The 500 - #243 - Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

---

Album: #243
Album Title: Black Sabbath
Artist: Black Sabbath
Genre: Heavy Metal, Hard Rock, Blues Rock
Recorded: Regent Sound, London, U.K.

Released: February, 1970
My age at release: 4
How familiar was I with it before this week: Very

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #255, dropping 112 spots since 2012
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Wasp/Behind The Wall Of Sleep/Bassically/N.I.B.

The debut record from Black Sabbath is one that I first heard in high school in the early ‘80s. More specifically, while attending basement parties in London, Ontario. Listening to it in its entirety this week transported me back to those heady days of my youth. I was going to use the adjective "carefree" to describe that time in my life because, in retrospect, it was. However, back then, it didn't always feel that way. Awash in surging testosterone, I, like many teens, could run the gamut of emotions on any given day. Psychologists have dubbed this turbulent affliction as a period of "emotional overstatement." It can also occur during menopause or andropause. However, as adults, we are often better equipped to deal with it -- at least I think I am. I touched on my experiences with andropause in a 2016 post I called "Twitter and the lesson that makes me cry".

In September, 2022, I wrote about Black Sabbath when the group’s third record, Masters Of Reality, appeared on The 500 list at position #300. I will write about them again in November, 2025, when their best-selling record, Paranoid, arrives in position #131. It is another record that got plenty of plays in those smoke-filled, basement bars of my youth. As my wife said when we were listening to Black Sabbath this week: "When I hear this record, I can actually smell those wood-paneled, basement parties -- that mix of cigarette and marijuana smoke blended with stale beer and a hint of damp, musty mildew." Indeed, the sense of smell, or olfaction, is our most primary sense and one that can trigger powerful memories. How fascinating that music can trigger olfactory recollections.

An online shot of an 80s basement party.

The debut record by Black Sabbath is considered the first in the heavy metal genre. However, their sound had its genesis in a tale of tragedy and perseverance. Before becoming a professional musician, 17-year-old guitarist Tony Iommi made his living working at a steel mill in his hometown of Birmingham, England. On his last day of work, hours before a scheduled departure with his first band, The Birds And The Bees, on a tour of Germany, Iommi came home for lunch and briefly considered skipping the afternoon shift. His mother encouraged him to return to the factory, saying: "You have to finish a job properly."

Iommi as a teenager.

When he returned to the mill, he learned that another worker, who operated a guillotine-style machine on the assembly line, had not shown up. Iommi replaced him. In a 2020 interview, the left-handed guitarist recalled what happened next, saying:

"They said, 'You've got to go on the machine yourself because there's nobody else to do it'. So, as I'm pushing the metal through the press, the machine came down on my hand, and in the action of pulling my hand back quick, I pulled the ends of my fingers off."

As fate would have it, the fingertips were on his right hand, the one he used on the guitar fretboard to make chords while his right hand strummed and picked the strings. When the wounds had healed, Iommi struggled to play through the pain and even considered switching to play right-handed. He was frustrated and thought of quitting music altogether.

However, the manager of the  factory urged Iommi to try something different. The manager purchased him a record by legendary French jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. Reinhardt had taught himself to play the guitar, masterfully, after losing the use of all but two of his left-hand fingers – the index and ring fingers – in a fire. 

Django Reinhardt and his misshapen hands following
nerve damage resulting from a fire.

Inspired, Iommi fashioned himself thimble-sized fingertips from melted "Fairy Liquid" dish-detergent bottles and pieces of his leather jacket. The homemade prosthetic worked, sort of. He was unable to feel the strings, so he tended to push down on them much harder. Consequently, he was unable to “bend” the strings – an important manipulation to adjust the tone. His remedy was to replace the heavy gauge strings with lighter ones from a banjo. He also loosened the strings, lowering the guitar tone three semitones down from standard guitar tuning.

Iommi's hands, including the prosthetic fingertips, on his guitar fretboard.

Additionally, Iommi was forced to slow down his finger movements to prevent the tips from coming off, so he started to make the most of chord shapes and the sound created by the changes to his strings. The result was a bigger, weightier and darker sound -- and a heavy metal guitar legend was born.

Black Sabbath in 1970, (l-r) Geezer Butler, Iommi, Bill Ward
and Ozzy Osbourne.

I've thought about Iommi's story often since learning about it many years ago. It reminds me that, sometimes, persevering through hardship can lead to something better.

There was the time I was fired from my bartending job at East Side Mario's Restaurant in Oakville, Ontario. I was broke and, at 27, forced to move back home with my parents. It was a terrible time when I felt at my lowest. However, my financial situation forced me to quit smoking and I eventually got a much better job at Kelsey's Restaurant where I met one of my best friends (and frequent guest blogger), Steve "Lumpy" Sullivan. I also decided to go back to school to pursue a second degree and that led me to Teacher's College and to a career that I still love.

So, take a page from the book of Iommi -- you've got to finish a job properly.