Black Sabbath
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Black Sabbath: It's All Word Of Foot
Profile and Interview by Rob Partridge, Record Mirror, 3 October 1970
THE BLACK SABBATH album Paranoid, slipped into your record shops a couple of weeks ago. No ballyhoo. The release was as quiet as it was ...
Black Sabbath/Girlschool: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 24 May 1980
THE SABS are back. And after a series of false starts to their British tour due to drummer Bill Ward contracting viral pneumonia they are ...
Report and Interview by Edward Helmore, unpublished, 1997
THE UNEARTHLY NOISE that barrels over the pines and down Alpine Valley in rural Wisconsin last summer was a clear signal that the natural order ...
Audio interviews
Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi (1973)
Interview by Keith Altham, Rock's Backpages audio, 1973
From collapsing at the Hollywood Bowl to Geezer Butler's gallstones, via the making of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and enjoying a nice game of Monopoly at home, the Riff King chats with Keith Altham.
File format: mp3; File size: 32.6meg, interview length: 35' 34" sound quality: ***
Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne (1975)
Interview by Ian Ravendale, Rock's Backpages audio, 18 October 1975
The Sabbath frontman rails against bouncer-on-fan violence; describes his feelings toward the band; explains the stress and fatigue behind the band's break, and voices his frustrations with the recording process.
File format: mp3; file size: 9.6mb, interview length: 10' 26" sound quality: *****
Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages audio, 1991
In that inimitable Black Country accent, Ozzy talks about his background, musical roots and the birth and death of Black Sabbath. Sacked by Sabbath, saved by Sharon, going solo: Ozzy tells all about the ups, the downs, the addiction and alcoholism. Drugs! Drink! Management Rip-Offs! It's all here.
File format: mp3 File size: 85.2mb Interview length: 1h 28' 42", sound quality: ***
Interview by David Stubbs, Rock's Backpages audio, October 1997
The Ozzmeister effs and blinds his way through subjects ranging from the death of Princess Diana to the myth of Sabbath's Satanism and the US religious backlash, via a detailed description of his substance abuse and much more.
File format: mp3; file size: 62.6mb, interview length: 1h 08' 22" sound quality: ****
List of articles in the library
Report and Interview by Steve Turner, unpublished, March 1970
2003 Note: Having written my very first article for the Beatles Monthly I was asked by the publisher, Sean O’Mahoney (aka Johnny Dean), to contribute ...
Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath (Vertigo)
Review by Mark Williams, International Times, 13 March 1970
A BLOW JOB. Just get the gear on stage and wind it up Marshall stacks nine feet high on big & harsh with an edge ...
Profile and Interview by Royston Eldridge, Melody Maker, 14 March 1970
BLACK SABBATH, four unknown rock musicians from Birmingham have emerged from obscurity with what is probably the first true underground success since the days of ...
Black Sabbath Have Nothing To Do With Spooks! says Lead Guitar Tony
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 4 April 1970
A NUMBER of pop groups seem to have decided that it's the in-thing these days to meddle in black magic and present their version of ...
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 30 May 1970
PEACEFUL FESTIVAL OF GOOD MUSIC ...
Black Magic Is Not Our Scene Say Black Sabbath
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 13 June 1970
We're fed up with the confusion, they tell ROY CARR ...
Black Sabbath, Yes: The Lyceum, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 25 July 1970
WITH CHAMPAGNE in hand, Herr Klook re-emerged before a capacity crowd to present his new series of Friday night scenes at the Lyceum. ...
Yes, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heap: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 25 July 1970
YES MADE their comeback at the Lyceum on Friday, but what should have been a great occasion turned out to be rather mediocre. ...
Black Sabbath: Paranoid (Vertigo) ★★★★
Review by uncredited writer, Disc, 12 September 1970
BLACK SABBATH, as a hard rock band, are well up in their field, and Paranoid will no doubt sell as well as their first album. ...
Black Sabbath Win Struggle Against Black Magic Tag
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 26 September 1970
BY RICHARD GREEN WHO ALSO REVIEWS PARANOID LP ...
Black Sabbath: Paranoia — As The Fans Go Wild For Sabbath
Report by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 31 October 1970
Mark Plummer on a one night stand with the 'Paranoid' hitmakers ...
Black Sabbath: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 31 October 1970
PAGANINI WOULD turn in his grave if he even thought that a group like Black Sabbath were playing at the Royal Festival Hall, and if ...
Report and Interview by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, November 1970
BLACK SABBATH are very proud of the fact that the making of their latest LP, Paranoid took such a short time. "We did the title ...
Sabbath, Singles and the States
Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 2 January 1971
TALES OF hardship and woe generally follow a group's first trip across the Atlantic. Many bands have returned to inform us that "it's not all ...
Black Sabbath, Curved Air: Guild Hall, Southampton
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 16 January 1971
BLACK SABBATH are about as subtle as an enraged mule kicking down a stable door, yet it is this controlled use of sheer physical brute ...
Black Sabbath: Nobody But The Public Digs Sabbath
Interview by Keith Altham, Record Mirror, 30 January 1971
THERE WOULD seem to be a lot of unnecessary resentment over Black Sabbath's success in this business. And even outside it by those bastions of ...
Black Sabbath: Paranoid (Warner Bros. WS1887)
Review by Nick Tosches, Rolling Stone, 15 April 1971
A YOUNG girl's voice. She is dressed in a nun's habit. The boy turns and faces her. She proffers a chalice of cervical exudate and ...
Following Recent Sensational London Concert Black Sabbath Admit...
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 8 May 1971
...U.S. tour got us together we're into some nice things now ...
Black Sabbath: Simple and Basic
Interview by Richard Green, Hit Parader, July 1971
"ONE OF the biggest problems with the music scene today is the kids that try to read things into songs." ...
Black Sabbath: Master Of Reality (Vertigo 6360 050; £2.30)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 14 August 1971
BLACK SABBATH were rightly pleased when, at their Royal Albert Hall concert a few months ago, they were presented with a gold disc for sales ...
Black Sabbath: Master Of Reality
Review by Metal Mike Saunders, The Rag, 20 September 1971
GRAND FUNK HAS been the most important band in the land for the last year, which you’re probably aware of anyway. Grand Funk in concert ...
Black Sabbath, Stoneground, Sweathog: Long Beach Arena, Long Beach CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 27 September 1971
CONSIDERING THAT Black Sabbath's popularity seems to be increasing almost logarithmically, as was suggested by its filling to capacity the enormous Long Beach Arena Saturday ...
Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, 20 January 1972
"THE TROUBLE with English and European crowds," said Black Sabbath vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, "is that they listen to you as if you were a jukebox. ...
Black Sabbath: Sabbath Ready To Rejoin The Rock Machine
Interview by Dick Meadows, Sounds, 22 January 1972
IN THE black art of rock and roll Sabbath are masters. But the business of fame takes its toll in terms of exhaustion and it ...
Black Sabbath: Town Hall, Birmingham
Live Review by Dick Meadows, Sounds, 5 February 1972
Sabbath: The Old Firm Are Back Home ...
Black Sabbath, Yes: The Forum, Inglewood CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 17 March 1972
Black Sabbath and Yes in Concert at Forum ...
The Wit & Wisdom of Ozzy Osbourne or For the Best Coke Call Black Sabbath
Report and Interview by Harold Bronson, UCLA Daily Bruin, 30 June 1972
"FOR THE BEST COKE, just ring three-eight-nine-oh-nine-eight, only one hundred dollars!" exclaimed a very stoned Ozzy Osbourne as he grinned stupidly from behind a microphone ...
A Dorito and 7-Up Picnic with Black Sabbath
Interview by Metal Mike Saunders, Circular, 25 September 1972
Being a slightly unreal and slightly real account of a meeting between the foreboding Four and their Number One Fan, rock critic Mike Saunders, on ...
Black Sabbath: Satan, The Bomb And Geezer's Dreams
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 28 October 1972
CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY looking for flames ...
Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath Volume 4
Review by Metal Mike Saunders, Phonograph Record, November 1972
IT'S EARLY 1965. Suppose, just for once, that folk-rock never happens. Instead the English Invasion proceeds to its logical conclusions and rather than marking the ...
Review by Jim Esposito, Zoo World, 25 November 1972
IT REALLY freaks me out when somebody tries to tell me Vol 4 is the best thing Black Sabbath ever did. ...
Review by Max Bell, Let It Rock, December 1972
DESPITE BLACK SABBATH'S protestations that they have spent both a great deal of time and money on their latest album (earthshatteringly entitled Volume 4) the ...
Black Sabbath: Festival Hall, Brisbane, Queensland
Live Review by Lillian Roxon, New York Sunday News, 4 February 1973
The Spooky Black Sabbath in Brisbane ...
Black Sabbath: To Knock OR Not To Knock The Rock
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 14 April 1973
WHEN IT COMES to obvious targets for critical assassinations, then Black Sabbath are sitting ducks – very loud, very basic, very brash. And now at ...
Black Sabbath: Sabbath Days Of Rest
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 1 September 1973
Forget witchcraft, forget heavy metal – Tony Iommi is laying back in his luxury pad, listening to the Carpenters and Sinatra ...
Black Sabbath: Sabbra Cadabra!
Report by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 23 February 1974
THE GRINDING riff sears through the eardrums, ripping the senses and dulling with monotony. It crashes through the PA system, hurtling itself towards the back ...
Black Sabbath: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (Warner Bros.)
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, March 1974
SABBATH BLOODY Sabbath was an album I was eagerly anticipating. I'd become convinced that Master Of Reality was deserving of the heavy medal for highest ...
Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bedlam: Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale NY
Live Review by Dan Nooger, The Village Voice, 7 March 1974
FANNED FIRES ...
Black Sabbath: Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath (Warner Bros.)
Review by Wayne Robins, Creem, April 1974
THE QUESTION, Sabs, is where you been so long? So highly irresponsible was their disappearing act over a year ago that heavy metal almost vanished ...
Various Artists: California Jam Festival: Ontario Motor Speedway, Ontario CA
Live Review by David Rensin, Zoo World, 23 May 1974
"Bastion Of Ennui" nets record gate. ...
Black Sabbath/Black Oak Arkansas: Black Power
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 8 June 1974
IF JIM DANDY'S PANTS were any tighter they'd have hair growing out of them.Fringed suede jacket, fringed suede boots, and those white satin pants. Now, ...
Black Sabbath: Meaner Than A Junkyard Dawg (Or A Final Tribute To Jim Croce)
Report by Robot A. Hull, Creem, July 1974
THAT WAS practically all I had prepared before my scheduled interview with Black Sabbath at the Holiday Inn in Providence, R.I. Interviews are okay if ...
Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi: Overcoming the Impossible
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, October 1974
BLACK SABBATH lead guitarist Tony Iommi stands well over six-feet tall and plays like he has six fingers. Not bad, since several years ago Tony ...
Black Sabbath and Deep Purple: Who Really Are The Kings Of Heavy Metal?
Comment by Jon Tiven, Circus Raves, November 1974
ONE HALF-DECADE ago, Black Sabbath couldn't get a favorable review if they begged for it – and beg they didn't. ...
Sabbath's Sabotage: An interview with Tony Iommi
Interview by Mick Houghton, Circus Raves, October 1975
THREE TIERS OF GOLD, silver and platinum discs span one wall of the snooker room. They provide irrefutable evidence of the worldwide success of Black ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 11 October 1975
I THINK IT was Lester Bangs who put forward the proposition that people who went to Black Sabbath concerts derived their pleasure from ingesting massive ...
Interview by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, 11 October 1975
IT'S NO MERE coincidence that an Ozzie Osbourne song on the new Black Sabbath album is called 'Am I Going Insane?' Ozzie, who professes that ...
Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne (1975) [transcript]
Audio transcript of interview by Ian Ravendale, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 18 October 1975
This is a transcript of Ian's audio interview with Ozzy. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Black Sabbath: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 1 November 1975
WITH THE exception of their 'Paranoid' single, I've always been quite happy to think of Black Sabbath as the biggest hunch of musical crud on ...
Black Sabbath: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, 1 November 1975
FOR SOME bizarre reason, 3,000 kids got off on Black Sabbath's antics at Hammersmith Odeon last Wednesday night. Ozzie Osbourne and cohorts had the fans ...
Ozzy Osbourne: I Got Sensitive Didn't I
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 23 October 1976
BLACK SABBATH'S Ozzie Osbourne has changed his personality since we last met. He is no longer vulgar and ingenuous. Instead, he is composed and carefully ...
Black Sabbath: Technical Knock-out
Interview by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 22 January 1977
TONY IOMMI walked into the Hollywood Holiday Inn dining room like some living zombie. One wondered, actually, why the Warner Bros. publicist had set up ...
Black Sabbath, Ted Nugent: Madison Square Garden, New York NY
Live Review by Robert Duncan, Circus, 28 February 1977
Sabbath & Nugent: The Heavy Metalists Battle It Out Before 20,000 Spectators ...
Ozzy Osbourne: Beyond Black Sabbath
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 3 December 1977
IN THE PAST Ozzy Osbourne has often over-dramatised the state of both his mental and physical health, but as he now relates his reasons for ...
Black Sabbath: Greatest Hits (Vertigo)
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 10 December 1977
ENGLAND CAN be depressing to the point of insanity...grey oozing days for months on end...rows of mean streets, pinched people...clausterphobic scrapyard vistas of country turned ...
Black Sabbath: Apollo Theatre, Glasgow
Report by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 27 May 1978
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath ...
Review by Jon Young, Trouser Press, December 1978
NEVER SAY DIE! Black Sabbath didn't never say it, and that's why the heaviest damn band ever is back. Forget all those other bands, because ...
Ozzy Osbourne: How Black Was My Sabbath
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 13 October 1979
Angry Ozzy Osbourne gives his first interview since the Sabs split to SYLVIE SIMMONS in Los Angeles. ...
Black Sabbath: Mob Rules (Vertigo) ****/Ozzy Osbourne: Diary Of A Madman (Jet) ****
Review by Phil Bell, Sounds, 5 December 1981
IN THE BLACK CORNER, Sabbath. In the white corner, their sworn adversary, Ozzy Osbourne. Or vice versa. ...
Black Sabbath: Prole Metal to Ozzy and Beyond
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Creem, 1982
FROM THE first oafish gothic crash of 'Black Sabbath' it was clear this band was dumb. Really intensely dumb. Even in that first hearing there ...
Interview by David Gans, unpublished, January 1982
On the bus en route from Salt Lake City to Denver in the early morning hours of January 10, 1982 ...
Black Sabbath: Live Evil (Vertigo)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 5 February 1983
THE ORIGINAL BLACK Sabbath was a primal slum punk band, a scummy brummie leather-and-crucifix reaction to middle-class flower power. Now they're just another Stateside stadium ...
Black Sabbath: Rave from the grave
Report and Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 7 April 1989
Black Sabbath, who first made metal heavy, are reforming. Andy Gill watched them make their video ...
Overview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 19 January 1991
Bring your good taste to be slaughtered! To mark Iron Maiden's ground-breaking success (any bleedin' excuse — Ed), STUART MACONIE investigates the subtle and many-faceted ...
Overview by Steffan Chirazi, Kerrang!, 4 July 1992
STEFFAN CHIRAZI charts the history of all those supposedly Satanic bands — anyone out there remember VENOM and their 1982 classic Black Metal, or the ...
The Second Coming of Black Sabbath (According to Geezer Butler)
Interview by Dave Thompson, The Rocket, 1994
IT WASN'T ALWAYS this way, you know. There was a time when, if you mentioned that you liked Black Sabbath... if you mentioned that ...
Report and Interview by Roy Trakin, Musician, February 1994
Collapsing stages in Japan! Elephant farts in Vegas! Eskimo shows in Alaska! A Survey of Abominable Venues and Disastrous Shows! ...
Black Sabbath: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, 7 May 1994
HE LOOKS for all the world like a 1970s catalogue model, with his snake-hipped flares. Shoot! Annual 1975 hairstyle, and rakish Zapata moustache. He has ...
The Enduring Riff Rock Of Black Sabbath
Retrospective and Interview by Paul Gabriel, DISCoveries, June 1996
IT IS 1996, and there is still a Black Sabbath. Will wonders never cease? ...
Ozz-Fest: California Screaming!
Report and Interview by Steffan Chirazi, Kerrang!, 12 June 1997
The greatest show on earth has FEAR FACTORY, MANSON, TYPE O, MACHINE HEAD and COAL CHAMBER on one bill — and it's just destroyed America. This ...
Ozzy Osbourne: His Satanic Majesty Repents
Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, December 1997
JOHN "OZZY" OSBOURNE, FORMER HELL raiser, outrageous roister-doister, Dark Lord of Metal and rough diamond geezer extraordinaire has sung much about death, visited it summarily ...
Black Sabbath: NEC, Birmingham
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Rolling Stone, February 1998
BLACK SABBATH. Industrial hell turned up to 11, baptised in blood and leather, and leather is cows and cows are sacred, and Heavy Metal doesn't ...
Ozzy Osbourne: The Godfather Of Metal Lands On The Good Foot
Interview by Steve Roeser, Goldmine, 5 June 1998
Nearly 30 Years After Founding Black Sabbath, The Godfather Of Metal Lands On The Good Foot ...
Black Sabbath: The Best Of Black Sabbath
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 2000
TWO-CD compilation of Brummie metallurgists' grimmest, finest moments. ...
They Have Come For Your Parents: Ozzfest 2001, National Bowl, Milton Keynes, 26th May
Live Review by The Rev. Al Friston, Rock's Backpages, 2 June 2001
My my, hey hey, hard rock will never die. OK, it doesn’t scan quite as well as ol’ Neil’s line, but you get my drift. ...
Black Sabbath: The Complete '70s Replica CD Collection 1970-78
Review by Simon Reynolds, Uncut, December 2001
THE MYSTERY OF THE RIFF – so crucial to rock, so oddly neglected by critics. ...
Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Blender, June 2002
Could things be any better for Ozzy Osbourne? His family's TV show, The Osbournes, is a runaway smash, and his traveling metal revue, Ozzfest, is ...
Profile by Deborah Frost, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 13 March 2006
BLACK SABBATH never intended to appeal to, never mind be understood by, rock critics. Nor were they designed for screaming teens, swooning debs, your mom, ...
None More Black: Black Sabbath
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Music Week, March 2009
"IT'S BEEN described as the heavy metal Holy Grail," says Steve Hammonds, Catalogue Consultant for Universal Music, "and it's been a labour of love to ...
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Rock's Backpages, 19 May 2012
ALMOST A WEEK LATER and my ears are still ringing – and I don't know if it's due to the rousing response of the audience ...
Never Say Die: Bill Ward Interviewed
Interview by Julian Marszalek, The Quietus, 7 July 2015
Julian Marszalek talks to Bill Ward about his achievements in and out of Black Sabbath. ...
Geezer Butler: "I thought I could live without it – but I can't…"
Profile and Interview by Henry Yates, Classic Rock, June 2019
Geezer Butler on life after Sabbath – and the rise of new band Deadland Ritual… ...
Book Review by Tony Burke, Morning Star, 24 June 2019
BIG BEAR BOSS Jim Simpson holds a unique place in UK music business. A promoter, record producer, festival director, rock band manager and photographer, his ...
see also Ronnie James Dio
see also Ozzy Osbourne
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