What 12 Other Bands Think About Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath is one of the greatest music bands of all time and their success is there for all to see. They are regarded as the creators of heavy metal and endless amounts of bands have cited them as a major influence. Furthermore, there are a lot of prominent groups, even contemporaries, who hold them in high regard because of their achievements.

On the other hand, there are other examples of people who are not very positive regarding Black Sabbath. That is normal since they have always been a divisive outfit for non-metal fans. However, that is also part of the appeal for metalheads. In many ways, this band represents everything people love about this kind of music, reflected by some comments on this list.

1. Deep Purple

Within the British metal scene, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin were long considered the Holy Trinity. For Ian Gillan, closely identified with Deep Purple, one of them (Black Sabbath) stood out from the other two, and he considers them “the most important” of the Trinity. Gillan was more specific, noting that “what Tony (Iommi) was delivering in those early days was just awesome. It was so powerful.”

When considering that Deep Purple had someone of Ritchie Blackmore‘s caliber as a guitar player, that’s some compliment coming from Gillan.

2. Soundgarden

At the time, Chris Cornell spoke about Soundgarden‘s influences. While he named Led Zeppelin as a huge influence on the band, he singled out Black Sabbath even more so. “Sabbath kind of rescued me from being a Kiss fan. When I think of Soundgarden, I think of how comfortable with dark, moodier themes they are, and that’s what got to have roots in listening to Black Sabbath“. This was especially noticeable when comparing Soundgarden‘s style with other bands of their generation.

3. Alice in Chains

Without leaving grunge, we move on to Alice in Chains, specifically Jerry Cantrell. The guitarist and singer discussed several topics about his musical tastes and influences. Here, two names closely related to Black Sabbath came up. First, Cantrell mentioned Tonny Iommi as “one of his biggest influences”. Then, he talked about the importance of Ozzy Osbourne in Alice in Chains‘ career, as he gave them their big break on the No More Tours, for which he expressed his gratitude to the former Black Sabbath singer.

4. Pantera

Like many musicians in the metal world, Dimebag Darrell was a renowned Black Sabbath fan. In an old interview, the guitarist talked about what it meant to him to be able to open for the legendary Birmingham band. “Opening for those guys is definitely the honor of a lifetime,” Dimebag said when they went on tour with Black Sabbath.

It has been mentioned time and time again how much the Pantera guys love Black Sabbath and Dimebag’s words reflect that.

5. Metallica

In 1986, when “Master of Puppets“ came out, Metallica experienced a turning point in their career. They went from being a band with a certain reputation to a major attraction. That year, they went on tour with Ozzy, which was the first time Metallica played arenas at that level. For the thrash metal band, Ozzy was also an important element in their career, and they took advantage of it, which is usually important. “I remember seeing an interview with Ozzy, two or three years later, where he said: Yeah, when Metallica were on tour, they blew us off the stage every night,” said Kirk Hammett.

6. The Rolling Stones

It wasn’t easy, but we found some negative comments about Black Sabbath. And these come from a legend, Keith Richards. For The Rolling Stones guitarist, “Millions are in love with Metallica and Black Sabbath, I just thought they were great jokes”. Richards doesn’t seem to be a metal fan, as he went a bit further with his comments. “All they (some of the music fans) need is a drum beat and somebody yelling over it and they’re happy. There’s an enormous market for people who can’t tell one note from another”.

7. Megadeth

For band leader and guitarist Dave Mustaine, Black Sabbath represented a very interesting part of his youth. The Megadeth singer spoke about his first contact with Sabbath‘s music when he was still a teenager and spent time with a friend who lived in his building. “So we would go to his house, buy some joints, smoke pot, and then listen to Black Sabbath“. While he says that musically he didn’t feel that influenced, he does consider the English band “a huge part of my growing up” and “I loved (Black Sabbath‘s) music”.

8. Anthrax

Anthrax will share the stage with Black Sabbath for the first time in 20 years for the Back To The Beginning concert. All members of the American band consider themselves Black Sabbath fans. For Scott Ian, the first time he heard Sabbath was “the scariest, heaviest thing I’d ever heard in my life”.

Joey Belladonna also spoke about the Birmingham band’s importance to them. “We toured with Sabbath on the ’86 tour, and it was so electric. That was a huge tour for us, and we were just overwhelmed to be a part of it. That Anthrax was asked to be part of Sabbath‘s Back To The Beginning concert is quite a big honor.”

9. Slayer

Others who will be part of that concert will be Slayer, who will be playing a Black Sabbath cover. For Kerry King, “that’s an important day” for them, and he went a bit further. “It’s a huge moment in rock history”. King talks about his fanaticism for Sabbath and specifies that it dates back to the Ozzy era, but also to the Dio era. “I’m a super (Ronnie James) Dio fan”.

10. Guns N’ Roses

Slash is another famous musician who considers himself a huge Black Sabbath fan. For the Guns N’ Roses guitarist, the English band paved the way for the genre. “This is one dark record that comes out that really created what you would consider dark heavy metal and created the path for everything that was to follow”. Slash was talking about “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” and added that the title track has the heaviest riff. “Not one band that I can think of has a riff that’s as heavy”.

11. Blue Oyster Cult

In the 80s, thanks to the fact they shared a manager at the time, they organized a tour together. Sabbath was promoting “Heaven and Hell”, and Blue Oyster Cult was promoting “Cultosaurus Erectus“. According to Buck Dharma, the latter’s frontman, Sabbath didn’t see them as equals on that tour. “We would alternate headlining. I think the Sabs didn’t think we should headline at all, but we did”. He added, “they were kind of standoffish”.

12. Iron Maiden

For many metalheads, Sabbath has been an inspiration, and Steve Harris is one of them. The Iron Maiden bassist admitted that he used to listen to albums from ’70s bands at a friend’s house while playing chess. “I used to play all these albums in the background, Sabbath, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, all different stuff”.

Harris said, “Sabbath in particular was like, Wow, it’s amazing. Anyway, I borrowed the albums from them, and that’s what inspired me, not just Sabbath, but lots of other albums. One of these albums was Paranoid, the first album that made me want to play”.