Unknown Facts About Black Sabbath First Album
Music bands put dozens of hours into making their new album these days. They think it is the best thing to do to make their albums the best. However, nobody pointed out that Black Sabbath made its first album in less than 12 hours. With their first album, Black Sabbath achieved more success than they expected.
We can easily say that legendary rockers like Jimi Hendrix can do legendary jobs in every situation. Everyone accepts that Black Sabbath makes more than hard rock with their first album. Besides heavier music, their music is darker and more sinister. They started the heavy metal.
Black Sabbath has a different story than the other metal bands. That’s why this catches the attention of the content creators who writes like me. However, they write things over and over again. I want to make this article different. I will write facts about Black Sabbath‘s first album that only superfans know.
Also, check Black Sabbath‘s members net worth here.
Black Sabbath recorded a classic under 12 hour
As I said, Black Sabbath recorded its first studio album in twelve hours. Black Sabbath members cannot afford to reserve a studio for more than two days. One day is for recording; another day is for mixing. Because of the cold, they cannot use the all day for recording. They want to finish it as quickly as possible. Thanks to the producer Rodger Bain. They can handle this situation.
The Wizard
Have you ever wondered how musicians find inspiration to write their songs? For the Black Sabbath, they found inspiration for The Wizard on “Lord of the Rings.” With inspiration from Lord of the Rings, Geezer Butler wrote “The Wizzard.” This seems to be funny. However, J.R.R. Tolkien influenced a lot of artists with his works. You can listen to it below!
The women on the album cover
Every Black Sabbath fan must ask themselves this question. Who is the woman standing on the album cover? Until the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Black Sabbath, nobody knows a woman’s identity who is given a dark pose on the album cover. The photo was shooted at the Maplefurham Watermill in Oxfordshire, England. Photographer Keith Macmillian and model Louisa Livingstone worked together to shoot this astonishing cover photo for Black Sabbath‘s first album. To make it interesting, they used dry ice. With the dry ice, they give mysterious look to the album photo.
Gibson SG
Nobody thinks the Tonny Lommy without his iconic guitar Gibson SG. Tonny Lommy writes in his book: If my truck had not broken, I would use classic white Fender Stratocaster instead of my iconic Gibson SG on the Black Sabbath‘s first album. Maybe this situation effect album entire album in a good way.
Down-tuning
Because of the horrific factory accident, Tonny Lommy lost his middle and ring fingertips on his fretting hand. Black Sabbath needed to lower turnings to ease the tension on the guitarist’s makeshift thimble-capped extremities. That’s why Black Sabbath played in E standard turning before down to c# chord.
The album is brutally criticized
If you start a new era in the music industry, you need to be ready about critics from people who underestimate your perspective even if they are qualified for it. Laster Bangs criticize this album with these words; “filled with plodding bass lines over which the lead guitar dribbles wooden Claptonisms from the master’s most tired Cream days.” He adds “like Cream, but worse” about the album.
European and U.S albums track difference
Black Sabbath’s first album was released on Feb. 13, 1970. However, fans from the USA could not listen to the new album until June 1. This situation causes differences between the European and American tracklists. For example, the Evil Woman is only available for the European version of the album. Because of the initial pressing, people who bought albums in America cannot listen to “Wicked World.”
Tonny Lommy says that about this situation “the cover of ‘Evil Woman‘ was just a way for their manager to get something to radio with some commercial potential for Black Sabbath.”
The U.S version of the album includes combined some of the more meandering tracks. Those songs are Wasp, Behind the Wall of Sleep, Bassically, N.I.B., A Bit of Finger, Sleeping Village, Warning.
Inspiration for War Pigs
Black Sabbath members do not like to cover songs when they want to record albums. However, this is the most crucial aspect of their live sets. On their stage, they started to play the song live. Tonny Lommy played different chords while he was playing “Warning.” This became the inspiration for Black Sabbath to write “War Pigs.” Those chords become the classic opening sound for the iconic War Pigs song.
N.I.B. does not represent ‘Nativity in Black.’
Everyone assumes N.I.B. is the short version of Nativity in Black. However, everyone is wrong about this situation. It is about drummer Bill Ward. He likes to his beard resemble the portion of the pen called a nib. To make jokes about him, other band members put N.I.B as the music title.
