In 1968, four young people from Birmingham’s Labor formed the blues band by the name Polka Tulk. Within a few months, they would leave behind the flowers and hippies of the time and the Black Sabbath would become

Starring Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi, and sound heavy, dark and unprecedented, Sabbath not only became famous, legends became legends.

The first live appearance of the Black Sabbath In 1968 one would hardly convince someone that he was watching the birth of a legend. The band had the name The Polka Tulk Blues Band, He was playing with saxophone and slide guitar and moving on blues trails.

A year later, they had changed its name, style and essentially invented the heavy metal, the musical genre that would affect countless bands, from Motorhead and AC/DC to Metallica and Guns n ‘Roses.

With the death of Ozzy Osbourne at the age of 76, the band’s story gains new depth, as he was not only the voice of Sabbath, but also one of the most influential frontmen in rock history.

“If there is someone who really lived rock’s life at the extremes, then I am me,” he had admitted.

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A new approach to the dark rock

Black Sabbath’s reaction to the “happy” climate of the late 1960s with songs such as San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair) was raw and authentic.

“Flowers in the hair? Do me the grace, “Osbourne writes in his autobiography:” In Aston, the only flowers were what you threw on someone in his grave. “

Having formed a new four with Tony Iommi (guitar), geezer butler (bass) and Bill Ward (drums), Sabbath started from the blues, but things quickly took another turn.

The final name, Black Sabbath, was inspired by a low budget horror movie with Boris Karloff. Their studio was opposite a cinema playing all-night horror, and Tony Iommi made the decisive observation:

“Isn’t it strange that people pay to scare? Why not write “scary music” too?‘

A guitar, two fingers – and the birth of a sound

Sound, Sabbath found their mark thanks to their necessity. Tony Iommi had lost two fingers in an accident at 17, almost ending his career as a guitarist.

Instead of giving up, he melted a plastic detergent bottle and made fingers, while relaxing the strings of his guitar, creating this deep, spooky and “heavy” sound that became the core of heavy metal.

Their critics rejected – the audience was dropping them

Sabbath’s first album was released in 1970, within two days of recording and with a limited budget. The music was slow and dark.

Critics were not thrilled. Lester Bangs at the Rolling Stone wrote that the album was “overly fastened as a satanic ritual but they are not as bad as they present them”.

However, the listeners were fascinated. Sabbath had touched a “vein”: fear, war, mental health and occultism, issues that no one else was so bold.

Compositions that left season

  • Paranoid (1970): The landmark album, with tracks such as War Pigs, Iron Man and Paranoid.
  • Master of Reality (1971): With heavier production and songs like Children of the Grave.
  • Vol. 4 (1972): Experimental, dark and personal, with snowblind talking openly about cocaine dependence.
  • Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973): Hard criticism of the music industry – with political and artistic maturity.

Myth and reality

Their relationship with occultism was more marketing than substance. When 20 Satanists were waiting outside their hotel, Ozzy erased their candles and started singing them … Happy Birthday.

However, Sabbath never denied their dark mask. They cultivated it and reinforced it with every appearance.

The legacy

In 2002, Iommi and Osbourne performed Paranoid in front of Queen Elizabeth – proof that even the most “satanic” music can become … national cultural capital.

Lars Ulrich (Metallica):
“If there were no Black Sabbath, hard rock and heavy metal it would be something completely different. Sabbath determined one kind of themselves. “

After 55 years, Black Sabbath’s music remains alive. As Ozzy himself said: “I never imagined we would get here, almost 50 years later. The best thing is that our music has endured in time. “