Song:War Pigs
Album:Greatest Hits 1970-1978
Black Sabbath are hard rock pioneers and one of the more durable of hard rock bands. But I think even their biggest fans will admit that the band wasn't the same after Ozzy Osbourne left in 1977. War Pigs is from the 1970 classic album Paranoid. The leader of Black Sabbath is guitarist Tony Iommi. After the band Mythology split up, Iommi and drummer Bill Ward formed the Polka Tulk Blues Band in 1968 with singer Ozzy Osbourne and bassist Geezer Butler. They added two guys and changed the name to Earth. When things weren't working out, Iommi split up the band and briefly joined Jethro Tull. When he didn't like that, he reformed Earth. But there was already a band called Earth. So they named themselves after the 1963 horror film Black Sabbath. The name change was a key thing because it evoked a certain image and the band wrote songs that reflected that. They signed with Philips who put them on Vertigo Records. After Black Sabbath appeared on John Peel's Top Gear radio show, they recorded the 1970 album Black Sabbath and signed with Warner Bros. in the US. Though it was panned by critics, the album reached #23 on the Billboard 200. They returned to the studio and recorded their next album. They wanted to call it War Pigs but Warners changed it to Paranoid. War Pigs turned out to be a very popular song. It mixes the band's usual satanism with anti war sentiment. Warners delayed the release until Jan. 1971 because the first album was still on the charts. Paranoid turned out to be their biggest selling album. And that was without any radio play or hit singles. From there, Black Sabbath continued to be successful until Osbourne left in 1977. He was not very happy and needed a change. He was eventually replaced by former Rainbow lead singer Ronnie James Dio. And I think most Black Sabbath fans would agree they were never the same after that. This Rhino budget comp covers the 70s. Black Sabbath continued for years until Iommi disbanded them for good in Mar. 2017. But it's their 70s albums that were influential on other hard rock bands. Here's Black Sabbath performing War Pigs at the Olympia Theater in Paris Dec. 22, 1970.
I loved their album "Paranoid." I got into them when a classmate joked to a teacher he would rather be listening to his Black Sabbath albums than be in class. I got hooked on them. But I am not that much into heavy metal. And that is the only album I ever really liked. You are right about the effect on Ozzy leaving the band. It never was the same again. But the band had a huge influence on many future heavy metal rockers. They are still considered by many to be one of the top influential bands in Rock history.
ReplyDeleteThe big influence was changing their name to Black Sabbath and writing songs to reflect that. They would have gone nowhere as Earth. BTW, Ozzy hated the name Earth. And they were successful despite the fact radio stations wouldn't play them and critics hated them. I still hate them. I couldn't even watch the video I posted.
ReplyDeleteWow,Frank. I did not know that. But I can understand your point of view. A lot of people hated them. I liked the dark, hard music they produced. So did a lot of people my age and at that time. But I understand why you and many others would hate their music. I did not like all of their music, and I am not a fan of Heavy Metal in general. Thanks Frank for the video and your input. I enjoy your opinions.
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