subsidi ...
. Later releases were handled by Philips' newly formed progressive rock label,
Vertigo Records
Vertigo Records is a British record company. It was a subsidiary of the Philips/Phonogram record label, launched in 1969 to specialise in progressive rock and other non-mainstream musical styles. Today, it is operated by Universal Music Group#B ...
. "Evil Woman" failed to chart.
The band were afforded two days of studio time in November 1969 to record their debut album with producer
Rodger Bain. Iommi recalls recording live: "We thought, 'We have two days to do it, and one of the days is mixing.' So we played live. Ozzy was singing at the same time; we just put him in a separate booth and off we went. We never had a second run of most of the stuff".
On 11 November 1969 Black Sabbath recorded a four-song session for
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...
's ''Top Gear'' radio show.
The four songs were "
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...
", "
N.I.B.", "Behind the Wall of Sleep" and "Sleeping Village". Broadcast on 29 November 1969, this gave them their first exposure to a UK wide audience.
Their debut album ''
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...
'' was released on
Friday the 13th, February 1970, and reached number eight in the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
. Following its U.S. and Canadian release in May 1970 by
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...
, the album reached number 23 on the
''Billboard'' 200, where it remained for over a year.
The album was given negative reviews by many critics.
Lester Bangs
Leslie Conway "Lester" Bangs (December 14, 1948 – April 30, 1982) was an American music journalist and critic. He wrote for ''Creem'' and ''Rolling Stone'' magazines and was also a performing musician. The music critic Jim DeRogatis called ...
dismissed it in a ''Rolling Stone'' review as "discordant jams with bass and guitar reeling like velocitised speedfreaks all over each other's musical perimeters, yet never quite finding synch". It sold in substantial numbers despite being panned, giving the band their first mainstream exposure. It has since been
certified Platinum
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
in both U.S. by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA) and in the UK by
British Phonographic Industry
BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, trading as British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts C ...
(BPI),
and is now generally accepted as the first heavy metal album.
The band returned to the studio in June 1970, just four months after ''Black Sabbath'' was released. The new album was initially set to be named ''War Pigs'' after the song "
War Pigs", which was critical of the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
; however, Warner changed the title of the album to ''
Paranoid
Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety, suspicion, or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of con ...
''. The album's lead single, "
Paranoid
Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety, suspicion, or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of con ...
", was written in the studio at the last minute. Ward explains: "We didn't have enough songs for the album, and Tony just played the
aranoidguitar lick and that was it. It took twenty, twenty-five minutes from top to bottom." The single was released in September 1970 and reached number four on the
UK Singles Chart, remaining Black Sabbath's only top 10 hit.
The album followed in the UK in October 1970, where, pushed by the success of the "Paranoid" single, it reached number one on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
.
The U.S. release was held off until January 1971, as the ''Black Sabbath'' album was still on the chart at the time of ''Paranoid''s UK release. The album reached No. 12 in the U.S. in March 1971,
and would go on to sell four million copies in the U.S.
with virtually no radio airplay.
Like ''Black Sabbath'', the album was panned by rock critics of the era, but modern-day reviewers such as AllMusic's Steve Huey cite ''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 was ranked at number 131 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indu ...
. ''Paranoid''s chart success allowed the band to tour the U.S. for the first time – their first U.S. show was at a club called Ungano's at 210 West 70th Street in New York City
– and spawned the release of the album's second single, "
Iron Man
Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...
". Although the single failed to reach the top 40, it remains one of Black Sabbath's most popular songs, as well as the band's highest-charting U.S. single until 1998's "
Psycho Man".
1971–1973: ''Master of Reality'' and ''Vol. 4''
In February 1971, after a one-off performance at the
Myponga Pop Festival in Australia,
Black Sabbath returned to the studio to begin work on their third album. Following the chart success of ''Paranoid'', the band were afforded more studio time, along with a "briefcase full of cash" to buy drugs. "We were getting into coke, big time", Ward explained. "Uppers, downers, Quaaludes, whatever you like. It got to the stage where you come up with ideas and forget them, because you were just so out of it."
Production completed in April 1971, and in July the band released ''
Master of Reality
''Master of Reality'' is the third studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in United Kingdom on 6 August 1971 by Vertigo Records. It is regarded by some critics as the foundation of doom metal, stoner rock, and slud ...
'', just six months after the U.S. release of ''Paranoid''. The album reached the top 10 in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, and was certified Gold in less than two months,
eventually receiving Platinum certification in the 1980s and Double Platinum in the early 21st century.
It contained Sabbath's first
acoustic songs, alongside fan favourites such as "
Children of the Grave" and "
Sweet Leaf".
Critical response of the era was generally unfavourable, with
Lester Bangs
Leslie Conway "Lester" Bangs (December 14, 1948 – April 30, 1982) was an American music journalist and critic. He wrote for ''Creem'' and ''Rolling Stone'' magazines and was also a performing musician. The music critic Jim DeRogatis called ...
delivering an ambivalent review of ''Master of Reality'' in ''Rolling Stone'', describing the closing "Children of the Grave" as "naïve, simplistic, repetitive, absolute doggerel – but in the tradition
f rock 'n' roll... The only criterion is excitement, and Black Sabbath's got it".
(In 2003, ''Rolling Stone'' would place the album at number 300 on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.)
Following the ''Master of Reality'' world tour in 1972, the band took their first break in three years. As Ward explained: "The band started to become very fatigued and very tired. We'd been on the road non-stop, year in and year out, constantly touring and recording. I think ''Master of Reality'' was kind of like the end of an era, the first three albums, and we decided to take our time with the next album."
In June 1972, the band reconvened in Los Angeles to begin work on their next album at the
Record Plant
The Record Plant was a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and last operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it produced highly influential albums, including the New York ...
. With more time in the studio, the album saw the band experimenting with new textures, such as strings, piano, orchestration and multi-part songs. Recording was plagued with problems, many as a result of substance abuse issues. Struggling to record the song "Cornucopia" after "sitting in the middle of the room, just doing drugs", Ward was nearly fired. "I hated the song, there were some patterns that were just ... horrible," the drummer said. "I nailed it in the end, but the reaction I got was the cold shoulder from everybody. It was like, 'Well, just go home; you're not being of any use right now.' I felt like I'd blown it, I was about to get fired". Butler thought that the end product "was very badly produced, as far as I was concerned. Our then-manager insisted on producing it, so he could claim production costs".
The album was originally titled ''Snowblind'' after the song of the same name, which deals with cocaine abuse. The record company changed the title at the last minute to ''
Black Sabbath Vol. 4''. Ward observed, "There was no Volume 1, 2 or 3, so it's a pretty stupid title, really". ''Vol. 4'' was released in September 1972, and while critics were dismissive, it achieved Gold status in less than a month, and was the band's fourth consecutive release to sell a million in the U.S.
"Tomorrow's Dream" was released as a single – the band's first since "Paranoid" – but failed to chart.
Following an extensive tour of the U.S., in 1973 the band travelled again to Australia, followed by a tour for the first time to New Zealand, before moving onto mainland Europe. "The band were definitely in their heyday", recalled Ward, "in the sense that nobody had burnt out quite yet".
1973–1976: ''Sabbath Bloody Sabbath'' and ''Sabotage''
Following the ''Vol. 4'' world tour, Black Sabbath returned to Los Angeles to begin work on their next release. Pleased with the ''Vol. 4'' album, the band sought to recreate the recording atmosphere, and returned to the Record Plant studio in Los Angeles. With new musical innovations of the era, the band were surprised to find that the room they had used previously at the Record Plant was replaced by a "giant synthesiser". The band rented a house in
Bel Air and began writing in the summer of 1973, but in part because of substance issues and fatigue, they were unable to complete any songs. "Ideas weren't coming out the way they were on ''Vol. 4'', and we really got discontent", Iommi said. "Everybody was sitting there waiting for me to come up with something. I just couldn't think of anything. And if I didn't come up with anything, nobody would do anything".
After a month in Los Angeles with no results, the band opted to return to England. They rented
Clearwell Castle in
The Forest of Dean. "We rehearsed in the dungeons and it was really creepy, but it had some atmosphere, it conjured up things and stuff started coming out again". While working in the dungeon, Iommi stumbled onto the main riff of "
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
''Sabbath Bloody Sabbath'' is the fifth studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in November 1973. It was produced by the band and recorded at Morgan Studios in London in September 1973. The writing process for the al ...
", which set the tone for the new material. Recorded at
Morgan Studios in London by Mike Butcher and building off the stylistic changes introduced on ''Vol. 4'', new songs incorporated synthesisers, strings and complex arrangements.
Yes
Yes or YES may refer to:
* An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no
Education
* YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US
* Young Eisner Scholars, in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Appalachia, US
* Young Ep ...
keyboardist
Rick Wakeman
Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist and composer best known as a member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his prolific solo career. AllMusic describes Wakema ...
was brought in as a session player, appearing on "
Sabbra Cadabra".
In November 1973, Black Sabbath began to receive positive reviews in the mainstream press after the release of ''
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
''Sabbath Bloody Sabbath'' is the fifth studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in November 1973. It was produced by the band and recorded at Morgan Studios in London in September 1973. The writing process for the al ...
'', with Gordon Fletcher of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' calling the album "an extraordinarily gripping affair" and "nothing less than a complete success". Later reviewers such as AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia cite the album as a "masterpiece, essential to any heavy metal collection", while also displaying "a newfound sense of finesse and maturity".
The album marked the band's fifth consecutive Platinum-selling album in the U.S.,
reaching number four on the UK Albums Chart and number 11 in the U.S.
The band began a world tour in January 1974, which culminated at the
California Jam festival in
Ontario, California
Ontario is a city in southwestern San Bernardino County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino, the county seat. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire metropolitan area, it lies ...
, on 6 April 1974. Attracting over 200,000 fans, Black Sabbath appeared alongside popular 1970s rock and pop bands
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...
,
Eagles
Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...
,
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock Supergroup (music), supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards) of The Nice, Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitars, producer) ...
,
Rare Earth,
Seals & Crofts,
Black Oak Arkansas and
Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire (abbreviated as EW&F or EWF) is an American band formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1969. Their music spans multiple genres, including jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, Latin and Afro-pop. They are among the best-selling ba ...
. Portions of the show were telecast on ABC Television in the U.S., exposing the band to a wider American audience. In the same year, the band shifted management, signing with notorious English manager
Don Arden
Don Arden (born Harry Levy; 4 January 1926 – 21 July 2007) was an English music manager, agent, and businessman. He managed the careers of rock acts such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Air Supply, Small Faces, The Mo ...
. The move caused a contractual dispute with Black Sabbath's former management, and while on stage in the U.S., Osbourne was handed a subpoena that led to two years of litigation.
Black Sabbath began work on their sixth album in February 1975, again in England at
Morgan Studios in
Willesden
Willesden () is an area of north-west London, situated 5 miles (8 km) north-west of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933; it has formed ...
, this time with a decisive vision to differ the sound from ''Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath''. "We could've continued and gone on and on, getting more technical, using orchestras and everything else which we didn't particularly want to. We took a look at ourselves, and we wanted to do a rock album – ''Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath'' wasn't a rock album, really". Produced by Black Sabbath and Mike Butcher, ''
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...
'' was released in July 1975. As with its precursor, the album initially saw favourable reviews, with ''Rolling Stone'' stating "''Sabotage'' is not only Black Sabbath's best record since ''Paranoid'', it might be their best ever", although later reviewers such as AllMusic noted that "the magical chemistry that made such albums as ''Paranoid'' and ''Volume 4'' so special was beginning to disintegrate".
''Sabotage'' reached the top 20 in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom, but was the band's first release not to achieve Platinum status in the U.S., only achieving Gold certification.
Although the album's only single "
Am I Going Insane (Radio)" failed to chart, ''Sabotage'' features fan favourites such as "
Hole in the Sky" and "
Symptom of the Universe".
Black Sabbath toured in support of ''Sabotage'' with openers
Kiss
A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...
, but were forced to cut the tour short in November 1975, following a motorcycle accident in which Osbourne ruptured a muscle in his back. In December 1975, the band's record companies released a greatest hits album without input from the band, titled ''
We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll''. The album charted throughout 1976, eventually selling two million copies in the U.S.
1976–1979: ''Technical Ecstasy'', ''Never Say Die!'', and Osbourne's departure

Black Sabbath began work for their next album at
Criteria Studios
Criteria Studios is a recording studio in North Miami, Florida, founded in 1958 by musician Mack Emerman. Hundreds of gold, platinum, and diamond singles and albums have been recorded, mixed or mastered at Criteria, for many notable artists and ...
in Miami, Florida, in June 1976. To expand their sound, the band added keyboard player
Gerald Woodroffe, who also had appeared to a lesser extent on ''Sabotage''. During the recording of ''
Technical Ecstasy
''Technical Ecstasy'' is the seventh studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, produced by guitarist Tony Iommi and released in October 1976 by Vertigo Records. The album received mixed reviews from critics but was a commercial success ...
'', Osbourne admits that he began losing interest in Black Sabbath and began to consider the possibility of working with other musicians.
Recording of ''Technical Ecstasy'' was difficult; by the time the album was completed, Osbourne was admitted to Stafford County Asylum in Britain.
It was released on 22 October 1976 to mixed reviews, and – for the first time – later music critics gave the album less favourable retrospective reviews; two decades after its release, AllMusic gave the album two stars, and noted that the band was "unravelling at an alarming rate".
The album featured less of the doomy, ominous sound of previous efforts, and incorporated more synthesisers and uptempo rock songs. ''Technical Ecstasy'' failed to reach the top 50 in the U.S. and was the band's second consecutive release not to achieve Platinum status, although it was later certified Gold in 1997.
The album included "
Dirty Women", which remains a live staple, as well as Ward's first lead vocal on the song "It's Alright".
Touring in support of ''Technical Ecstasy'' began in November 1976, with openers
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
and
Ted Nugent
Theodore Anthony Nugent (; born December 13, 1948) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He goes by several nicknames, including Uncle Ted, the Nuge, and Motor City Madman. Nugent initially gained fame as the le ...
in the U.S., and completed in Europe with
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...
in April 1977.
In late 1977, while in rehearsal for their next album and just days before the band was set to enter the studio, Osbourne abruptly quit the band. Iommi called vocalist
Dave Walker, a longtime friend of the band who had previously been a member of
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...
and
Savoy Brown, and informed him that Osbourne had left the band.
Walker, who was at that time fronting a band called Mistress, flew to Birmingham from California in late 1977 to write material and rehearse with Black Sabbath.
On 8 January 1978, Walker made his only live performance with Black Sabbath, on vocals, when they played an early version of the song "Junior's Eyes" on the BBC Television programme ''Look! Hear!''
Walker later recalled that, while in Birmingham, he had bumped into Osbourne in a pub and came to the conclusion that Osbourne was not fully committed to leaving Black Sabbath.
"The last Sabbath albums were just very depressing for me", Osbourne said. "I was doing it for the sake of what we could get out of the record company, just to get fat on beer and put a record out." Walker has said that he wrote a lot of lyrics during his brief time in the band, but none of them were ever used. If any recordings of this version of the band other than the ''Look! Hear!'' footage still exist, Walker says that he is not aware of them.
Osbourne initially set out to form a solo project featuring former Dirty Tricks members John Frazer-Binnie, Terry Horbury and Andy Bierne. As the new band were in rehearsals in January 1978, Osbourne had a change of heart and rejoined Black Sabbath. "Three days before we were due to go into the studio, Ozzy wanted to come back to the band", Iommi explained. "He wouldn't sing any of the stuff we'd written with the other guy (Walker), so it made it very difficult. We went into the studio with basically no songs. We'd write in the morning so we could rehearse and record at night. It was so difficult, like a conveyor belt, because you couldn't get time to reflect on stuff. 'Is this right? Is this working properly?' It was very difficult for me to come up with the ideas and putting them together that quick".
The band spent five months at Sounds Interchange Studios in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, Ontario, Canada, writing and recording what would become ''
Never Say Die!
''Never Say Die!'' is the eighth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, released on 29 September 1978. It was the last studio album with the band's original line-up and the last studio album to feature original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne ...
''. "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". The album was released on 29 September 1978, reaching number 12 in the United Kingdom and number 69 in the U.S. Press response was unfavourable and did not improve over time, with Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic stating two decades after its release that the album's "unfocused songs perfectly reflected the band's tense personnel problems and drug abuse".
The album featured the singles "
Never Say Die" and "
Hard Road", both of which cracked the top 40 in the United Kingdom. The band also made their second appearance on the BBC's ''
Top of the Pops
''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...
'', performing "Never Say Die". It took nearly 20 years for the album to be certified Gold in the U.S.
Touring in support of ''Never Say Die!'' began in May 1978 with openers
Van Halen
Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1973. Credited with restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene, Van Halen was known for their energetic live performances and the virtuosity of their guit ...
. Reviewers called Black Sabbath's performance "tired and uninspired", a stark contrast to the "youthful" performance of Van Halen, who were touring the world for the first time.
The band filmed a performance at the
Hammersmith Odeon
The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly and still commonly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Pa ...
in June 1978, which was later released on DVD as ''Never Say Die''. The final show of the tour – and Osbourne's last appearance with the band until later reunions – was in
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...
, on 11 December.
Following the tour, Black Sabbath returned to Los Angeles and again rented a house in Bel Air, where they spent nearly a year working on new material for the next album. The entire band were abusing both alcohol and other drugs, but Iommi says Osbourne "was on a totally different level altogether". The band would come up with new song ideas, but Osbourne showed little interest and would refuse to sing them. Pressure from the record label and frustrations with Osbourne's lack of input coming to a head, Iommi made the decision to fire Osbourne in 1979. Iommi believed the only options available were to fire Osbourne or break the band up completely. "At that time, Ozzy had come to an end", Iommi said. "We were all doing a lot of drugs, a lot of coke, a lot of everything, and Ozzy was getting drunk so much at the time. We were supposed to be rehearsing and nothing was happening. It was like, 'Rehearse today? No, we'll do it tomorrow.' It really got so bad that we didn't do anything. It just fizzled out". Ward, who was close with Osbourne, was chosen by Iommi to break the news to the singer on 27 April 1979.
"I hope I was professional, I might not have been, actually. When I'm drunk I am horrible, I am horrid", Ward said. "Alcohol was definitely one of the most damaging things to Black Sabbath. We were destined to destroy each other. The band were toxic, very toxic".
1979–1982: Dio joins, ''Heaven and Hell'' and ''Mob Rules''

While Don Arden was trying to convince Osbourne to rejoin Black Sabbath, as he viewed the original line-up as the most profitable, the band hired former
Rainbow
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...
frontman
Ronnie James Dio as Osbourne's replacement, and they began writing their next album. With a notably different vocal style from Osbourne's, Dio's addition to the band marked a change in Black Sabbath's sound. "They were totally different altogether", Iommi explains. "Not only voice-wise, but attitude-wise. Ozzy was a great showman, but when Dio came in, it was a different attitude, a different voice and a different musical approach, as far as vocals. Dio would sing ''across'' the riff, whereas Ozzy would follow the riff, like in "Iron Man". Ronnie came in and gave us another angle on writing."
Butler temporarily left the band in September 1979 to deal with the divorce from his first wife. According to Dio, the band initially hired
Craig Gruber
Craig M. Gruber (June 15, 1951 – May 5, 2015) was an American rock bassist, best known as the original bassist in Rainbow. He also played in Elf, consisting of vocalist Ronnie James Dio, keyboardist Mickey Lee Soule, drummer Gary Driscoll, ...
, with whom Dio had previously played while in
Elf
An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic peoples, Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in Norse mythology, North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda'' ...
and
Rainbow
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...
, on bass to assist with writing the new album. Gruber was soon replaced by
Geoff Nicholls of
Quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...
. The new line-up returned to
Criteria Studios
Criteria Studios is a recording studio in North Miami, Florida, founded in 1958 by musician Mack Emerman. Hundreds of gold, platinum, and diamond singles and albums have been recorded, mixed or mastered at Criteria, for many notable artists and ...
in November to begin recording work, with Butler returning to the band in January 1980 and Nicholls moving to keyboards. Produced by
Martin Birch, ''
Heaven and Hell'' was released on 25 April 1980, to critical acclaim. Over a decade after its release, AllMusic said the album was "one of Sabbath's finest records, the band sounds reborn and re-energised throughout". ''Heaven and Hell'' peaked at number nine in the United Kingdom and number 28 in the U.S., the band's highest-charting album since ''Sabotage''. The album eventually sold a million copies in the U.S.,
and the band embarked on an extensive world tour, making their first live appearance with Dio in Germany on 17 April 1980.
Black Sabbath toured the U.S. throughout 1980 with Blue Öyster Cult on the "Black and Blue" tour, with a show at
Nassau Coliseum
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (or simply the Nassau Coliseum) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Uniondale, New York, on Long Island. The venue is situated approximately east of the eastern limits of the Borough (New York City), borough of Q ...
in
Uniondale, New York
Uniondale is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in central Nassau County, New York, on Long Island, in the Town of Hempstead, within the New York metropolitan area. The population was 32,473 at the time of the 2020 United States census ...
, filmed for
Don Kirshner's Rock Concert
''Don Kirshner's Rock Concert'' is an American television music variety show that ran during the 1970s and early 1980s, created and produced by Don Kirshner and syndicated to television stations, initially through Viacom Enterprises, and later ...
and later released theatrically in 1981 as ''
Black and Blue''. On 26 July 1980, the band played to 75,000 fans at a sold-out
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the Los Angeles Coliseum or L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park, Los Angeles, Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Conceived as a hal ...
with
Journey,
Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick is an American rock band formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1970 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. Their work bridged elements of '60s pop rock, guitar pop, '70s har ...
and
Molly Hatchet. The next day, the band appeared at the 1980
Day on the Green at
Oakland Coliseum
Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, often shortened to the Oakland Coliseum, is a multi-purpose stadium in Oakland, California, United States. It serves as part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex, located next to Oakland Arena. In 2 ...
. While on tour, Black Sabbath's former label in England issued a live album culled from a seven-year-old performance, titled ''
Live at Last'' without any input from the band. The album reached number five on the UK chart and saw the re-release of "Paranoid" as a single, which reached the top 20.
On 18 August 1980, after a show in
Bloomington, Minnesota
Bloomington is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. It is located on the north bank of the Minnesota River above its confluence with the Mississippi River, south of downtown Minneapolis and just south of the Interstate 494/Inter ...
, Ward quit the band. "It was intolerable for me to get on the stage without Ozzy. And I drank 24 hours a day, my alcoholism accelerated". Butler stated that after Ward's final show, the drummer came in drunk, stating that "he might as well be a Martian". Ward then got angry, packed his things and got on a bus to leave. Following Ward's sudden departure, the group hired drummer
Vinny Appice
Vincent Samson Appice (born September 13, 1957) is an American rock and metal drummer best known for his work with the bands Dio (band), Dio, Black Sabbath, and Heaven & Hell (band), Heaven & Hell. Of Italian descent, he is the younger brother ...
. Further trouble for the band came during their 9 October 1980 concert at the
Milwaukee Arena, which degenerated into a riot that caused $10,000 in damages to the arena and resulted in 160 arrests. According to the Associated Press: "The crowd of mostly adolescent males first became rowdy in a performance by the Blue Oyster Cult" and then grew restless while waiting an hour for Black Sabbath to begin playing. A member of the audience threw a beer bottle that struck Butler and effectively ended the show. "The band then abruptly halted its performance and began leaving" as the crowd rioted.

The band completed the ''Heaven and Hell'' world tour in February 1981 and returned to the studio to begin work on their next album.
Black Sabbath's second studio album that was produced by
Martin Birch and featured Ronnie James Dio as vocalist, ''
Mob Rules'', was released in October 1981 and was well received by fans, but less so by critics. ''Rolling Stone'' reviewer J. D. Considine gave the album one star, claiming "''Mob Rules'' finds the band as dull-witted and flatulent as ever". Like most of the band's earlier work, time helped to improve the opinions of the music press. A decade after its release, AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia called ''Mob Rules'' "a magnificent record". The album was certified Gold
and reached the top 20 on the UK chart. The album's title track, "The Mob Rules", which was recorded at
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...
's old house in England,
was also featured in the 1981 animated film ''
Heavy Metal'', although the film version is an alternate take and differs from the album version.
Unhappy with the quality of 1980's ''
Live at Last'', the band recorded another live album – titled ''
Live Evil –'' during the ''Mob Rules'' world tour, across the United States in
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
,
San Antonio
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
and
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
, in 1982. During the mixing process for the album, Iommi and Butler had a falling-out with Dio. Misinformed by their then-current mixing engineer, Iommi and Butler accused Dio of sneaking into the studio at night to raise the volume of his vocals. In addition, Dio was not satisfied with the pictures of him in the artwork. Butler also accused Dio and Appice of working on a solo album during the album's mixing without telling the other members of Black Sabbath. "Ronnie wanted more say in things", Iommi said. "And Geezer would get upset with him and that is where the rot set in. ''Live Evil'' is when it all fell apart. Ronnie wanted to do more of his own thing, and the engineer we were using at the time in the studio didn't know what to do, because Ronnie was telling him one thing and we were telling him another. At the end of the day, we just said, 'That's it, the band is over'". "When it comes time for the vocal, nobody tells me what to do. Nobody! Because they're not as good as me, so I do what I want to do", Dio later said. "I refuse to listen to ''Live Evil'', because there are too many problems. If you look at the credits, the vocals and drums are listed off to the side. Open up the album and see how many pictures there are of Tony, and how many there are of me and Vinny".
Ronnie James Dio left Black Sabbath in November 1982 to start
his own band and took drummer Vinny Appice with him. ''Live Evil'' was released in January 1983, but was overshadowed by Ozzy Osbourne's Platinum-selling album ''
Speak of the Devil''.
1982–1984: Gillan as singer and ''Born Again''

The remaining original members, Iommi and Butler, began auditioning singers for the band's next release.
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...
and
Whitesnake
Whitesnake are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1978. The group were originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their ow ...
's
David Coverdale
David Coverdale (born 22 September 1951) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the founder and lead singer of the hard rock band Whitesnake. Coverdale was also the lead singer of Deep Purple from 1973 to 1976; he has had a solo car ...
,
Samson
SAMSON (Software for Adaptive Modeling and Simulation Of Nanosystems) is a computer software platform for molecular design being developed bOneAngstromand previously by the NANO-D group at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science an ...
's
Nicky Moore and
Lone Star's
John Sloman
John Anthony David Sloman (born 26 April 1957) is a Welsh singer and musician, best known as the lead vocalist for Welsh band Lone Star during 1977/78 and classic rockers Uriah Heep from 1979 to 1981, as well as briefly recording with hard r ...
were all considered, and Iommi states in his autobiography that
Michael Bolton
Michael Bolotin (born February 26, 1953), known professionally as Michael Bolton, is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton performed in the hard rock and heavy metal music genres from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, both on his early solo a ...
auditioned, though this claim has been disputed, with Butler suggesting that Iommi concocted the story as "a joke"
and Bolton insisting it was "only a rumour". The band settled on then-former Deep Purple vocalist
Ian Gillan
Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945) is an English singer who is best known as the lead singer and lyricist for the rock band Deep Purple. He is known for his powerful and wide-ranging singing voice.
Initially influenced by Elvis Presley, Gillan ...
to replace Dio in December 1982.
The project was initially not to be called Black Sabbath, but pressure from the record label forced the group to retain the name. The band entered
The Manor Studios in
Shipton-on-Cherwell
Shipton-on-Cherwell is a village in the civil parish of Shipton-on-Cherwell and Thrupp, in the Cherwell district, in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is on the River Cherwell about north of Kidlington in Oxfordshire, England.
Manor
...
, Oxfordshire, in June 1983 with a returned and newly sober
Bill Ward on drums. "That was the very first album that I ever did clean and sober," Ward recalled. "I only got drunk ''after'' I finished all my work on the album – which wasn't a very good idea... Sixty to seventy per cent of my energy was taken up on learning how to get through the day without taking a drink and learning how to do things without drinking, and thirty per cent of me was involved in the album."
''
Born Again
To be born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelical Christianity, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is d ...
'' (9 September 1983) was panned on release by critics. Despite this negative reception, it reached number four in the UK, and number 39 in the U.S.
Even three decades after its release, AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia called the album "dreadful", noting that "Gillan's bluesy style and humorous lyrics were completely incompatible with the lords of doom and gloom".
Unable to tour because of the pressures of the road, Ward quit the band. "I fell apart with the idea of touring," he later explained. "I got so much fear behind touring, I didn't talk about the fear, I drank behind the fear instead and that was a big mistake." He was replaced by former
Move
Move or The Move may refer to:
Brands and enterprises
* Move (company), an American online real estate company
* Move (electronics store), a defunct Australian electronics retailer
* Daihatsu Move, a Japanese car
* PlayStation Move, a motion ...
and
Electric Light Orchestra
The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangement ...
drummer
Bev Bevan for the
''Born Again'' '83–'84 world tour, (often unofficially referred to as the 'Feighn Death Sabbath '83–'84' World Tour) which began in Europe with
Diamond Head, and later in the U.S. with
Quiet Riot
Quiet Riot is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal band founded in Los Angeles in 1973 by guitarist Randy Rhoads, bassist Kelly Garni, and vocalist Kevin DuBrow.
The original lineup featured Rhoads and Garni with lead vocalist Kevin Du ...
and
Night Ranger
Night Ranger is an American hard rock band from San Francisco, California. The band formed in 1982 and experienced a surge of popularity during the 1980s with the release of several successful albums and hit singles. Guitarist Brad Gillis and ...
. The band headlined the 1983
Reading Festival
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading, Berkshire, Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend ...
in England, adding Deep Purple's "
Smoke on the Water
"Smoke on the Water" is a song by English rock band Deep Purple, released on their 1972 studio album '' Machine Head''. The song's lyrics are based on true events, chronicling the 1971 fire at Montreux Casino in Montreux, Switzerland. It is ...
" to their encore.
The tour in support of ''Born Again'' included a giant set of the
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, to ...
monument. In a move later parodied in the mockumentary ''
This Is Spinal Tap'', the band made a mistake in ordering the set piece. Butler explained:
1984–1987: Hiatus, Hughes as singer, ''Seventh Star'', and Gillen as singer
Following the completion of the ''Born Again'' tour in March 1984, vocalist Ian Gillan left Black Sabbath to re-join Deep Purple, which was reforming after a long hiatus. Bevan left at the same time, and Gillan remarked that he and Bevan were made to feel like "hired help" by Iommi. The band then recruited an unknown Los Angeles vocalist named
David Donato and Ward once again rejoined the band. The new line-up wrote and rehearsed throughout 1984, and eventually recorded a demo with producer
Bob Ezrin
Robert Alan Ezrin (born March 25, 1949) is a Canadian music producer and keyboardist, best known for his work with Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Peter Gabriel, Andrea Bocelli and Phish. As of 2010, Ezri ...
in October. Unhappy with the results, the band parted ways with Donato shortly after.
Disillusioned with the band's revolving line-up, Ward left shortly after stating "This isn't Black Sabbath". Butler would quit Sabbath next in November 1984 to form a solo band. "When Ian Gillan took over that was the end of it for me," he said. "I thought it was just a joke and I just totally left. When we got together with Gillan it was not supposed to be a Black Sabbath album. After we had done the album we gave it to
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
and they said they were going to put it out as a Black Sabbath album and we didn't have a leg to stand on. I got really disillusioned with it and Gillan was really pissed off about it. That lasted one album and one tour and then that was it."
One vocalist whose status is disputed, both inside and outside Sabbath, is Christian evangelist and former
Joshua
Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...
frontman
Jeff Fenholt. Fenholt insists he was a singer in Sabbath between January and May 1985.
Iommi has never confirmed this. Fenholt gives a detailed account in Garry Sharpe-Young's book ''Sabbath Bloody Sabbath: The Battle for Black Sabbath''.
Following both Ward's and Butler's exits, sole remaining original member Iommi put Sabbath on hiatus, and began work on a solo album with long-time Sabbath keyboardist
Geoff Nicholls. While working on new material, the original Sabbath line-up agreed to a spot at
Bob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved popularity as part ...
's
Live Aid
Live Aid was a two-venue benefit concert and music-based fundraising initiative held on Saturday, 13 July 1985. The event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, a m ...
, performing at the
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
show on 13 July 1985.
This event – which also featured reunions of
The Who
The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...
and
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...
– marked the first time the original line-up had appeared on stage since 1978. "We were all drunk when we did Live Aid," recalled
Geezer Butler
Terence Michael Joseph "Geezer" Butler (born 17 July 1949) is an English musician, best known as the bassist and primary lyricist of the pioneering Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath. He has also recorded and performed with Heave ...
, "but we'd all got drunk separately."
Returning to his solo work, Iommi enlisted bassist
Dave Spitz
Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band were previously nam ...
(ex-
Great White
Great White is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1977. The band is named after both the shark with the same name, and guitarist Mark Kendall's former stage nickname. In August 2008, Great White estimated they had sold aroun ...
), drummer
Eric Singer and initially intended to use multiple singers, including
Rob Halford
Robert John Arthur Halford (born 25 August 1951) is an English heavy metal singer. He is best known as the lead vocalist of Judas Priest, which was formed in 1969 and has received accolades such as the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Metal Perform ...
of
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...
, former Deep Purple and
Trapeze
A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes, metal straps, or chains, from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or ...
vocalist
Glenn Hughes, and former Sabbath vocalist Ronnie James Dio. This plan did not work as he forecasted. "We were going to use different vocalists on the album, guest vocalists, but it was so difficult getting it together and getting releases from their record companies. Glenn Hughes came along to sing on one track and we decided to use him on the whole album."
The band spent the remainder of the year in the studio, recording what would become ''
Seventh Star'' (1986). Warner Bros. refused to release the album as a Tony Iommi solo release, instead insisting on using the name Black Sabbath.
Pressured by the band's manager,
Don Arden
Don Arden (born Harry Levy; 4 January 1926 – 21 July 2007) was an English music manager, agent, and businessman. He managed the careers of rock acts such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Air Supply, Small Faces, The Mo ...
, the two compromised and released the album as "Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi" in January 1986. "It opened up a whole can of worms," Iommi explained. "If we could have done it as a solo album, it would have been accepted a lot more." ''Seventh Star'' sounded little like a Sabbath album, incorporating instead elements popularised by the 1980s
Sunset Strip
The Sunset Strip is the stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through the city of West Hollywood, California, United States. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with the city of Los Angeles near Marmont Lane to its western bord ...
hard rock scene. It was panned by the critics of the era, although later reviewers such as AllMusic gave album verdicts, calling the album "often misunderstood and underrated".
The new line-up rehearsed for six weeks preparing for a full world tour, although the band were eventually forced to use the Sabbath name. "I was into the 'Tony Iommi project', but I wasn't into the Black Sabbath moniker," Hughes said. "The idea of being in Black Sabbath didn't appeal to me ''whatsoever''. Glenn Hughes singing in Black Sabbath is like
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...
singing in
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
. It wasn't gonna work." Just four days before the start of the tour, Hughes got into a bar fight with the band's production manager John Downing which splintered the singer's
orbital bone. The injury interfered with Hughes' ability to sing, and the band brought in vocalist
Ray Gillen to continue the tour with
W.A.S.P. and
Anthrax
Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Bacillus anthracis'' or ''Bacillus cereus'' biovar ''anthracis''. Infection typically occurs by contact with the skin, inhalation, or intestinal absorption. Symptom onset occurs between one ...
, although nearly half of the U.S. dates would be cancelled because of poor ticket sales.
Black Sabbath began work on new material in October 1986 at
AIR Studios
Associated Independent Recording (AIR) is an independent recording company founded in London in 1965 by record producers George Martin, John Burgess (record producer), John Burgess, Ron Richards (producer), Ron Richards, and Peter Sullivan (rec ...
in
Montserrat
Montserrat ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, wit ...
with producer
Jeff Glixman. The recording was fraught with problems from the beginning, as Glixman left after the initial sessions to be replaced by producer
Vic Coppersmith-Heaven. Bassist Dave Spitz quit over "personal issues", and former
Rainbow
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...
and
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and media personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead singer of the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which per ...
bassist
Bob Daisley
Robert John Daisley (born 13 February 1950) is an Australian musician and songwriter. A bassist, he is perhaps best known for his intermittent relationship with vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, for whom he contributed bass, co-production and songwriti ...
was brought in. Daisley re-recorded all of the bass tracks, and wrote the album's lyrics, but before the album was complete, he left to join
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career, he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, Heavy metal music, heavy ...
's backing band, taking drummer
Eric Singer with him.
After problems with second producer Coppersmith-Heaven, the band returned to
Morgan Studios in England in January 1987 to work with new producer
Chris Tsangarides. While working in the United Kingdom, new vocalist Ray Gillen abruptly left Black Sabbath to form
Blue Murder with guitarist
John Sykes (ex-
Tygers of Pan Tang
Tygers of Pan Tang are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band who are part of the new wave of British heavy metal movement. They formed in 1978 in Whitley Bay, England, and were active until 1987. The band reformed in 1999 and continue ...
,
Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. The band initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Eric Bell and organist Eric Wrixon although Wr ...
,
Whitesnake
Whitesnake are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1978. The group were originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their ow ...
) and then
Badlands
Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, ...
with former Osbourne guitarist
Jake E. Lee. The band auditioned a number of singers, including
Jon Oliva
John Nicholas "Jon" Oliva (born July 22, 1959) is an American singer and musician. He is best known as the co-founder, keyboardist and lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Savatage, which he co-founded with his younger brother Criss Oliva. Si ...
of
Savatage
Savatage () is an American heavy metal band founded by brothers Jon and Criss Oliva in 1979 in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The band was first called Avatar, but, shortly before the release of their debut album '' Sirens'' (1983), they changed t ...
.
1987–1990: Martin joins, ''The Eternal Idol'', ''Headless Cross'', and ''Tyr''

The band enlisted heavy metal vocalist
Tony Martin to re-record Gillen's tracks, and former
Electric Light Orchestra
The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangement ...
drummer
Bev Bevan to complete a few percussion overdubs.
Before the release of the new album Black Sabbath accepted an offer to play six shows at
Sun City, South Africa during the apartheid era. The band drew criticism from activists and artists involved with
Artists United Against Apartheid, who had been boycotting South Africa since 1985. Drummer Bev Bevan refused to play the shows, and was replaced by
Terry Chimes, formerly of
the Clash
The Clash were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...
,
while Dave Spitz returned on bass.
After nearly a year in production, ''
The Eternal Idol'' was released in November 1987 and ignored by contemporary reviewers. On-line internet era reviews were mixed. AllMusic said that "Martin's powerful voice added new fire" to the band, and the album contained "some of Iommi's heaviest riffs in years".
''Blender'' gave the album two stars, claiming the album was "Black Sabbath in name only".
The album would stall at No. 66 in the United Kingdom, while peaking at 168 in the U.S.
The band toured in support of ''Eternal Idol'' in Germany, Italy and for the first time, Greece. In part due to a backlash from promoters over the South Africa incident, other European shows were cancelled.
Bassist Dave Spitz left the band again shortly before the tour, and was replaced by
Jo Burt, formerly of
Virginia Wolf.
Following the poor commercial performance of ''The Eternal Idol'', Black Sabbath were dropped by both Vertigo Records and Warner Bros. Records, and signed with
I.R.S. Records
I.R.S. Records was a major American record label founded by Miles Copeland III and Jay Boberg in 1979. I.R.S. produced some of the most popular bands of the 1980s, and was particularly known for issuing records by college rock, new wave and a ...
.
The band took time off in 1988, returning in August to begin work on their next album. As a result of the recording troubles with ''Eternal Idol'', Tony Iommi opted to produce the band's next album himself. "It was a completely new start", Iommi said. "I had to rethink the whole thing, and decided that we needed to build up some credibility again". Iommi enlisted former
Rainbow
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...
drummer
Cozy Powell
Cozy Powell (born Colin Trevor Flooks; 29 December 1947 – 5 April 1998) was an English drummer who made his name with major rock bands and artists such as The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Graham Bonnet, B ...
, long-time keyboardist Nicholls and session bassist
Laurence Cottle
Laurence Cottle (born 16 December 1961) is a Welsh bass guitarist and composer.
Career
His solo recordings have been mostly in jazz and jazz fusion. He was a member of the fusion quartet The Fents and appeared on their second album, ''The O ...
, and rented a "very cheap studio in England".
Black Sabbath released ''
Headless Cross'' in April 1989, and it was also ignored by contemporary reviewers, although AllMusic contributor Eduardo Rivadavia gave the album four stars and called it "the finest non-Ozzy or Dio Black Sabbath album".
Anchored by the number 62 charting single "Headless Cross", the album reached number 31 on the UK chart, and number 115 in the U.S.
Queen
Queen most commonly refers to:
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen (band), a British rock band
Queen or QUEEN may also refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Q ...
guitarist
Brian May
Sir Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, animal welfare activist and astrophysics, astrophysicist. He achieved global fame as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the rock band Queen ...
, a good friend of Iommi's, played a guest solo on the song "When Death Calls". Following the album's release the band added touring bassist
Neil Murray, formerly of
Colosseum II,
National Health,
Whitesnake
Whitesnake are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1978. The group were originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their ow ...
,
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career, he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, Heavy metal music, heavy ...
's backing band, and
Vow Wow.
The unsuccessful ''Headless Cross'' U.S. tour began in May 1989 with openers
Kingdom Come and Silent Rage, but because of poor ticket sales, the tour was cancelled after just eight shows.
The European leg of the tour began in September, where the band were enjoying chart success. After a string of Japanese shows the band embarked on a 23 date Russian tour with
Girlschool. Black Sabbath was one of the first bands to tour Russia, after
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
opened the country to western acts for the first time in 1989.
The band returned to the studio in February 1990 to record ''
Tyr'', the follow-up to ''Headless Cross''. While not technically a
concept album
A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
, some of the album's lyrical themes are loosely based on
Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
.
''Tyr'' was released on 6 August 1990, reaching number 24 on the UK albums chart, but was the first Black Sabbath release not to break the ''Billboard'' 200 in the U.S.
The album would receive mixed internet-era reviews, with AllMusic noting that the band "mix myth with metal in a crushing display of musical synthesis",
while ''Blender'' gave the album just one star, claiming that "Iommi continues to besmirch the Sabbath name with this unremarkable collection".
The band toured in support of ''Tyr'' with
Circus of Power in Europe, but the final seven United Kingdom dates were cancelled because of poor ticket sales. For the first time in their career, the band's touring cycle did not include U.S. dates.
1990–1992: Dio rejoins and ''Dehumanizer''
While on his ''
Lock Up the Wolves'' U.S. tour in August 1990, former Sabbath vocalist Ronnie James Dio was joined onstage at the
Roy Wilkins Auditorium
Roy Wilkins Auditorium (nicknamed The Roy) is a 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena in St. Paul, Minnesota. Designed by the renowned municipal architect Clarence W. Wigington, it was built in 1932 as an arena extension to the existing ''St. Paul Aud ...
by Geezer Butler to perform "Neon Knights". Following the show, the two expressed interest in rejoining Sabbath. Butler convinced Iommi, who in turn broke up the current line-up, dismissing vocalist Tony Martin and bassist Neil Murray. "I do regret that in a lot of ways," Iommi said. "We were at a good point then. We decided to
eunite with Dioand I don't even know why, really. There's the financial aspect, but that wasn't it. I seemed to think maybe we could recapture something we had."
Dio and Butler joined Iommi and
Cozy Powell
Cozy Powell (born Colin Trevor Flooks; 29 December 1947 – 5 April 1998) was an English drummer who made his name with major rock bands and artists such as The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Graham Bonnet, B ...
in autumn 1990 to begin the next Sabbath release. While rehearsing in November, Powell suffered a broken hip when his horse died and fell on the drummer's legs.
Unable to complete the album, Powell was replaced by former drummer
Vinny Appice
Vincent Samson Appice (born September 13, 1957) is an American rock and metal drummer best known for his work with the bands Dio (band), Dio, Black Sabbath, and Heaven & Hell (band), Heaven & Hell. Of Italian descent, he is the younger brother ...
, reuniting the ''Mob Rules'' line-up, and the band entered the studio with producer
Reinhold Mack
Reinhold Mack (also known as Mack, born 25 August 1949) is a German record producer and engineer. He is best known for his collaborations with Billy Squier, AC/DC, Queen, the Electric Light Orchestra, Sparks, and Chinaski.
Biography Early ...
. The year-long recording was plagued with problems, primarily stemming from writing tension between Iommi and Dio. Songs were rewritten multiple times. "It was just hard work," Iommi said. "We took too long on it, that album cost us a million dollars, which is bloody ridiculous." Dio recalled the album as difficult, but worth the effort: "It was something we had to really wring out of ourselves, but I think that's why it works. Sometimes you need that kind of tension, or else you end up making the Christmas album".
The resulting ''
Dehumanizer'' was released on 22 June 1992. In the U.S., the album was released on 30 June 1992 by
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels.
Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Green Day, En ...
, as Dio and his
namesake band were still under contract to the label at the time. While the album received mixed , it was the band's biggest commercial success in a decade.
Anchored by the top 40 rock radio single "TV Crimes", the album peaked at number 44 on the ''Billboard 200.''
The album also featured "Time Machine", a version of which had been recorded for the 1992 film ''
Wayne's World
"Wayne's World" was originally a recurring sketch from the NBC television series ''Saturday Night Live''. The first "Wayne's World" sketch appeared in the 13th ''Saturday Night Live'' episode of the Saturday Night Live season 14, 1988–1989 seas ...
''. Additionally, the perception among fans of a return of some semblance of the "real" Sabbath provided the band with much needed momentum.
Sabbath began touring in support of ''Dehumanizer'' in July 1992 with
Testament
A testament is a document that the author has sworn to be true. In law it usually means last will and testament.
Testament or The Testament can also refer to:
Books
* ''Testament'' (comic book), a 2005 comic book
* ''Testament'', a thriller no ...
,
Danzig,
Prong, and
Exodus. While on tour, former vocalist Ozzy Osbourne announced his first retirement, and invited Sabbath to open for his solo band at the final two shows of his ''
No More Tours'' tour in
Costa Mesa, California
Costa Mesa (; Spanish language, Spanish for "coastal tableland") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including ...
. The band agreed, aside from Dio, who told Iommi, "I'm not doing that. I'm not supporting a clown." Dio spoke of the situation years later:
Dio quit Sabbath following a show in
Oakland, California
Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...
on 13 November 1992, one night before the band were set to appear at Osbourne's retirement show. Judas Priest vocalist
Rob Halford
Robert John Arthur Halford (born 25 August 1951) is an English heavy metal singer. He is best known as the lead vocalist of Judas Priest, which was formed in 1969 and has received accolades such as the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Metal Perform ...
stepped in at the last minute, performing two nights with the band. Iommi and Butler joined Osbourne and former drummer Ward on stage for the first time since 1985's
Live Aid
Live Aid was a two-venue benefit concert and music-based fundraising initiative held on Saturday, 13 July 1985. The event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, a m ...
concert, performing a brief set of Sabbath songs. This set the stage for a longer-term reunion of the original line-up, though that plan proved short-lived. "Ozzy, Geezer, Tony and Bill announced the reunion of Black Sabbath – again," remarked Dio. "And I thought that it was a great idea. But I guess Ozzy didn't think it was such a great idea… I'm never surprised when it comes to whatever happens with them. Never at all. They are very predictable. They don't talk."
1992–1997: Martin rejoins, ''Cross Purposes'', and ''Forbidden''
Drummer
Vinny Appice
Vincent Samson Appice (born September 13, 1957) is an American rock and metal drummer best known for his work with the bands Dio (band), Dio, Black Sabbath, and Heaven & Hell (band), Heaven & Hell. Of Italian descent, he is the younger brother ...
left the band following the reunion show to rejoin Ronnie James Dio's solo band, later appearing on Dio's ''
Strange Highways'' and ''
Angry Machines
''Angry Machines'' is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Dio, released on October 4, 1996, through Mercury Records in Japan, and on October 15, 1996, through Mayhem Records in the U.S. It was the last studio album to feature ...
''. Iommi and Butler enlisted former
Rainbow
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...
drummer
Bobby Rondinelli
Robert Rondinelli (born July 27, 1955) is an American rock drummer best known for his work with the hard rock/ heavy metal bands Blue Öyster Cult, Rainbow, Quiet Riot, Black Sabbath, The Lizards, The Handful, and Rondinelli. In July 2013, Rond ...
, and reinstated former vocalist
Tony Martin. The band returned to the studio to work on new material, although the project was not originally intended to be released under the Black Sabbath name. As Geezer Butler explains:
Under pressure from their record label, the band released their seventeenth studio album, ''
Cross Purposes'', on 8 February 1994, under the Black Sabbath name. The album received mixed reviews, with ''Blender'' giving the album two stars, calling
Soundgarden
Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in 1985, replaced on drums initially ...
's 1994 album ''
Superunknown'' "a far better Sabbath album than this by-the-numbers potboiler". AllMusic's Bradley Torreano called ''Cross Purposes'' "the first album since ''Born Again'' that actually sounds like a real Sabbath record". The album just missed the Top 40 in the UK reaching number 41, and also reached 122 on the ''Billboard'' 200 in the U.S. ''Cross Purposes'' contained the song "Evil Eye", which was co-written by
Van Halen
Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1973. Credited with restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene, Van Halen was known for their energetic live performances and the virtuosity of their guit ...
guitarist
Eddie Van Halen
Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he founded with his brother Alex V ...
, although uncredited because of record label restrictions.
Touring in support of ''Cross Purposes'' began in February with
Morbid Angel
Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida, formed in 1983 by guitarist, primary composer and sole remaining original member Trey Azagthoth, vocalist and bassist Dallas Ward, and drummer Mike Browning. Widely considere ...
and
Motörhead
Motörhead () were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1975 by bassist and lead vocalist Lemmy Kilmister, guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. Kilmister was the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band a ...
in the U.S. The band filmed a live performance at the
Hammersmith Apollo
The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly and still commonly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Pa ...
on 13 April 1994, which was released on VHS accompanied by a CD, titled ''
Cross Purposes Live''. After the European tour with
Cathedral
A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...
and Godspeed in June 1994, drummer Bobby Rondinelli quit the band and was replaced by original Black Sabbath drummer Ward for five shows in South America.

Following the touring cycle for ''Cross Purposes'', bassist Geezer Butler quit the band for the second time. "I finally got totally disillusioned with the last Sabbath album, and I much preferred the stuff I was writing to the stuff Sabbath were doing". Butler formed a solo project called
GZR, and released ''
Plastic Planet'' in 1995. The album contained the song "Giving Up the Ghost", which was critical of Tony Iommi for carrying on with the Black Sabbath name, with the lyrics: ''You plagiarised and parodied / the magic of our meaning / a legend in your own mind / left all your friends behind / you can't admit that you're wrong / the spirit is dead and gone'' ("I heard it's something about me..." said Iommi. "I had the album given to me a while back. I played it once, then somebody else had it, so I haven't really paid any attention to the lyrics... It's nice to see him doing his own thing – getting things off his chest. I don't want to get into a rift with Geezer. He's still a friend."
[''Southern Cross'' No.19, March 1997]
Following Butler's departure, newly returned drummer Ward once again left the band. Iommi reinstated former members Neil Murray on bass and Cozy Powell on drums, effectively reuniting the 1990 ''Tyr'' line-up. The band enlisted
Body Count
A body count is the total number of people killed in a particular event. In combat, a body count is often based on the number of confirmed kills, but occasionally only an estimate. Often used in reference to military combat, the term can also r ...
guitarist
Ernie C to produce the new album, which was recorded in London in autumn of 1994. The album featured a guest vocal on "Illusion of Power" by Body Count vocalist
Ice-T
Tracy Lauren Marrow (born February 16, 1958), known professionally as Ice-T (or Ice T), is an American rapper and actor. He is active in both hip hop music, hip hop and heavy metal music, heavy metal. Ice-T began his career as an underground r ...
. The resulting ''
Forbidden'' was released on 8 June 1995, but failed to chart in the U.S. The album was widely panned by critics; AllMusic's Bradley Torreano said "with boring songs, awful production, and uninspired performances, this is easily avoidable for all but the most enthusiastic fan"; while ''Blender'' magazine called ''Forbidden'' "an embarrassment... the band's worst album".
Black Sabbath embarked on a world tour in July 1995 with openers
Motörhead
Motörhead () were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1975 by bassist and lead vocalist Lemmy Kilmister, guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. Kilmister was the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band a ...
and
Tiamat
In Mesopotamian religion, Tiamat ( or , ) is the primordial sea, mating with Abzû (Apsu), the groundwater, to produce the gods in the Babylonian epic '' Enûma Elish'', which translates as "when on high". She is referred to as a woman, an ...
, but two months into the tour, drummer Cozy Powell left the band, citing health issues, and was replaced by former drummer
Bobby Rondinelli
Robert Rondinelli (born July 27, 1955) is an American rock drummer best known for his work with the hard rock/ heavy metal bands Blue Öyster Cult, Rainbow, Quiet Riot, Black Sabbath, The Lizards, The Handful, and Rondinelli. In July 2013, Rond ...
. "The members I had in the last lineup – Bobby Rondinelli, Neil Murray – they're great, great characters..." Iommi told Sabbath fanzine ''Southern Cross''. "That, for me, was an ideal lineup. I wasn't sure vocally what we should do, but Neil Murray and Bobby Rondinelli I really got on well with."
After completing Asian dates in December 1995, Tony Iommi put the band on hiatus, and began work on a solo album with former Black Sabbath vocalist
Glenn Hughes, and former Judas Priest drummer
Dave Holland Dave Holland or David Holland may refer to:
*Dave Holland (bassist)
David Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English double bassist, bass guitarist, cellist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has ...
. The album was not officially released following its completion, although a widely traded bootleg called ''Eighth Star'' surfaced soon after. The album was officially released in 2004 as ''
The 1996 DEP Sessions'', with Holland's drums re-recorded by session drummer
Jimmy Copley.
In 1997, Tony Iommi disbanded the current line-up to officially reunite with Ozzy Osbourne and the original Black Sabbath line-up. Vocalist Tony Martin claimed that an original line-up reunion had been in the works since the band's brief reunion at Ozzy Osbourne's 1992
Costa Mesa
Costa may refer to:
Biology
* Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy
* Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus
* Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral
* Costa (entomology), the leading edge o ...
show, and that the band released subsequent albums to fulfill their record contract with I.R.S. Records. Martin later recalled ''Forbidden'' (1995) as a "filler album that got the band out of the label deal, rid of the singer, and into the reunion. However I wasn't privy to that information at the time".
I.R.S. Records
I.R.S. Records was a major American record label founded by Miles Copeland III and Jay Boberg in 1979. I.R.S. produced some of the most popular bands of the 1980s, and was particularly known for issuing records by college rock, new wave and a ...
released a
compilation album
A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...
in 1996 to fulfill the band's contract, titled ''
The Sabbath Stones'', which featured songs from ''Born Again'' (1983) to ''Forbidden'' (1995).
1997–2006: Osbourne rejoins and ''Reunion''
In the summer of 1997, Iommi, Butler and Osbourne reunited to coheadline the
Ozzfest
Ozzfest was an annual music festival tour of the United States and sometimes Europe and later Japan, featuring performances by many heavy metal music, heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Sharon Osbourne and her husband O ...
tour alongside
Osbourne's solo band. The line-up featured Osbourne's drummer
Mike Bordin
Michael Andrew Bordin (born November 27, 1962) is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the rock band Faith No More. He has amicably been known as "Puffy", "Puffster" or "The Puff", in reference to the afro hair style he wore in ...
filling in for Ward. "It started off with me going off to join Ozzy for a couple of numbers," explained Iommi, "and then it got into Sabbath doing a short set, involving Geezer. And then it grew as it went on… We were concerned in case Bill couldn't make it – couldn't do it – because it was a lot of dates, and important dates… The only rehearsal that we had to do was for the drummer. But I think if Bill had come in, it would have took a lot more time. We would have had to focus a lot more on him."

In December 1997, the group was joined by Ward, marking the first reunion of the original quartet since Osbourne's 1992 "retirement show". This line-up recorded two shows at the
Birmingham NEC
The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) is an exhibition centre located in Marston Green, England, near to Birmingham and Solihull. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International rai ...
, released as the double album ''
Reunion'' on 20 October 1998. The album reached number eleven on the ''Billboard'' 200,
went platinum in the U.S.
and spawned the single "
Iron Man
Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...
", which won Sabbath their first
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
in 2000 for
Best Metal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality performances in the heavy metal music genre. The Grammy Awards is an annual ceremony, where ...
, 30 years after the song was originally released. ''Reunion'' featured two new studio tracks, "
Psycho Man" and "Selling My Soul", both of which cracked the top 20 of the ''Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks'' chart.
Shortly before a European tour in the summer of 1998, Ward had a heart attack and was temporarily replaced by former drummer
Vinny Appice
Vincent Samson Appice (born September 13, 1957) is an American rock and metal drummer best known for his work with the bands Dio (band), Dio, Black Sabbath, and Heaven & Hell (band), Heaven & Hell. Of Italian descent, he is the younger brother ...
. Ward returned for a U.S. tour with openers
Pantera
Pantera () is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Arlington, Texas in 1981 by the Abbott brothers (guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul), and currently composed of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, an ...
, which began in January 1999 and continued through the summer, headlining the annual Ozzfest tour.
Following these appearances, the band was put on hiatus while members worked on solo material. Iommi released his first official solo album, ''
Iommi'', in 2000, while Osbourne continued work on ''
Down to Earth'' (2001).
Sabbath returned to the studio to work on new material with all four original members and producer
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay Rubin (, ; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is a co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records.
Rubin helped popularize hip hop by produci ...
in the spring of 2001,
but the sessions were halted when Osbourne was called away to finish tracks for his solo album in the summer. "It just came to an end…" Iommi said. "It's a shame because
he songswere really Iommi commented on the difficulty getting all the members together to work:
In March 2002, Osbourne's
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...
-winning reality show ''
The Osbournes'' debuted on
MTV
MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
, and quickly became a worldwide hit.
The show introduced Osbourne to a broader audience and to capitalise, the band's back catalogue label,
Sanctuary Records
Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and is, as of 2013, a subsidiary of BMG Rights Management solely for reissues. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest ...
released a double live album ''
Past Lives'' (2002), which featured concert material recorded in the 1970s, including the ''
Live at Last'' (1980) album. The band remained on hiatus until the summer of 2004 when they returned to headline Ozzfest 2004 and 2005. In November 2005, Black Sabbath were inducted into the
UK Music Hall of Fame
The UK Music Hall of Fame was an awards ceremony to honour musicians, of any nationality, for their lifetime contributions to music in the United Kingdom. The hall of fame started in 2004 with the induction of five founder members and five mo ...
, and in March 2006, after eleven years of eligibility—Osbourne famously refused the Hall's "meaningless" initial nomination in 1999—the band were inducted into the U.S.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...
. At the awards ceremony
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
played two Sabbath songs, "
Hole in the Sky" and "
Iron Man
Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...
" in tribute.
2006–2010: ''The Dio Years'' and Heaven & Hell

While Ozzy Osbourne was working on
new solo album material in 2006,
Rhino Records
A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...
released ''
Black Sabbath: The Dio Years'', a compilation of songs culled from the four Black Sabbath releases featuring Ronnie James Dio. For the release, Iommi, Butler, Dio, and Appice reunited to write and record three new songs as Black Sabbath. ''The Dio Years'' was released on 3 April 2007, reaching number 54 on the ''Billboard'' 200, while the single "The Devil Cried" reached number 37 on the ''Mainstream Rock Tracks'' chart.
Pleased with the results, Iommi and Dio decided to reunite the Dio era line-up for a
world tour. While the line-up of Osbourne, Butler, Iommi, and Ward was still officially called Black Sabbath, the new line-up opted to call themselves Heaven & Hell, after the album of the same title, to avoid confusion. When asked about the name of the group, Iommi stated "it really is Black Sabbath, whatever we do... so everyone knows what they're getting
ndso people won't expect to hear 'Iron Man' and all those songs. We've done them for so many years, it's nice to do just all the stuff we did with Ronnie again."
Ward was initially set to participate, but dropped out before the tour began due to musical differences with "a couple of the band members". He was replaced by former drummer
Vinny Appice
Vincent Samson Appice (born September 13, 1957) is an American rock and metal drummer best known for his work with the bands Dio (band), Dio, Black Sabbath, and Heaven & Hell (band), Heaven & Hell. Of Italian descent, he is the younger brother ...
, effectively reuniting the line-up that had featured on the ''Mob Rules'' (1981) and ''Dehumanizer'' (1992) albums.
Heaven & Hell toured the U.S. with openers
Megadeth
Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist and guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal—alo ...
and
Machine Head
A machine head (also referred to as a tuning machine, tuner, or gear head) is a geared apparatus for tuning stringed musical instruments by adjusting string tension. Machine heads are used on mandolins, guitars, double basses, and others, and ...
, and recorded a live album and DVD in New York on 30 March 2007, titled ''
Live from Radio City Music Hall''. In November 2007, Dio confirmed that the band had plans to record a new studio album, which was recorded in the following year. In April 2008 the band announced the upcoming release of a new box set and their participation in the
Metal Masters Tour, alongside
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...
,
Motörhead
Motörhead () were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1975 by bassist and lead vocalist Lemmy Kilmister, guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. Kilmister was the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band a ...
and
Testament
A testament is a document that the author has sworn to be true. In law it usually means last will and testament.
Testament or The Testament can also refer to:
Books
* ''Testament'' (comic book), a 2005 comic book
* ''Testament'', a thriller no ...
. The box set, ''
The Rules of Hell
''The Rules of Hell'' is a collection of four albums by the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath featuring Ronnie James Dio on vocals in remastered form. The albums included in the set are:
*1980 ''Heaven and Hell (Black Sabbath al ...
'', featuring remastered versions of all the Dio fronted Black Sabbath albums, was supported by the Metal Masters Tour. In 2009, the band announced the title of their debut studio album, ''
The Devil You Know'', released on 28 April.
On 26 May 2009, Osbourne filed suit in a federal court in New York against Iommi alleging that he illegally claimed the band name. Iommi noted that he had been the only constant band member for its full 41-year career and that his bandmates relinquished their rights to the name in the 1980s, therefore claiming more rights to the name of the band. Although in the suit, Osbourne was seeking 50% ownership of the trademark, he said that he hoped the proceedings would lead to equal ownership among the four original members.
In March 2010, Black Sabbath announced that along with
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
they would be releasing a limited edition single together to celebrate
Record Store Day
Record Store Day is a semi-annual event established in 2008 to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". Held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November, the day brings together f ...
. It was released on 17 April 2010. Ronnie James Dio died on 16 May 2010 from stomach cancer. In June 2010, the legal battle between Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi over the trademarking of the Black Sabbath name ended, but the terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.
2010–2014: Second Osbourne reunion and ''13''
In a January 2010 interview while promoting his biography ''
I Am Ozzy
''I Am Ozzy'' is the autobiography of Ozzy Osbourne, singer of Black Sabbath and solo artist. It chronicles his life, beginning as a child, followed by his career as a vocalist. The book was widely praised by its readers for its level of detail ...
'', Osbourne stated that although he would not rule it out, he was doubtful there would be a reunion with all four original members of the band. Osbourne stated: "I'm not gonna say I've written it out forever, but right now I don't think there's any chance. But who knows what the future holds for me? If it's my destiny, fine." In July, Butler said that there would be no reunion in 2011, as Osbourne was already committed to touring with his solo band. However, by that August they had already met up to rehearse together, and continued to do so through the autumn.
On 11 November 2011, Iommi, Butler, Osbourne, and Ward announced that they were reuniting to record a new album with a full tour in support beginning in 2012. Guitarist Iommi was diagnosed with
lymphoma
Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...
on 9 January 2012, which forced the band to cancel all but two shows (
Download Festival
Download Festival is a rock festival created by Andy Copping, held annually at the Donington Park motorsport circuit in Leicestershire, England (since 2003); in Paris, France (since 2016); at Parramatta Park, Sydney (since 2019); Flemington ...
, and
Lollapalooza Festival) of a previously booked European tour. It was later announced that an intimate show would be played in their hometown
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
. It was the first concert since the reunion and the only indoors concerts that year. In February 2012, drummer Ward announced that he would not participate further in the band's reunion until he was offered a "signable contract".
On 21 May 2012, at the
O2 Academy in Birmingham, Black Sabbath played their first concert since 2005, with
Tommy Clufetos playing the drums. In June, they performed at the
Download Festival
Download Festival is a rock festival created by Andy Copping, held annually at the Donington Park motorsport circuit in Leicestershire, England (since 2003); in Paris, France (since 2016); at Parramatta Park, Sydney (since 2019); Flemington ...
at the
Donington Park motorsports circuit in Leicestershire, England, followed by the last concert of the short tour at
Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago. Later that month, the band started recording an album.
On 13 January 2013, the band announced that the album would be released in June under the title ''
13''.
Brad Wilk
Bradley Joseph Wilk (born September 5, 1968) is an American musician. He is best known as the drummer of the rock bands Rage Against the Machine (1991–2000, 2007–2011, 2019–2024), Audioslave (2001–2007, 2017), and Prophets of Rage (201 ...
(formerly of
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to Rage) was an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1991. It consisted of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim ...
and
Audioslave
Audioslave was an American Rock music, rock supergroup (music), supergroup formed in Glendale, California, in 2001. The four-piece band consisted of Soundgarden's lead singer and rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell with Rage Against the Machine memb ...
) was chosen as the drummer, and
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay Rubin (, ; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is a co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records.
Rubin helped popularize hip hop by produci ...
was chosen as the producer.
Mixing of the album commenced in February. On 12 April 2013, the band released the album's track listing. The standard version of the album features eight new tracks, and the deluxe version features three bonus tracks.

The band's first single from ''13'', "
God Is Dead?", was released on 19 April 2013. On 20 April 2013, Black Sabbath commenced their first Australia/New Zealand tour in 40 years followed by a North American Tour in Summer 2013. The second single of the album, "End of the Beginning", debuted on 15 May in a ''
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' episode, where all three members appeared. In June 2013, ''13'' topped both the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
and the U.S.
''Billboard'' 200, becoming their first album to reach number one on the latter chart. In 2014, Black Sabbath received their first
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
since 2000 with "God Is Dead?" winning
Best Metal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality performances in the heavy metal music genre. The Grammy Awards is an annual ceremony, where ...
.
In July 2013, Black Sabbath embarked on a North American Tour (for the first time since July 2001), followed by a Latin American tour in October 2013. In November 2013, the band started their European tour which lasted until December 2013. In March and April 2014, they made 12 stops in North America (mostly in Canada) as the second leg of their North American Tour before embarking in June 2014 on the second leg of their European tour, which ended with a concert at London's Hyde Park.
2014–2017: Cancelled twentieth album, ''The End'', and disbandment
On 29 September 2014, Osbourne told ''
Metal Hammer
''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions published by different companies available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' featu ...
'' that Black Sabbath would begin work on their twentieth studio album in early 2015 with producer
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay Rubin (, ; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is a co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records.
Rubin helped popularize hip hop by produci ...
, followed by a final tour in 2016.
In an April 2015 interview, however, Osbourne said that these plans "could change", and added, "We all live in different countries and some of them want to work and some of them don't want to, I believe. But we are going to do another tour together."

On 3 September 2015, it was announced that Black Sabbath would embark on their final tour, titled
The End
The End may refer to:
Film
* The End (1953 film), ''The End'' (1953 film), a film by Christopher Maclaine
* The End (1978 film), ''The End'' (1978 film), a comedy by Burt Reynolds
* ''The End'' (1995 film), a List of Canadian films of 1995, Cana ...
, from January 2016 to February 2017.
Numerous dates and locations across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand were announced.
The final shows of The End tour took place at the
Genting Arena in their home city of
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, England on 2 and 4 February 2017. On 26 October 2015, it was announced the band consisting of Osbourne, Iommi and Butler would be returning to the
Download Festival
Download Festival is a rock festival created by Andy Copping, held annually at the Donington Park motorsport circuit in Leicestershire, England (since 2003); in Paris, France (since 2016); at Parramatta Park, Sydney (since 2019); Flemington ...
on 11 June 2016. Despite earlier reports that they would enter the studio before their farewell tour, Osbourne stated that there would not be another Black Sabbath studio album. However, an 8-track CD entitled ''
The End
The End may refer to:
Film
* The End (1953 film), ''The End'' (1953 film), a film by Christopher Maclaine
* The End (1978 film), ''The End'' (1978 film), a comedy by Burt Reynolds
* ''The End'' (1995 film), a List of Canadian films of 1995, Cana ...
'' was sold at dates on the tour. Along with some live recordings, the CD includes four unused tracks from the ''13'' sessions.
On 4 March 2016, Iommi discussed future re-releases of the
Tony Martin-era catalogue: "We've held back on the reissues of those albums because of the current Sabbath thing with Ozzy Osbourne, but they will certainly be happening... I'd like to do a couple of new tracks for those releases with Tony Martin... I'll also be looking at working on ''
Cross Purposes'' and ''
Forbidden''." Martin had suggested that this could coincide with the 30th anniversary of ''
The Eternal Idol'', in 2017. In an interview that August, Martin added "
ommistill has his cancer issues of course and that may well stop it all from happening but if he wants to do something I am ready." On 10 August 2016, Iommi revealed that his cancer was in remission.
Asked in November 2016 about his plans after Black Sabbath's final tour, Iommi replied, "I'll be doing some writing. Maybe I'll be doing something with the guys, maybe in the studio, but no touring." The band played their final concert on 4 February 2017 in Birmingham. The final song was streamed live on the band's Facebook page and fireworks went off as the band took their final bow.
The band's final tour was not an easy one, as longstanding tensions between Osbourne and Iommi returned to the surface. Iommi stated that he would not rule out the possibility of one-off shows, "I wouldn't write that off, if one day that came about. That's possible. Or even doing an album, 'cause then, again, you're in one place. But I don't know if that would happen." In an April 2017 interview, Butler revealed that Black Sabbath considered making a blues album as the follow-up to ''13'', but added that, "the tour got in the way."
On 7 March 2017, Black Sabbath announced their disbandment through posts made on their official social media accounts.
2017–2024: Post-final tour activities
In a June 2018 interview with
ITV News
ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV (TV network), ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. ITN, Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the netwo ...
, Osbourne expressed interest in reuniting with Black Sabbath for a performance at the
2022 Commonwealth Games
The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England betw ...
which would be held in their home city Birmingham. Iommi said that performing at the event as Black Sabbath would be "a great thing to do to help represent Birmingham. I'm up for it. Let's see what happens." He also did not rule out the possibility for the band to reform only for a one-off performance rather than a full-length tour. Iommi was later announced to be part of the opening ceremony for the 2022 Commonwealth Games alongside
Duran Duran
Duran Duran () are an English pop rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. After several early changes, the band's line-up settled ...
. On 8 August 2022, Osbourne and Iommi made a surprise reunion to end the closing ceremony of the
2022 Commonwealth Games
The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England betw ...
at the
Alexander Stadium
Alexander Stadium is an athletics stadium in Perry Barr, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It is the largest athletics stadium in the United Kingdom. The stadium has four stands with a total seated capacity of 18,000. The stadium site has four build ...
in Birmingham. They were joined by 2017 Black Sabbath touring musicians
Tommy Clufetos and
Adam Wakeman
Adam Wakeman (born 11 March 1974) is an English musician and the current keyboardist and rhythm guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne's band; he also played keyboards and guitar off-stage for Black Sabbath. Wakeman has also worked with Annie Lennox, Tra ...
for a medley of "Iron Man" and "Paranoid".
In September 2020, Osbourne stated in an interview that he was no longer interested in a reunion: "Not for me. It's done. The only thing I do regret is not doing the last farewell show in Birmingham with Bill Ward. I felt really bad about that. It would have been so nice. I don't know what the circumstances behind it were, but it would have been nice. I've talked to Tony a few times, but I don't have any of the slightest interest in doing another gig. Maybe Tony's getting bored now." Butler also ruled out the possibility of any future Black Sabbath performances in an interview with Eonmusic on 10 November 2020, stating that the band were over: "There will definitely be no more Sabbath. It's done." Iommi however, pondered the possibility of another reunion tour in an interview with ''
The Mercury News
''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...
'', stating that he "would like to play with the guys again" and that he missed the audiences and stage. Ward stated in an interview with
Eddie Trunk
Edward Scott Trunk (born August 8, 1964) is an American music historian, radio personality, talk show host, and author, best known as the host of several hard rock- and heavy metal-themed radio and television shows.
Biography
Trunk was born o ...
that he no longer had the ability or chops to perform with Black Sabbath in concert, but expressed that he would love to make another album with Osbourne, Butler and Iommi.
Despite ruling out the possibility of another Black Sabbath reunion, Osbourne revealed in an episode of ''Ozzy Speaks'' on
Ozzy's Boneyard that he was working with Iommi, who appeared as one of the guests for his thirteenth solo album, ''
Patient Number 9'' (2022). In an October 2021 interview with the ''
Metro'', Ward revealed that he had kept "in contact" with his former bandmates and stated that he was "very open-minded" to the possibility of recording another Black Sabbath album: "I haven't spoken to the guys about it, but I have talked to a couple of people in management about the possibility of making a recording."
On 30 September 2020, Black Sabbath announced a new
Dr. Martens shoe collection. The partnership with the British footwear company celebrated the 50th anniversaries of the band's ''Black Sabbath'' and ''Paranoid'' albums, with the boots depicting artwork from the former. On 13 January 2021, the band announced that they would reissue both ''Heaven & Hell'' and ''Mob Rules'' as expanded deluxe editions on 5 March 2021, with unreleased material included.
In September 2022, Osbourne reiterated that he was unwilling to continue Black Sabbath, stating that if the band were to make another album, he would not sing on it. However, he remained open to working with Iommi on more solo projects following the latter's involvement on ''Patient Number 9''. Osbourne later retired from touring in February 2023 after not sufficiently recovering from medical treatment, putting the possibility of another Black Sabbath reunion in concert in further doubt. Butler, who had retired in June 2023, insisted that Black Sabbath had been "put to bed", until August 2023 when he stated that he was open to performing a one-off show, but expressed that he had "no desire to tour again" with Black Sabbath. According to Iommi, the band were offered, but turned down, a reunion at
Power Trip in October 2023, where Osbourne was initially scheduled to headline the festival's second date; he eventually cancelled his appearance and was replaced by
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...
, due to health issues. In May 2024, Osbourne renewed interest in a reunion of the original line-up, admitting he was sad that Ward was not part of the final tour and that "it wasn't Black Sabbath that finished it. It's unfinished. If they wanted to do one more gig with Bill, I would jump at the chance." Iommi, Butler and Ward all later expressed interest in the possibility of a one-off reunion show featuring the original line-up.
The
Birmingham Royal Ballet presented ''Black Sabbath: The Ballet'' which premiered at the
Birmingham Hippodrome
The Birmingham Hippodrome is a theatre situated on Hurst Street in the Chinese Quarter of Birmingham, England.
Although best known as the home stage of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, it also hosts a wide variety of other performances including v ...
in September 2023, before touring to
Theatre Royal, Plymouth and
Sadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre is a London performing arts venue, located in Rosebery Avenue, Islington. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site. Sadler's Wells grew out of a late 17th-century pleasure garden and was opened as a theatre buil ...
in October.
A box set of
Tony Martin-era albums, ''
Anno Domini 1989–1995'', was released on 31 May 2024 and includes remasters of ''
Headless Cross'', ''
Tyr'' and ''
Cross Purposes'' and a remixed version of ''
Forbidden''; each disc of the box set (except ''Tyr'') includes one bonus track.
2025: Final reunion
In February 2025, Osbourne announced that the original line-up of Black Sabbath would reform for one final charity show at
Villa Park
Villa Park is a association football, football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, with a seating capacity of 42,918. It has been the home of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witt ...
, Birmingham on 5 July. Titled
Back to the Beginning, it is set to be the final gig for both Osbourne and the group. It will be Black Sabbath's first concert in eight years and will also mark the first time in twenty years that the original line-up of the band has performed together. Proceeds from the show are going to support Cure Parkinsons,
Birmingham Children's Hospital and
Acorns Children's Hospice.
Tom Morello
Thomas Baptist Morello (born May 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He is known for his tenure with the rock bands Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. Between 2016 and 2019, Morello was a membe ...
was announced as the show's musical director. Osbourne said, "I'm not going to get up there and do a half-hearted Ozzy looking for sympathy. What's the fucking point in that? I'm not going up there in a fucking wheelchair."
[ In addition to a solo performance by Osbourne, the supporting acts for the show will be ]Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
, Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...
, Tool
A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by animals, animals use simple tools, only human bei ...
, Slayer
Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them ...
, Pantera
Pantera () is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Arlington, Texas in 1981 by the Abbott brothers (guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul), and currently composed of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, an ...
, Gojira, Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AiC) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1987. Since 2006, the band's lineup has comprised vocalist/guitarists Jerry Cantrell and William DuVall, bassist Mike Inez, and drummer Sean Kinney. Voca ...
, Halestorm
Halestorm is an American Rock music, rock band from Red Lion, Pennsylvania, consisting of lead vocalist and guitarist Lzzy Hale, drummer Arejay Hale, guitarist Joe Hottinger, and bassist Josh Smith. Siblings Lzzy and Arejay founded the band in ...
, Lamb of God
Lamb of God (; , ) is a Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, title for Jesus that appears in the Gospel of John. It appears at wikisource:Bible (American Standard)/John#1:29, John 1:29, where John the Baptist sees Jesus and exclaims, " ...
, Anthrax
Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Bacillus anthracis'' or ''Bacillus cereus'' biovar ''anthracis''. Infection typically occurs by contact with the skin, inhalation, or intestinal absorption. Symptom onset occurs between one ...
, Mastodon
A mastodon, from Ancient Greek μαστός (''mastós''), meaning "breast", and ὀδούς (''odoús'') "tooth", is a member of the genus ''Mammut'' (German for 'mammoth'), which was endemic to North America and lived from the late Miocene to ...
and Rival Sons
Rival Sons is a Rock music, rock band formed in Long Beach, California in 2009 and also affiliated with Nashville, Tennessee. The band consists of Jay Buchanan (lead vocals), Scott Holiday (guitar), Dave Beste (bass guitar) and Michael Miley (d ...
, and it will include "additional performances from" Morello, Steven Tyler
Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer and songwriter. Tyler is best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the keyboards, h ...
, Billy Corgan
William Patrick Corgan Jr. (born March 17, 1967) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, primary songwriter, singer, and only constant member of alter ...
, Slash
Slash may refer to:
* Slash (punctuation), the "/" character
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Slash (Marvel Comics)
* Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'')
Music
* Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band
* Nash th ...
, David Draiman, Sammy Hagar
Sam Roy Hagar (born October 13, 1947), also known as the Red Rocker, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s with the hard rock band Montrose before launching a ...
, Fred Durst
William Frederick Durst (born Frederick Allen Mayne III; August 20, 1970) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, and director. He is the frontman and lyricist of the nu metal band Limp Bizkit, formed in 1994, with whom he has release ...
, former Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...
guitarist K. K. Downing, former Megadeth
Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist and guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal—alo ...
bassist David Ellefson
David Ellefson is an American musician, best known for his long tenure as the bassist and backing vocalist for thrash metal band Megadeth across two stints.
Ellefson initially became an accomplished bassist and honed his songwriting skills whi ...
, members of Soundgarden
Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in 1985, replaced on drums initially ...
, and three former members of Osbourne's solo band (Rudy Sarzo
Rodolfo Maximiliano Sarzo Lavieille Grande Ruiz Payret y Chaumont (born November 18, 1950) is a Cuban-American musician. He remains best known as the bassist for Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne, and Whitesnake, and has also played with several well k ...
, Jake E. Lee and Mike Bordin
Michael Andrew Bordin (born November 27, 1962) is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the rock band Faith No More. He has amicably been known as "Puffy", "Puffster" or "The Puff", in reference to the afro hair style he wore in ...
).
Musical style
Black Sabbath are a heavy metal band. The band have also been cited as a key influence on genres including stoner rock
Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Sl ...
, grunge
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...
, doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...
, and sludge metal
Sludge metal (also known as sludge doom or simply sludge) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that combines elements of doom metal and hardcore punk. The genre generally includes slow tempos, down-tuned guitars and nihilis ...
. Early on, Black Sabbath were influenced by Cream
Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...
, The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
, Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...
, Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...
, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers were an English blues rock band led by multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter John Mayall. The band has been influential as an incubator for British rock and blues musicians. Many of the best known bands t ...
, Blue Cheer
Blue Cheer was an American rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009. Based in San Francisco, Blue Cheer played in a psychedelic blues rock or acid rock style. The ...
, Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...
, Jethro Tull, and Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly was an American rock band formed in San Diego, California, in 1966. They are best known for the 1968 hit " In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", providing a dramatic sound that led the way towards the development of hard rock and heavy metal m ...
.
Although Black Sabbath went through many line-ups and stylistic changes, their core sound focuses on ominous lyrics and doomy music, often making use of the musical tritone
In music theory, the tritone is defined as a interval (music), musical interval spanning three adjacent Major second, whole tones (six semitones). For instance, the interval from F up to the B above it (in short, F–B) is a tritone as it can be ...
, also called the "devil's interval". While their Ozzy-era albums such as ''Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
''Sabbath Bloody Sabbath'' is the fifth studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in November 1973. It was produced by the band and recorded at Morgan Studios in London in September 1973. The writing process for the al ...
'' (1973) had slight compositional similarities to the progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...
genre that was growing in popularity at the time, standing in stark contrast to popular music of the early 1970s, Black Sabbath's dark sound was dismissed by rock critics of the era. Much like many of their early heavy metal contemporaries, the band received virtually no airplay on rock radio.
As the band's primary songwriter, Tony Iommi wrote the majority of Black Sabbath's music, while Osbourne would write vocal melodies, and bassist Geezer Butler would write lyrics. The process was sometimes frustrating for Iommi, who often felt pressured to come up with new material: "If I didn't come up with anything, nobody would do anything." On Iommi's influence, Osbourne later said:
Beginning with their third album, ''Master of Reality
''Master of Reality'' is the third studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in United Kingdom on 6 August 1971 by Vertigo Records. It is regarded by some critics as the foundation of doom metal, stoner rock, and slud ...
'' (1971), Black Sabbath began to feature tuned-down guitars. In 1965, before forming Black Sabbath, guitarist Tony Iommi suffered an accident while working in a sheet metal
Sheet metal is metal formed into thin, flat pieces, usually by an industrial process.
Thicknesses can vary significantly; extremely thin sheets are considered foil (metal), foil or Metal leaf, leaf, and pieces thicker than 6 mm (0.25  ...
factory, losing the tips of two fingers on his right hand. Iommi almost gave up music, but was urged by the factory manager to listen to Django Reinhardt
Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani people, Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Belgium, Belgian-born Romani jazz guitarist and composer in France. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe ...
, a jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
guitarist who lost the use of two fingers in a fire. Inspired by Reinhardt, Iommi created two thimbles made of plastic and leather to cap off his missing fingertips. The guitarist began using lighter strings, and detuning his guitar, to better grip the strings with his prosthesis
In medicine, a prosthesis (: prostheses; from ), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through physical trauma, disease, or a condition present at birth (Congenital, congenital disord ...
. Early in the band's history Iommi experimented with different dropped tunings, including C tuning, or 3 semitones down, before settling on E/D tuning, or a half-step down from standard tuning.
Legacy
Black Sabbath has sold over 70 million records worldwide, including a RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
-certified 15 million in the U.S. They are one of the most influential heavy metal bands of all time. The band helped to create the genre with ground-breaking releases such as ''Paranoid
Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety, suspicion, or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of con ...
'' (1970), an album that ''Rolling Stone'' magazine said "changed music forever", and called the band "the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
of heavy metal". ''Time'' magazine called ''Paranoid'' "the birthplace of heavy metal", placing it in their Top 100 Albums of All Time.
MTV
MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
placed Black Sabbath at number one on their Top Ten Heavy Metal Bands and VH1
VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...
placed them at number two on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. VH1 ranked Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" the number one song on their 40 Greatest Metal Songs countdown. ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked the band number 85 in their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". AllMusic's William Ruhlmann said:
According to ''Rolling Stone'' Holly George-Warren, "Black Sabbath was the heavy metal king of the 1970s." Although initially "despised by rock critics and ignored by radio programmers", the group sold more than 8 million albums by the end of that decade. "''The'' heavy metal band…" marvelled Ronnie James Dio. "A band that didn't apologise for coming to town; it just stepped on buildings when it came to town."
Influence and innovation
Black Sabbath have influenced many acts including Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...
, Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...
, Diamond Head, Slayer
Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them ...
, Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
, Korn
Korn (stylized as KoЯn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, originally formed in 1993 by James Shaffer, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald Arvizu, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu and David Silveria, who were members of the band ...
, Black Flag, Mayhem, Venom
Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...
, Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...
, Body Count
A body count is the total number of people killed in a particular event. In combat, a body count is often based on the number of confirmed kills, but occasionally only an estimate. Often used in reference to military combat, the term can also r ...
, Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AiC) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1987. Since 2006, the band's lineup has comprised vocalist/guitarists Jerry Cantrell and William DuVall, bassist Mike Inez, and drummer Sean Kinney. Voca ...
, Anthrax
Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Bacillus anthracis'' or ''Bacillus cereus'' biovar ''anthracis''. Infection typically occurs by contact with the skin, inhalation, or intestinal absorption. Symptom onset occurs between one ...
, Disturbed, Death
Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...
, Opeth
Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990. The band incorporates folk music, folk, blues, classical music, classical, and jazz elements into its usually lengthy compositions, as well as strong influences from deat ...
, Pantera
Pantera () is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Arlington, Texas in 1981 by the Abbott brothers (guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul), and currently composed of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, an ...
, Megadeth
Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist and guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal—alo ...
, Sepultura
Sepultura (, "grave")Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 17. is a Brazilian heavy metal band formed in Belo Horizonte in 1984 by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera.Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 16. They were a major force in the groove metal, thrash met ...
, the Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins (also simply known as Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band formed in Chicago in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha, bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The ...
, Slipknot, Foo Fighters
The Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Initially founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band comprises vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, gu ...
, Testament
A testament is a document that the author has sworn to be true. In law it usually means last will and testament.
Testament or The Testament can also refer to:
Books
* ''Testament'' (comic book), a 2005 comic book
* ''Testament'', a thriller no ...
, Fear Factory
Fear Factory is an American industrial metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1989. Throughout the band's career, they have released ten full-length albums and have evolved through a succession of sounds, all in their main style of industrial met ...
, Candlemass, Godsmack
Godsmack is an American Rock music, rock band from Lawrence, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The band is currently composed of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Sully Erna and bassist Robbie Merrill. Since its formation, Godsmack has released eig ...
, Corrosion of Conformity
Corrosion of Conformity (often abbreviated as C.O.C.) is an American heavy metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina, formed in 1982. The band has undergone multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with lead guitarist Woody Weatherman a ...
, and Van Halen
Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1973. Credited with restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene, Van Halen was known for their energetic live performances and the virtuosity of their guit ...
. Two Gold-selling tribute album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...
s have been released, '' Nativity in Black Volume 1 & 2'', including covers by Sepultura
Sepultura (, "grave")Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 17. is a Brazilian heavy metal band formed in Belo Horizonte in 1984 by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera.Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 16. They were a major force in the groove metal, thrash met ...
, White Zombie, Type O Negative
Type O Negative was an American gothic/doom metal band formed in Brooklyn, New York City in 1989 by Peter Steele (bass, lead vocals), Kenny Hickey (guitar, co-lead vocals), Josh Silver (keyboards, backing vocals), and Sal Abruscato (drums ...
, Faith No More
Faith No More is an American Rock music, rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. Before September 1983, the band performed under the names Sharp Young Men and later Faith No Man. Bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist/rhythm guitarist ...
, Machine Head
A machine head (also referred to as a tuning machine, tuner, or gear head) is a geared apparatus for tuning stringed musical instruments by adjusting string tension. Machine heads are used on mandolins, guitars, double basses, and others, and ...
, Primus, System of a Down, and Monster Magnet
Monster Magnet is an American rock music, rock band formed in Red Bank, New Jersey, in 1989 by Dave Wyndorf (vocals and guitar), John McBain (musician), John McBain (guitar), and Tim Cronin (vocals and drums). The band has since undergone severa ...
.
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
's Lars Ulrich
Lars Ulrich (; ; born 26 December 1963) is a Danish musician who is the drummer and a founding member of American heavy metal band Metallica. Along with James Hetfield, Ulrich has songwriting credits on almost all of the band's songs, and the ...
, who, along with bandmate James Hetfield
James Alan Hetfield (born August 3, 1963) is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, co-founder, and a primary songwriter of heavy metal band Metallica. He is mainly known for his raspy voice and intricate rhythm playi ...
inducted Black Sabbath into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...
in 2006, said "Black Sabbath is and always will be synonymous with heavy metal", while Hetfield said "Sabbath got me started on all that evil-sounding shit, and it's stuck with me. Tony Iommi is the king of the heavy riff." Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...
guitarist Slash
Slash may refer to:
* Slash (punctuation), the "/" character
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Slash (Marvel Comics)
* Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'')
Music
* Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band
* Nash th ...
said of the ''Paranoid'' album: "There's just something about that whole record that, when you're a kid and you're turned onto it, it's like a whole different world. It just opens up your mind to another dimension...''Paranoid'' is the whole Sabbath experience; very indicative of what Sabbath meant at the time. Tony's playing style—doesn't matter whether it's off ''Paranoid'' or if it's off ''Heaven and Hell''—it's very distinctive." Anthrax
Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Bacillus anthracis'' or ''Bacillus cereus'' biovar ''anthracis''. Infection typically occurs by contact with the skin, inhalation, or intestinal absorption. Symptom onset occurs between one ...
guitarist Scott Ian
Scott Ian (born Scott Ian Rosenfeld, December 31, 1963) is an American musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist, lyricist and co-founder of the thrash metal band Anthrax (American band), Anthrax, of which he is the sole continuous member. Ia ...
said "I always get the question in every interview I do, 'What are your top five metal albums?' I make it easy for myself and always say the first five Sabbath albums."
Lamb of God
Lamb of God (; , ) is a Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, title for Jesus that appears in the Gospel of John. It appears at wikisource:Bible (American Standard)/John#1:29, John 1:29, where John the Baptist sees Jesus and exclaims, " ...
's Chris Adler
Christopher James Adler (born November 23, 1972) is an American musician, best-known as a founding member and the longtime drummer of Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Lamb of God (band), Lamb of God from 1994 to 2019.
He was also a Grammy A ...
said: "If anybody who plays heavy metal says that they weren't influenced by Black Sabbath's music, then I think that they're lying to you. I think all heavy metal music was, in some way, influenced by what Black Sabbath did." Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford
Robert John Arthur Halford (born 25 August 1951) is an English heavy metal singer. He is best known as the lead vocalist of Judas Priest, which was formed in 1969 and has received accolades such as the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Metal Perform ...
commented: "They were and still are a groundbreaking band...you can put on the first Black Sabbath album and it still sounds as fresh today as it did 30-odd years ago. And that's because great music has a timeless ability: To me, Sabbath are in the same league as the Beatles or Mozart. They're on the leading edge of something extraordinary." On Black Sabbath's standing, Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to Rage) was an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1991. It consisted of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim ...
guitarist Tom Morello
Thomas Baptist Morello (born May 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He is known for his tenure with the rock bands Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. Between 2016 and 2019, Morello was a membe ...
states: "The heaviest, scariest, coolest riffs and the apocalyptic Ozzy wail are without peer. You can hear the despair and menace of the working-class Birmingham streets they came from in every kick-ass, evil groove. Their arrival ground hippy, flower-power psychedelia to a pulp and set the standard for all heavy bands to come." Phil Anselmo
Philip Hansen Anselmo (born June 30, 1968) is an American musician best known as the lead singer for groove metal band Pantera, southern metal supergroup Down (band), Down, and Hardcore punk, hardcore band Superjoint, amongst other musical proj ...
of Pantera
Pantera () is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Arlington, Texas in 1981 by the Abbott brothers (guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul), and currently composed of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, an ...
and Down stated that "Only a fool would leave out what Black Sabbath brought to the heavy metal genre".
According to Tracii Guns
Tracy Irving Richard Ulrich (born January 20, 1966), known professionally as Tracii Guns, is an American guitarist best known as the co-founder of glam metal group L.A. Guns, as well as the Supergroup (music), supergroups Brides of Destruction ...
of L.A. Guns
L.A. Guns are an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1983. The lineup currently consists of Tracii Guns (lead guitar), Phil Lewis (musician), Phil Lewis (lead vocals), Ace Von Johnson (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Johnny Mar ...
and former member of Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...
, the main riff of "Paradise City
"Paradise City" is a song by the American rock band Guns N' Roses, featured on their debut album, ''Appetite for Destruction'' (1987). Released as a single in January 1989, it is the only song on the album to feature a synthesizer. The song pea ...
" by Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...
, from ''Appetite for Destruction
''Appetite for Destruction'' is the debut studio album by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, released on July 21, 1987, by Geffen Records. It initially received little mainstream attention, and it was not until the following year that ''App ...
'' (1987), was influenced by the song "Zero the Hero" from the ''Born Again
To be born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelical Christianity, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is d ...
'' album. King Diamond
Kim Bendix Petersen (born 14 June 1956), better known by his stage name King Diamond, is a Danish rock musician. As a vocalist, he is known for his powerful and wide-ranging countertenor singing voice, in particular his far-reaching falsetto s ...
guitarist Andy LaRocque affirmed that the clean guitar part of "Sleepless Nights" from ''Conspiracy
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...
'' (1989) is inspired by Tony Iommi's playing on ''Never Say Die!
''Never Say Die!'' is the eighth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, released on 29 September 1978. It was the last studio album with the band's original line-up and the last studio album to feature original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne ...
''.
In addition to being pioneers of heavy metal, they also have been credited for laying the foundations for heavy metal subgenres stoner rock
Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Sl ...
, sludge metal
Sludge metal (also known as sludge doom or simply sludge) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that combines elements of doom metal and hardcore punk. The genre generally includes slow tempos, down-tuned guitars and nihilis ...
, thrash metal
Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, ...
, black metal
Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...
and doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...
. Sabbath has had a significant impact on alternative music, being cited as an influence by Nirvana
Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...
, Soundgarden
Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in 1985, replaced on drums initially ...
, and Dinosaur Jr.. Rock critic Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his career at ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He subsequently worked as a freelancer and published a number of books on music and popular culture.
Reynold ...
writes that when late 1980s bands such as Tad and the Butthole Surfers "revived Black Sabbath's ponderous riffs, it felt like a daring challenge to the approved canon of underground rock", and that "Sabbath-style heaviness" became the norm after the commercial emergence of grunge.
Tony Iommi has been credited as the pioneer of lighter gauge guitar strings. The tips of his fingers were severed in a steel factory, and while using thimbles (artificial finger tips) he found that standard guitar strings were too difficult to bend and play. He found that there was only one size of strings available, so after years with Sabbath he had strings custom made.
Culturally, Black Sabbath have exerted a huge influence in both television and literature and have in many cases become synonymous with heavy metal. In the film '' Almost Famous'', Lester Bangs
Leslie Conway "Lester" Bangs (December 14, 1948 – April 30, 1982) was an American music journalist and critic. He wrote for ''Creem'' and ''Rolling Stone'' magazines and was also a performing musician. The music critic Jim DeRogatis called ...
gives the protagonist an assignment to cover the band with the immortal line: 'Give me 500 words on Black Sabbath'. Contemporary music and arts publication ''Trebuchet Magazine'' has put this to practice by asking all new writers to write a short piece (500 words) on Black Sabbath as a means of proving their creativity and voice on a well documented subject.
Band members
Original and current line-up
*Tony Iommi
Anthony Frank Iommi Jr. (born 19 February 1948) is an English musician. He co-founded the pioneering Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's guitarist, leader, primary composer, and sole continuous member for over ...
– guitars
*Geezer Butler
Terence Michael Joseph "Geezer" Butler (born 17 July 1949) is an English musician, best known as the bassist and primary lyricist of the pioneering Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath. He has also recorded and performed with Heave ...
– bass
*Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and media personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead singer of the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which per ...
– vocals, harmonica
* Bill Ward – drums
Discography
Studio albums
* ''Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...
'' (1970)
* ''Paranoid
Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety, suspicion, or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of con ...
'' (1970)
* ''Master of Reality
''Master of Reality'' is the third studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in United Kingdom on 6 August 1971 by Vertigo Records. It is regarded by some critics as the foundation of doom metal, stoner rock, and slud ...
'' (1971)
* '' Vol. 4'' (1972)
* ''Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
''Sabbath Bloody Sabbath'' is the fifth studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in November 1973. It was produced by the band and recorded at Morgan Studios in London in September 1973. The writing process for the al ...
'' (1973)
* ''Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...
'' (1975)
* ''Technical Ecstasy
''Technical Ecstasy'' is the seventh studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, produced by guitarist Tony Iommi and released in October 1976 by Vertigo Records. The album received mixed reviews from critics but was a commercial success ...
'' (1976)
* ''Never Say Die!
''Never Say Die!'' is the eighth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, released on 29 September 1978. It was the last studio album with the band's original line-up and the last studio album to feature original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne ...
'' (1978)
* '' Heaven and Hell'' (1980)
* '' Mob Rules'' (1981)
* ''Born Again
To be born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelical Christianity, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is d ...
'' (1983)
* '' Seventh Star'' (1986)
* '' The Eternal Idol'' (1987)
* '' Headless Cross'' (1989)
* '' Tyr'' (1990)
* '' Dehumanizer'' (1992)
* '' Cross Purposes'' (1994)
* '' Forbidden'' (1995)
* '' 13'' (2013)
Tours
* Polka Tulk Blues/Earth Tour 1968–1969
* Black Sabbath Tour 1970
* Paranoid Tour 1970–1971
* Master of Reality Tour 1971–1972
* Vol. 4 Tour 1972–1973
* Sabbath Bloody Sabbath Tour 1973–1974
* Sabotage Tour 1975–1976
* Technical Ecstasy Tour 1976–1977
* Never Say Die! Tour 1978
* Heaven & Hell Tour 1980–1981
* Mob Rules Tour 1981–1982
* Born Again Tour 1983
* Seventh Star Tour 1986
* Eternal Idol Tour 1987
* Headless Cross Tour 1989
* Tyr Tour 1990
* Dehumanizer Tour 1992
* Cross Purposes Tour 1994
* Forbidden Tour 1995
* Ozzfest Tour 1997
* European Tour 1998
* Reunion Tour 1998–1999
* Ozzfest Tour 1999
* U.S. Tour 1999
* European Tour 1999
* Ozzfest Tour 2001
* Ozzfest Tour 2004
* European Tour 2005
* Ozzfest Tour 2005
* Black Sabbath Reunion Tour, 2012–2014
* The End Tour
The End Tour was the final concert tour for the English rock band Black Sabbath, featuring founding members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler. They performed on the tour with session drummer Tommy Clufetos filling in for the band's ...
2016–2017
* Back to the Beginning Tour 2025
See also
* List of cover versions of Black Sabbath songs
* Heavy metal groups
References
Sources
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External links
*
*
Black Sabbath biography by James Christopher Monger, discography and album reviews, credits & releases
at AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
Black Sabbath discography, album releases & credits
at Discogs.com
Discogs ( ; short for "discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''The N ...
{{Authority control
1968 establishments in England
2017 disestablishments in England
English heavy metal musical groups
English musical quartets
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners
I.R.S. Records artists
Kerrang! Awards winners
Musical groups disestablished in 2006
Musical groups disestablished in 2017
Musical groups established in 1968
Musical groups reestablished in 2011
Musical groups reestablished in 2025
Rock music groups from Birmingham, West Midlands
Vertigo Records artists