40 Years Ago Today...

[Jack T. Chance]

Exactly 40 years ago, on Friday, February 13th, 1970, 4 blokes from the industrial slums of Birmingham, England released their first record album to the world. And on that day, drummer Bill Ward, bass player Terry "Geezer" Butler, guitarist Tony Iommi, and singer John "Ozzy" Osbourne, collectively known as BLACK SABBATH, introduced the world to a brand new (and at the time rather controversial) musical genre: The sound known as HEAVY METAL!

40 years later, the ORIGINAL heavy metal band can still (on those rare occasions when they reunite on stage, usually during the annual Ozzfest Tour) outperform bands comprised of guys half their age!

It's just a shame that it took the Grammy Awards 30 YEARS to give Black Sabbath, the ORIGINAL heavy metal band, an award for Best Heavy Metal Performance. Umm, hello, they INVENTED the genre, they should have received the very FIRST such award, as they're the Gold Standard by which ALL other metal bands must be judged!

So in honor of this very special day in rock & roll history, fire up some classic Sabbath, and enjoy the gift that Ozzy and crew bestowed upon us all!

[Jester]

Oh, crap. In the thread about the best guitarists ever, you posted this same thing, and either you posted the date as JUNE 13th, or I read it as such, and thus stated that I was 5 days older than Black Sabbath.

Apparently they are almost four months older than me. Silly Jester.

[AnaKhouri]

I had messed-up dreams when I was pregnant. Once I dreamed that Black Sabbath got back together and I somehow got backstage and stabbed Ozzy to death with my car keys. I called my dad and he offered to help me hide the body but I decided to turn myself in and plead insanity.

I told my husband about the dream and he said, "Well OBVIOUSLY you were insane to want to kill Ozzy!"

If I recall correctly, Black Sabbath is still around- with their second singer, Dio, and with the name Heaven and Hell because Ozzy threw a snit about them using the name Black Sabbath without him. I think that's what Husband told me, anyway. He thinks BS was better with Dio (blasphemy, I know!).

[Millahtyme1983]

If I recall correctly, Black Sabbath is still around- with their second singer, Dio, and with the name Heaven and Hell because Ozzy threw a snit about them using the name Black Sabbath without him. I think that's what Husband told me, anyway. He thinks BS was better with Dio (blasphemy, I know!).

Actually according to wikipedia, the most trustworthy source of information ever it was Iommi's decision

"Iommi (owner of the Black Sabbath name) decided to call the touring group Heaven & Hell[1] to differentiate the project from the Ozzy Osbourne-led Black Sabbath."

I went to the source they quoted and checked it there so i'm guessing it's true.