Black Sabbath Wiki | Members, Albums, Songs, Prizes and Facts

Black Sabbath English heavy metal band formed in 1968 by Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward.

Many music fans knew the Black Sabbath as the first heavy metal band. They defined the metal music genre with releases such as “Black Sabbath” and “War Pigs.” With those songs, they became an inspiration for new metal bands.

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Early Days of Black Sabbath

The band’s original name was Polka Tulk Blues band. Later the band members thought that the band name was too long as a band name. That’s why they shortened it to Polka Tulk. After that, they changed the band name to the Earth.

However, they could not use it as they expected. There was another English band that used the same band name. That’s why the band wanted to change the band name again. We already mentioned more detail about this situation in this article. They could not find a new brand name for a long time. That’s why they had used the old band name for a while. Geezer Butler known fan of horror movies saw a film poster horror movie. The movie was the Italian horror movie Black Sabbath. He was affected deeply. He thought that this name completely fit their music style. The band members agreed with Geezer Butler. That’s why they started to use Black Sabbath as a band name.

Black Sabbath band members

Tony Iommi – guitars (1968–2006, 2011–2017)
Bill Ward – drums (1968–1980, 1983, 1984, 1994, 1997–2006, 2011–2012)
Geezer Butler – bass (1968–1979, 1980–1985, 1987, 1990–1994, 1997–2006, 2011–2017)
Ozzy Osbourne – vocals, harmonica (1968–1977, 1978–1979, 1985, 1997–2006, 2011–2017)

Black Sabbath Discography

Black Sabbath released 19 studio albums and eight live albums. With those albums, they got a massive success. Those albums are:

Black Sabbath (1970)
Paranoid(1970)
Master of Reality(1971)
Vol.4(1972)
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath(1973)
Sabotage(1975)
Technical Ecstasy(1976)
Heaven and Hell(1980)
Mob Rules(1981)
Born Again(1983)
Seventh Star(1986)
The Eternal Idol (1987)
Headless Cross(1989)
BlTyr(1990)
Dehumanizer(1992)
Cross Purposes(1994)
Forbidden(1995)
13(2013)

Other music completion from Black Sabbath:

1985 – The Sabbath Collection (compilation, UK)
1992 – Wayne’s World: Music from the Motion Picture
1994 – The Ozzy Osbourne Years (3 discs set from Japan)
1996 – The Collection (Contains songs from the first 8 albums)

Black Sabbath Tours

Black Sabbat could interact with its fans without ease While they were touring. They liked this situation. That’s why the band had arranged tours constantly during their career.

Polka Tulk Blues/Earth Tour (1968-69)
Black Sabbath Tour (1970)
Paranoid Tour (1970-71)
Master of Reality Tour(1971-72)
Vol. 4 Tour (1972-1973)
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath Tour(1973-74)
Sabotage Tour(1975-76)
Technical Ecstasy Tour(1976-77)
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)
Fobidden Tour(1995)
Ozzfest Tour(1997)
European Tour (1998)
Ozzfest Tour (2001)
Ozzfest Tour(2004)
European Tour (2005)
Black Sabbath Reunion Tour(2012-14)
The End Tour (2016-17)

Black Sabbath band also influenced many music bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Diamond Head, Slayer, Metallica, Nirvana, Korn, Black Flag, Mayhem, Venom, Guns N’ Roses, Soundgarden, Body Count, Alice in Chains, Anthrax, Disturbed, Death, Opeth, Pantera, Megadeth, the Smashing Pumpkins, Slipknot, Foo Fighters, Fear Factory, Candlemass, Godsmack, and Van Halen. There are lots of albums that have been released, Nativity in Black Volume 1 & 2, including covers by Sepultura, White Zombie, Type O Negative, Faith No More, Machine Head, Primus, System of a Down, and Monster Magnet.

Net worth of the Black Sabbath members

Ozzy Osbourne Net Worth: $220 Million
Tony Iommi Net Worth: $170 Million
Geezer Butler Net Worth: $70 Million
Bill Ward Net Worth: $70 million

Negative Critics About The Black Sabbath

Musically, the band had used the dark and foreboding images with ominous guitar riffs, relatively slow-churn tempos, and Osbourne’sullen vocals. Black Sabbath lyrics depend on occult imagery. For example, the band used a satan book as a reference to write the “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” album’s lyrics. Because of the lyrics, the band had taken too many critics. You could hear critics about the band in 1973 while you were listening to radios. Luckily, Those critics make the band more popular. In other words, those critics turned them into a star.

Black Sabbath’s Musical Classics

During their career, the band made various tracks. Yet, some of the tracks are more popular than the other tracks. Those tracks are “Paranoid,” “Iron Man,” and “War Pigs.” Those songs are the metal classics. With those classic tracks, Black Sabbath showed the world how to make metal. They had been an inspiration for the new metal bands. Besides the musical success, the band earned massive commercial success with their albums. Their albums sold millions of copies.

Black Sabbath’s band members

Despite the success, the band members had problems with each other. That’s why Black Sabbath‘s band members are changed constantly. Ozzy Osbourne left the band first in the late 1970s. This leaving encouraged the other band members. Bill Ward and Terence “Geezer” Butler left the band. There was Tony Iommi left on the band from the orginal lineup. He did not give up. He wanted to keep alive the Black Sabbath. That’s why he started the work with different musicians. He had accomplished what he wanted to do.

Tony Iommi

Tony Iommi was a worker in a sheet metal factory. While Tony was working, he needed to use a press machine. Yet Tony Iommi did not know how to use a press machine. Unfortunately, he pressed the wrong button while his fingers were inside the machine. Then the press machine crushed Tony Iommi‘s two fingers. If you want to learn more details about this accident, we gave more details about this accident in this article. Tony wanted to pursue a carer in the music industry. However, he could not play guitar after the accident happened. That’s why Tony Iommi created artificial fingers to play guitar again. With his artificial fingers, he could play guitar again. However, he needed to learn everything about playing guitar again. Yet, learning guitar again was not easy as Tony assumed. After he learned to play guitar again, He realized that this accident changed his guitar playing style completely. With his playing style, he could play hard guitar riffs without effort. That’s why many people regard this accident helped to the birth of Heavy metal.

Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne has pursued a solo career after he left the Black Sabbath. He released various albums which make him more popular than Black Sabbath frontman. Also, he made the popular MTV reality show The Osbournes(2002-2005) with his family.

Reunion

Although Tony Iommi did good jobs with the other musicians, Black Sabbath‘s fans always wanted to see the orginal lineup on the stages. The orginal band members be aware of that situation and they decided to reunite on several occasions in the 1990s. As a result of the occasions, they released a live album called Reunion(1998). When fans heard the release, they freaked out. Black Sabbath’s fans had waited for this album since Ozzy Osbourne left the band. With The album’s featured single “Iron Man” the band won the first Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. This success was beyond the band’s expectations.

13

After the Reunion album’s success, Producer Rick Rubin wanted the band to record a new album called “13”. This album has a special place in the Black Sabbath‘s fans’ hearth. Because the original band members are Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward played together for an album after 25 years. With this album, the band won another Grammy award for the single “Good Is Dead.”

Black Sabbath’s farewell tour

Despite the “13” album’s success, the band realized they could not make music anymore. That’s why the band arranged a farewell tour in 2015. Black Sabbath’s fans wanted to see Black Sabbath on the stage for the last time. That’s why all tour tickets are sold without ease. After the final performance, the band released a live album and film called “The End: Live Birmingham.” With this live album, the band received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement in 2019.

If you could not find a chance to attend Black Sabbath’s last concert, you can listen to the final performance below.