"Black Sabbath" is a song by the English heavy metal band

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

, written in 1969 and released on their self-titled debut album. In 1970, the song appeared as an

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

on a four-track 12-inch single, with "

The Wizard Wizard, the wizard, or wizards may refer to: * Wizard (fantasy), a fictional practitioner of magic * Wizard (supernatural), a practitioner of magic Art, entertainment and media Fictional characters * Wizard (Archie Comics), a comic book supe ...

" also on the A-side and "Evil Woman" and "Sleeping Village" on the B-side, on the Philips Records label

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

. In Japan and the Philippines, a 7-inch single on the Philips label was released with " Evil Woman, Don't Play Your Games with Me" on the A-side and "Black Sabbath" on the B-side.

History

According to the band, the song was inspired by an experience that

Geezer Butler Terence Michael Joseph "Geezer" Butler (born 17 July 1949) is a English musician and songwriter. He is best known as the bassist and primary lyricist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath. He has also recorded and performed with Heaven & Hell ...

had in the days of

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

. Butler, obsessed with the occult at the time, painted his apartment matte black and placed several inverted crucifixes and pictures of

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

on the walls.

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...

gave Butler a black occult book, written in Latin and decorated with numerous pictures of Satan. Butler read the book and then placed it on a shelf beside his bed before going to sleep. When he woke up, he claims he saw a large black figure standing at the end of his bed, staring at him. The figure vanished and Butler ran to the shelf where he had placed the book earlier, but the book was gone. Butler related this story to Osbourne, who then wrote the lyrics to the song based on Butler's experience. The song starts with the lyrics: ' A version of this song from Black Sabbath's first demo exists on the Ozzy Osbourne compilation album ''

The Ozzman Cometh ''The Ozzman Cometh'' is a compilation album by British heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne released in 1997. It is his third greatest hits collection. Its initial, limited-edition 2-CD pressing contained five previously unreleased songs. Versio ...

''. The song has an extra verse with additional vocals before the bridge. The guitar and bass are tuned down one

whole step In Western music theory, a major second (sometimes also called whole tone or a whole step) is a second spanning two semitones (). A second is a musical interval encompassing two adjacent staff positions (see Interval number for more de ...

, resulting in the key position of A being played on the fretboard, but having the pitch as G (octave - D flat) to the listener. It's one of the band's most frequently performed tracks, being featured on every single tour of their career.

Harmony

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Steve Huey said the song is an example wherein Black Sabbath extracted the

blue note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical co ...

from the standard pentatonic blues scale and developed a heavy metal

riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompani ...

. The main riff is an inversion of a

tritone In music theory, the tritone is defined as a musical interval composed of three adjacent whole tones (six semitones). For instance, the interval from F up to the B above it (in short, F–B) is a tritone as it can be decomposed into the three a ...

, constructed with a harmonic progression including a diminished fifth / augmented fourth. This particular interval is often known as ''diabolus in musica'',Marshall, Wolf. "Power Lord—Climbing Chords, Evil Tritones, Giant Callouses". Guitar Legends, April 1997, p. 2 for it has musical qualities which are often used to suggest Satanic connotations in Western music. The song "Black Sabbath" was one of the earliest examples in heavy metal to make use of this interval, and since then, the genre has made extensive use of ''diabolus in musica''. The riff was created when bassist Geezer Butler began playing a fragment of "Mars" from Gustav Holst's ''

The Planets ''The Planets'', Op. 32, is a seven- movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917. In the last movement the orchestra is joined by a wordless female chorus. Each movement of the suite is name ...

'' suite. Inspired, guitarist Tony Iommi returned the next day with the famously dark tritone. The main riff of "Black Sabbath" is one of the most famous examples of harmonic progressions with the tritone G-C: \relative c'

Reception

"Black Sabbath" was ranked the second-best Black Sabbath song by ''Rock - Das Gesamtwerk der größten Rock-Acts im Check''. It was ranked the best song in Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne-era discography by ''

Loudwire ''Loudwire'' is an American online media magazine that covers news of hard rock and heavy metal artists. It is owned by media and entertainment business Townsquare Media. Since its launch in August of 2011, ''Loudwire'' has secured exclusive ...

''. In 2020, ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'' ranked the song number one on their list of the 20 greatest Black Sabbath songs, and in 2021, ''

Louder Sound ''Classic Rock'' is a British magazine and website dedicated to rock music, owned and published by Future. It was launched in October 1998 and is based in London. The magazine publishes 13 editions a year, mainly covering rock bands from the 60, ...

'' ranked the song number three on their list of the 40 greatest Black Sabbath songs. "Black Sabbath" was the final song played by Boston rock radio station

WAAF WAAF may refer to: * w3af, (short for web application attack and audit framework), an open-source web application security scanner * Women's Auxiliary Air Force, a British military service in World War II ** Waaf, a member of the service * WAAF (AM ...

on 22 February 2020, its final day of broadcasting. According to longtime WAAF host Mistress Carrie, the song was chosen because "the album came out weeks before we signed on the air, and Ozzy released a new album the day we signed off, and is the only artist to stay current for all 50 years of our history, and well... SATAN. If EMF was going to take our beloved signal, they were going to have to endure Satan first."

Music video

A music video was made for the song, as part of the band's 1970 performance on the German show ''

Beat-Club ''Beat-Club'' is a West German music programme that ran from September 1965 to December 1972. It was broadcast from Bremen, West Germany on ''Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen'', the national public TV channel of the ARD, and produced by one of its ...

''. The video was filmed in a studio with a village on the foreground.

Cover versions

"Black Sabbath" has been covered by the following bands: *

Flower Travellin' Band was a Japanese rock band that was formed in 1967. They were connected to Japan's counterculture movement and noted for their mixture of early heavy metal with psychedelic and progressive rock. They received wide acclaim from critics but fail ...

in 1970, on their album '' Anywhere''. *

Type O Negative Type O Negative were an American gothic metal band formed in Brooklyn, New York City in 1989 by Peter Steele (bass, lead vocals), Kenny Hickey (guitar, co-lead vocals), Josh Silver (keyboards, backing vocals), and Sal Abruscato (drums, percussi ...

in 1994, for the Black Sabbath tribute album ''

Nativity in Black ''Nativity in Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath'' are two Black Sabbath tribute albums, released in 1994 and 2000 respectively. The albums feature various heavy metal groups performing cover versions of Black Sabbath songs in tribute to the band. ...

''. * Vader in 1994, on their albums '' Sothis'' and '' Future of the Past''. *

Amber Asylum Amber Asylum is a highly variable San Francisco-based music group that serves as a platform for composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist Kris Force. The current lineup of Amber Asylum includes, in addition to Kris Force, Fern Lee Alberts (Death ...

in 2000, on their album ''The Supernatural Parlour Collection''. *

Iced Earth Iced Earth is an American heavy metal band formed in Tampa, Florida and currently based in Columbus, Indiana. They were formed in 1984 under the name the Rose, then Purgatory, by guitarist and main songwriter Jon Schaffer and original drummer ...

in 2002, on their album ''

Tribute to the Gods ''Tribute to the Gods'' is a covers album by heavy metal band Iced Earth. It is notable as the last Iced Earth album featuring Larry Tarnowski on lead guitar, and the last featuring singer Matt Barlow on vocals until his 2007 return. It was al ...

''. *

Van Helsing's Curse Van Helsing's Curse is a side project, orchestra of Twisted Sister lead singer, Dee Snider. Along with Snider, the group featured a five-piece rock band, a six-piece choir, and six-piece string section. History Snider came up with the idea for th ...

in 2004, on their album ''Oculus Infernum''. * Gonga in 2014, with

trip hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with "downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop ...

musician

Beth Gibbons Beth Gibbons (born 4 January 1965) is an English singer and songwriter. She is the singer and lyricist for the band Portishead, which has released three albums. She released an album with Rustin Man, '' Out of Season'', in 2002, followed by an ...

(under the track name "''Black Sabbeth''"). *Sampled by Ice-T in the song "Midnight" from the 1991 album O.G. Original Gangster.

References

External links

AllMusic review of the song
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Sabbath (Song) 1969 songs 1970 singles Black Sabbath songs Popular songs based on classical music Songs about nightmares Songs written by Ozzy Osbourne Songs written by Tony Iommi Songs written by Geezer Butler Songs written by Bill Ward (musician)