13Iaclt ~abbatlJ:

Zig:bt in tbe lBarknefl~ © 1987 Bob Szekely

John Michael Osl:x:Jurre, ( krr:wn as "Ozzy" to his fans), has in his 1orq career as vocalist for Black Sabbath had his work with th: group misconstrued as advocatirr] satani.sm. In a 1983 radio spacial featurirr] Ozzy, tte intervi.Ewer expressed precisely this fX)int; " •• • Ozzy has always been shrouded in tie darkest of Satanic i.magery. Yet if you really listen to his ITUSic, you' 11 firrl that what le is sayirr.J differs greatly from his i.rrsJe •••• "( 1) Even tm group's inege has often been described as "occult arr1 dialXJlic". ( 2)

The i.mp:Jrtant fX)int to r~r mre is to differentiate between appeararre ard reality. Altlr»}h tie nane "Black sabbath" conjures up inages of witcles arrl sorcerers pa.yirr.J lrxrage to Satan for tie [X:l-lers ~ UfOn th:m, this does mt Tiake it safe to assune that th? group that went bj this naJIE necessarily drEW tleir inspiration from tie occult. ( 3) The closest trey ever cane to it was a gothic lr:Jrror fihn featur in] Boris Kar loff as narrator; tJey adopted their narre directly from the narte of

this f ibn. ( 4 J Black Sabbath was irNolved in th? black arts as ITUCh as Kar loff practiced castirr} SI;elJ..s. off-s:reen. TOIB} Iorrmi, the group's guitarist, SUl111E!d it up best when IE des=ribed the group as havirr;J basically " ••• tha sane appeal as a lxJrror TTOV ie. It's all an act. "(5)

Just as tb:ir fihn counterpart did, Ozzy aril Sabbath fourxl tm occult 11J}tJr:>s to 1:E an effective vehiclE for pat~erful social camentary; particularly when pit in the context of h:avy-TTetal rock ard roll. Ozzy himself mted that there are n ••• people wm pick up 111:J [ albJm] cover[ s] arrl go . •• 'This guy's gat to be sirqirr;J about D:vil, doom, death ani destruction. ' Which is mt the case •... "(6)

TIE late lEster Ban}s li.ken:d the group to Ebb D}lan ani William Burroughs, des:ribin;} tham all as " •• • TTDralists ••• try in;} to deal with a serious present situation in an honest way •••• "(?) ozzy and Black Sabbath TTerely brirq to light tb: TTBIJj

evils of our world in their work, to try ani Tiake us realize that we are all victim to tmir influerre. Tl'ey rope to make us

reccx;Jnize 'tl'Ese evils so that we rray take up aiTT5 against tlan; a point Ozzy emphatically stresses: " ••• one thirq everylx:dy has got to urrierstarrl about Black Sabbath's lyrics. Tley' re not damer lyrics, t1ey 're just tellirr.J everylx:xiy whare it's at • •• " ( 8) He alro cites 'tl'E group's nost controversial tlllla, "Black Sabbath", as a response to th: igmrant hippie culture still force when tiE tlllE was written in 1970: "Th: hippies said: 'Th: war ld is la3utiful man.' (sic) You only had to look arour:ri you to see hew crapP:J it was. It was ridiculous listenin;J to that stuff, lEt alore play:in;J it, so we just wrote a1xJut th: world th: way it really was ard J:n.i it affected us -and we felt better in ourselves l:x:cause we were really being hanest •••• "(9)

AFTER F 0 REVER ( 10)

I 1 HAVE YaJ EVER THOOGHI' AlDJl' YaiR SJJL-2 CAN rr BE SAVEIP. 3 OR PERHAPS YaJ THINK THlfl' WHEN YCXJ

ARE lEAD 4 YaJ JUS!' SI'AY IN YCIJR GRAVE. 5 IS GJD JUS!' A THa.IGHI' WITHIN YCIJR

HEAD OR IS 6 HE A PARI' OF YOO? 7 IS CHRIS!' JUsr A NIHE THitl' YCIJ READ

IN A BXJK 8 WHEN YaJ WERE J:ti' s::HOOL?

II 9 WHFN YCIJ THINK AJD.JT DElfl'H I1J YaJ IDSE

10 YaJR BRElfl'H OR !X) YaJ KEEP YaJR axJL? 11 WCIJID Ya.J LIKE TO SEE THE FOPE ON

THE END 12 OF A IDPE - !X) YOO THINK HE'S A FOOL? 13 WELL I'VE SEEN THE TIUI'H - YES I'VE

SEEN 14 THE UGHI' lWD I'VE CHANJED MY WAYS. 15 lWD I'LL BE PREPARED WHEN YCXJ' RE

I.DNEIX 16 JWD s::ARED lfi' THE END OF CIJR DAYS.

III17 a:xJID rr BE YaJ' RE N'RATD OF WHifi' YOOR

18 FRIENDS MIGHI' SAY 19 IF THEY KNF.W YaJ BEUEVED IN GOD

AHJVE

20 THEY SflaJIJ) REALISE BEFORE THEY CRITICISE

21 THI!I' CXJD IS THE ONIX WAY TO IfJVE.

IV 23 IS YCllR MIND SJ sw.L THJ([' YOO HAVE TO FALL

24 IN WITH THE PICK WHEREYER THEY RJN 25 WilL YaJ Sl'IU 3'lEER WHEN IEJrL'H

IS NEAR 26 AND SAY THEY MAY AS WELL WORSHIP

THE SJN.

v 27 I THINK IT WAS TRJE IT WAS PFDPIE LIKE YCll

28 THI!I' CRJCIFIED CHRIS!' 29 I THINK IT' IS SAD THE OPINION YCll

HAD WAS THE 30 ONIJI' ONE VOICED. 31 WILL YW BE SJ SJRE WHEN YClJR DAY

IS NEAR 32 SAY YCll IXJN' T BE:I.IEYE? 33 YCll HAD THE OlAlCE B.JI' YCll TURNED

rr JXJVN 34 fDI YOO CIW' T REI'RIEVE.

VI 35 PERHAPS YaJ' LL THINK BEFORE YaJ SAY THlfl'

36 GOD IS DEAD AND GJNE 37 OPEN YaJR EYES, JUS!' REALIZE THJ(['

HE IS THE 38 ONE. 39 THE ONIJI ONE WHO ClW SAVE YaJ 101

FIDM 40 ALL THIS SIN AND HI!I'E. 41 OR WILL YCll Sl'ILL JEER lfi' ALL

YaJ HEAR? 42 YES!-I THINK IT'S TOO Llfl'E.

In this piece, th: groop asserts a belief in an after life arr1 spiritual rederrption. As grisly as th: i.nage of a harl}ed pontiff is, its slr;ck value is a necessary part of th: 11essage: They reject religious do;pna, stat:in;J that a l:x:lief in Gal, in one's cwn heart, is the only guidirr] light to help one in his life ( lims 11/12, 39/40). ~I:TTOre, th: reject religious hypxrisy ( lims 5/6, 7/8) arr1 rx=er pressure (verses III, IV) as excuses for mt acceptin:] God. To clarify further: folJ.a.li.rq the craNd does mt justify shrugg irx] resp::msibility for orE's cwn actions.

After re-readirq, it becones obvious that this SOirJ is an ascerbic critique of ath:ism; (lirE 35/36) I refer here again to verses three arrl four. In th:se two verses, the picture painted is or:e of Gcx1less conformity arr1 lr:M it's v i£wed as be :in;] as foolish as Paganism. Tlese lyrics set an example for the listeiEr bj relatirq J;ersonal ex];erierre ( lir:es 13-16). HONeVer, for tlr:>se woo canmt accept this tJ:e groop has m recourse rut to cordemn th:m, alth:Jugh rather ironically; t1ey OOf€ that th:ir r'fetorical loss of faith in tiE listen& will Of€11 his eyes (line 42).

B L A C K S A B B A T H ( 11)

WHlfi' IS THIS, THI!I' Sl'ANDS BEFORE ME? FIGJRE IN BUCK, WHial EOINI'S l!I' ME TURN IUJND (!liCK AND SJ'Al([' TO FUN

FIND aJT I' /o1 THE CROSEJl ONE. ai, NO!

BIG BUCK SHAPE WITH EfES OF FIRE TEI.J..:IN; PFDPIE THEIR DESIRE SJ!l' lW' S srri'Il'C THERE, HE'S SMILINJ Wlfl'CHES THOSE FLAMES GEl' HIGHER AND HIGHER OH, MJ, W, - PlEASE GOD HElP ME!

IS THIS THE END MY FRIENIJ? S/[['JW' s a:14IM) I IUJND THE BEJlD

PFDPIE RJNioliNJ 'CNJSE THEY'RE s:;ARE!)

THE PEJJPIE BEITER CXJ JWD BEWARE MJ, NO! PLEASE-NO!!

Th: all tine controversy wi.nr:er! Is this not irrefutably THE sorr; arout Black Magic in rock? It's all so obvioos, suffuse with evil imagery; Satan, walls of flaJTe, figure in black, arr1 damnation at th: err:J. Yes, I see tJ:e i.nages too; it definitely corr;erns Black

Magic. Then again, Shakespeare's Macbeth enployed .seems of witcms irNolved in conjuratiom; does that nean that Shakespeare was a war lock? Poe used to write sardonic tragedies abJut twisted rrurderers arr1 th: bizarre nature of their acts; did that make him an evil, leerin;J, denented killer? Did eith:r of them crlvocate what tlej wrote alx:Jut?

On= has to reTl'elliJer that wr itin;J alxJut scrrethin} is rot r:ecessar ily the sartE as errulatin:] it. TO'IJ) Iorrmi has SJX)ken out quite strorr}ly a1xrut this: "People are brin;Jin;J us dcwn sajirl} that we are a Black Magic group. I think tlej rrust be gettin;J [us} mixed up with Black WidCJrt{. We don't do di1:J sacrifices on stage, arrl we're rot on a black magic kick. We wanted to do Ieavy IJ11Tbers arrl the guitar riffs we worked out were rrore suited to evil thin;Js than love. we play sorqs aJ::out black 'rrli¥:} ic, but trey are rrore likely to be against than for it."(l2)

8} rrM, you're probably askirq yourself wlrJ Black WidCJrt{ is, right? Th=n it's tiiTe for a little history:

Sabbath, before trey were krDtm as Sabbath, had tre sarre l:iiP-up rut two earlier nanes. Tre first on= was Polka Tulk, which seerred sure to doom them to obscurity. ( 13 J Thay soon realized this arrl charr:jed the group' s nane to Earth. NCJrt{, Earth was a blues barrl at tiE errl of tiE En;Jlish blues boan. As if that wasn't bad emugh, t1Ey soon discovered that rot only was there arr:Jther group ll3J'1Eid Earth, b.It they had also released a sirqle. To avoid confusion, they charl]ed their nane again.( 14) But what m:rle them decide on that nane? Just ask Ozzy: "I just liked the nane Black Sabbath because of tre succession of VCINel souriis. ( 15) If that souriis ludicrous just consider this: Sabbath was " ••• tre first of the really comnitted, loud arrl h:avy bari1s • •• " ( 16) Tlej reeded a narre to llBtch the gut­wrerchi.rq pt:YNer t!Ey were developin]. TOil} knEw that he wanted Sabbath to be roticed above all the rest of the British blues banis: "We wanted sarethin;J of our cwn that we' a like ani pg:Jple woulil like. Ani we wanted sorrethin;J loud!"

TOIJ} didn't hate the blues. He'd cut his teeth as a guitarist on the likes of Tre Shiiiavs, Buddy Holly arr1 Djarqo Rheinhardt, developirq his~ style from there. But he realized the group had ro future in tlE blues:

'We couldn't keep playi.rr:.J 12-bars forever. We just got fed up with Earth TTUsic. It was jazz, blues stuff. It was gcx:x1 for practice b.Jt rothirq else.'

In tlE late 'Sixties, blues groups were a dirre a dozen in Bi.rm.in}ham arrl interest was wanin;] in the blues bcxxn due to the glut of groups. Om rran, by tiE narre of Jim Simpson, had h?ard Earth arourrl tlE Bi.rm.in}ham club circuit arr1 urrierstood what trey were tryin;J to do. He decided to take them urrier his wirq. With the aid of his nassive record collection, Jim exparrled the group's lrJrizons in tlE areas of jazz arrl blues. He introduced tlen to artists like Wes Montg011ei1J, Count Basie arrl J ilrmj Rushin}. It was fran Rushirq in particular that they derived the rep:titive riff style so readily rot:k:eable in their later irr:arnation as Black Sabbath.

The Count Basie influerre is eviderr:ed in the sorq "Wicked World" from tiE first alb.Jm; Sabbath d.rurmer Bill Ward uses a "'sighirq hi­hat' ••• in tlE ~r of Basie' s drumrer Jo Jonr:s."

The influerr:e is subtle, alnost subliminal. Yet it is ore which was ret th::J.lght capable of hard, 'h:avy' rock barrls in tlE late 'Sixties. Alth::J.lgh Is! Zepp:lin arrl J imi Herrlr ix also had thair work steefS] in blues arr1 jazz derivations (Herrlrix' "Third stom From tlE SUn" arr1 Zepp:lin's version of Willie Dixon's "I Gan't Quit You Babj" from their first album), n=ither was able to rretch the intense emrgy of Black Sabbath. Iamd has alw8J}s had a prefererre for ITUsic with an original, distirrt style of its' cwn; as an example, lE rrentions guitarists Joe Pass arrl Alvin Lee as two of his strorqest SJil}Writirq inf luerr:es.

It woulil also IE rs:essary that Sabbath develop a unique, distirr:tive style ani ilni:qe of treir cwn. Th:Jugh trey had charr;Jed treir nane from Earth to Black Sabbath to avoid confusion with the at.h:r Earth; at the sane tine arotlEr group hiK1 errer:ged bj tre naTTe of Black Widcw " •. • wlxJ WERE profoorxily influerr;ed bj tre cx:cult, had a rrele witch as a patron, arrl wrote pieces like "Cone to Tre Sabbat. " ( 16 J Unfortunately, Sabbath was constantly reapirr] the benr:fits of Widcw' s p.Wlicity.

Sabbath was a group that a:ver mirr:ed words. If they SGW sorrethirrJ as destructive, they would be sure to rub the listerer's face it it. Th=y did rot want their p:Jint to ffi missed.

with treir straightfozward, SOlleti.JTes brutal way of lookirr.J at thirl}s, they try to slrx;k the listemr' s conscierr:e back into aNaremss. Tre imagery of "Harri of !XJoTrl', from the Paramid allum, is carrlid arr1 corrlemnin;J; it is a stroll} statem:mt against drug addiction arrl rightly so ...

H A N D 0 F D 0 0 M ( 17)

WHJtr Ya.J CXJNNA IXJ? TIME'S ClilGHI' UP WII'H Ya.J lDV Ya.J WAIT Ya.JR '!'URI

Ya.J I<ltO/ THERE'S NO REI'Ulfl

TPKE YaJR WRITI'EN RJIES YaJ JOIN THE GrHER FOOLS TUFN TO s:»1EE'JIDG NEW M:W II'' S KIIL:IW YaJ

FIRS!' II' WAS THE BJMB VIEI'NAM, NAPALM DISilllJSIONIN:; Ya.J FUSH THE NEEDlE IN

FRJM LIFE Ya.J ES::APE REAUTY' S THJ!r WAY CXJIJJRS IN Ya.JR MIND Slfl'ISFY IN TIME

OH, Ya.J, YCXJ /QDl YaJ MJSI' BE BLIND TO LO SJMEI'HJN; LIKE THIS TO TN<E THE SlEEP THI!r YCXJ IXJN'T KlDI YCXJ 'RE GIVJN; IElfl'H A KISS FOOR Lr!TIE FOOL, 1-Dl!

YCXJR MIND IS FUlL OF PI.EftS.JRE YCXJR IDIJI' S lfX)J(IN:; IlL TO YaJ, rr• S SHAUJ:W IEISJRE SJ DroP THE ICID PILL IXJN'T SI'OP TO THINK, Nav!

YCXJ' RE HAVIN:; A GOOD TIME, BAHf

Hli' THJ!I' WON'T IASI'

YaJR MIND'S Jri..:L FULL OF THINJS YC11' RE LIVIN:J TOO FASI' GO WI' MD ENJOY YaJRSEIF IXJN'T EDITIE rr IN YCXJ NEED SJMEJJNE TO HELP YC1J SI'ICK THE NEEDlE IN, YEN!!

NJ1 YaJ KNCJ¥ THE s::ENE YCXJR SKIN SI' ARI'S TURN DC GREEN Ya.JR EYES MJ IJ::N;ER SEE LIFE'S REALri'Y

R1SH THE NEEDlE IN, FICE IEJ!I'H' S Siaa% GRIN

HOLFS ARE IN YaJR SKIN CIVSED Hf DEAD!¥ PIN

HEAD Sl'ARI'S SPINNIW 'IUJND FALL IDIN TO THE GIOJND FEEL Ya.JR EDIJI HEAVE IEifl'H' S HmDS SI'ARI' 70 WEINE

:rr• S TO Llfi'E 700 TUFN

YCXJ EON' T WANNA l.EAFIN PRICE OF LIFE YCXJ CKf

lDI Ya.J' RE roNNA DIE

MaiJ} fSOple felt the group's overall direction was ~ssimistic arrl had a negative effect on its listeners due to that. "Ozzy insisted that if J;SOple th:Jught re was havill} a bad effect on the mirrls of yourq kids, th:y sh:Juld go arrl watch the 7V IBIS wrere real mn:der arr1 neyh:m were a way of life, arrl sb:J..m night after night. " ( 18)

Sabbath was mver IEgative in their TTessage; th=y were simply truthful a1xJLrt what th=y SilN as wrorq in the world. If ycxz "strip C~Nay tiE lr>rror stories, tiE imagery arr1 the hjster ia, ( ard) turn dam tre anps a ootch ••• you have a well-reh?arsed, solid blues arr1 rcx:k bari1, pt:JNered b:} a dedication to well defined objectives." On the top of tre list of th:Jse objectives was truth; Sabbath never feared facill} that truth squarely, regardless of what 111i31Jj fSOple th:Jught of th:m.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Black Sabbath. Master of Reality. Warr:er Brothers Records Irr. , 1971.

Black Sabbath. Shatterin] Sourrls from 4 Alblms, et a1. New York: Tro Essex Music International. pp. 4-8, 138-147

HO]an, Richard. "Black Sabbath: Masters of Reality. " Circus Rtx:k I11110rtals # 1, 1980. pp. 31-32.

Ladd, Jim. "Inrerview: Ozzy Osbour~.'' NB¥ York: WAPP 103.5 FM. April 4, 1983, 12-1 a.m.

Ra;Jan, Michael. "Heavy Metal Havoc: Black Sabbath - Live Evil/ Ozzy Osbour~ - "Speak of ~ IEvil" Goci1 Tines, 326, March 1-7 1983. p. 15.

Rot1"la:rg, Gerald. "Face to Face with Ozzy Osbourm." Circus, Jure 30, 1981. pp. 28-29.

Wedeck, Harry E. "Black Mass/Sabbat." A Treasury of Witclr:raft. NB¥ York: Citadel Press, 1968. pp. 119-120.

Welch, Chris. Black Sabbath. New York: Proteus Publishin;J Companj, Irr., 1982. passim.

NOTES

( l)Jim Ladd, "Innarvi.e.-1: Ozzy Oslx:Jurm," (NeN York: WAPP 103.5 FM, April 4, 1983) 12-1 a.m.

(2)Richard Ha]an, :Black Sabbath: Masters of Reality," Circus Rock ITTITOI.tals #1 ( 1980) p. 31.

( 3)Harry E. Wedeck, "Black Mass/Sabbat," A Treasury of Witclrraft (NaN York: Citcrlel Press, 1968) pp. 119-120.

(4)Ha]an, p. 31

(5)Chris Welch, Black Sabbath (New York: Proteus Publishirl; Company, Irr., 1982) p. 67.

(6)Ladd.

(7 )Welch, p. 53.

(8)Ibid, p. 80.

(9)Ibid, p. 20.

( 10 )Master of Reality (New York: Warmr Brothers Records Irr:. , 1971) •

( 11 )Black Sabbath, "Black Sabbath," Shatter irrJ Sourrls From 4 AlbJms, et al (NE!N York: Tro Essex Music International) pp. 4-8.

( 12)Welch, p. 28.

(13)Ibid, p. 12.

( 14)Welch, p. 20.

(15)Ibid, p. 28.

(16)Velch, pp. 67, 72, 50, 14, 17, 55.

( 17 )Black Sabbath, "Baril of D:xxn," Shatter.irr;} Sourils, pp. 137-147

{ 18)Welch, pp. 91-70