BLACK SABBATH – BLACK SABBATH – METAL REWIND

Happy Friday Metalheads. Hope you all had a great week. This week marks the 50th anniversary of the debut self-titled album by Black Sabbath, released on February 13, 1970. The title track, Black Sabbath is also considered by many as the first doom metal song.

Black Sabbath, who got their name for the 1963 horror movie “Black Sabbath” starring Boris Karloff, wrote the song in 1969 and released it as a single the following year. Inspired by bassist Geezer Butler’s obsession with the occult at the time, Ozzy had given Butler a black occult book written in Latin which included pictures of Satan. Geezer, who had several occult items in his home, placed the book on a shelf. He has stated that he had fallen asleep and woke up and saw a figure by the edge of his bed that vanished right before him. He then went to look on the shelf where he had left the book and it was gone. When he told Ozzy what had happened Ozzy wrote the lyrics based on Butler’s experience starting the song off with the infamous lines “What is this that stands before me? Figure in black which points at me.”

The song which is one of their most popular songs has also been cited by critics that it contains one of the most definitive heavy metal riffs of all time.

CHECK OUT THE ORIGINAL VIDEO FOR “BLACK SABBATH”