man black sabbath sure had a lot of line up changes
I went with a friend of mine to the Iron Maiden show a few weeks ago at the PNC Bank Arena. The second opening act was Dio, which we both thought was great and lead in to a conversation about Black Sabbath. My buddy sent over this chronology of Black Sabbath. Thought it might be interesting, man did they have a lot of line up changes......
Black Sabbath started in 1967 in Birminghamm, England as a heavy blues band called Earth. Guitarist Tony Iommi hooked up with od high school buddy Bill Ward on drums. Meanwhile John "Ozzy" Osbourne, had tried and failed in a career as a thief, and after spending a few weeks in jail, decided to become a singer. Ward and Iommi were looking for band members, and Ward suggested this guy he knew in high school who had just gotten into singing. Osbourne showed up and Iommi recognized him as one of the kids he used to beat up in high school. They weren't incredibly impressed with his singing, but he owned his own mic and PA system, so he was in the band, along with yet another high school classmate, bassist Geezer Butler. They gradually moved away from blues covers into hard rock, and in the 1970, they released their first album. 01. BLACK SABBATH - 1970 OSBOURNE / IOMMI / BUTLER / WARD This was recorded almost live in 6 hours of studio time (which is what the band could afford), and is still widely recognized as the first "heavy metal" album ever. 02. PARANOID - 1970 OSBOURNE / IOMMI / BUTLER / WARD Their second album came out later that same year, and it's the one which has sold the most copies over the years, and contains the songs "Paranoid", "Iron Man" and "War Pigs", which are still occassionally played on rock radio stations. They could actually afford like 2 days of studio time for this album. 03. MASTER OF REALITY - 1971 OSBOURNE / IOMMI / BUTLER / WARD They got into some psychedelic 70's stuff on this album, but it also had some of their heaviest stuff yet. 04. VOLUME 4 - 1972 OSBOURNE / IOMMI / BUTLER / WARD They got into some weird, jazzy stuff on this disc, but it was also clear that Iommi's sense of melody was becoming more advanced. Also, lyricist Butler started exploring some bizarre topics, as opposed to the death / doom / evil themes he mostly concentrated on before. 05. SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH - 1973 OSBOURNE / IOMMI / BUTLER / WARD The first album where the band actually had a lot of money, and could **** around in the studio for a couple months. They used some more advanced recording techniques and had somme more sophisticated song structures. Their drug use also started to get out of control around this time. 06. SABOTAGE - 1975 OSBOURNE / IOMMI / BUTLER / WARD Probably the heaviest Black Sabbath album up to this point. Featured some of Iommi's most "epic" song structures to date. 07. TECHNICAL ECSTASY - 1976 OSBOURNE / IOMMI / BUTLER / WARD Lots of people consider this to be a big step down, and feel that drug use had affected Iommi's songwriting focus, causing him to churn out some noodly guitar lines instead of laying down the massive, heavy riffage of previous albums. Still there's some classic tracks here. Oddly enough, it was just about this time that the band realized they were getting robbed by management and record producers, and they (mostly Iommi) started taking control of their own finances. Problems with Osbourne really started to come to a head here, and he even refused to sing one of the songs (drummer Ward sings on that one). Osbourne actually left the band for a month after touring for this album. 08. NEVER SAY DIE! - 1978 OSBOURNE / IOMMI / BUTLER / WARD The band hooked up with some unknown singer for a couple weeks, did 2 - 3 shows with him, but for whatever reason, Ozzy rejoined in time to record this album. This time Ward had to sing on 2 tracks. This is a weird album... it starts out with some heavy, straightforward metal songs, but delves into some weird folky, jazzy stuff towards the end. This would be the last album to feature the original lineup. After this album, both Osbourne and Butler left (Osbourne spiraling into a drug-fueled depression which almost killed him). As chance would have it, Black Sabbath would never again have the same lineup for 2 consecutive albums. 09. HEAVEN AND HELL - 1980 DIO / IOMMI / BUTLER / WARD The first album to feature former Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio. Still considered by many metal fans to be the finest album of the band's career. The band asked longtime touring keyboardist Geoff Nichols to play bass, but Butler soon returned, which was lucky for the band, because he turned in an incredible performance on this disc. However, since Butler wasn't around for most of the songwriting, the lyric writing on this disc was handled by Dio... who indeed wrote all of his lyrics while with Rainbow (as opposed to Osbourne, who rarely wrote). Dio also worked with Iommi on writing the music. This album also featured the talents of producer and sound engineer Martin Birch (widely regarded as the most influential producer in the history of the metal genre), who worked with Rainbow from 1975 - 1978 and would go on to work with Iron Maiden from 1981 - 1992. 10. MOB RULES - 1981 DIO / IOMMI / BUTLER / APPICE Ward had some sort of liver or kidney problem, and after Heaven And Hell, left the band. Drummer Vinny Appice was brought in... the younger brother of well-regarded progressive rock drummer Carmine Appice. Iommi, Dio, and Butler collaborated on the writing of this disc, and turned out some of the most massive, memorable riffs around. Birch also turned in another killer sound job. The band decided to record a live album during the tour for this album. Everything went fine on tour, but when they got back into the studio with the master tapes to mix the live album, all hell broke loose. Dio and Iommi started arguing about how the live album should be mixed, and each of them started accusing the other of sneaking into the studio at night and altering the mix. Soon, Dio left to form his own band, taking Appice with him. 11. BORN AGAIN - 1983 GILLAN / IOMMI / BUTLER / WARD The loss of Dio's singing and songwriting talent was a blow for the band, as was the loss of Martin Birch (who from 1982 through his retirement in 1992, worked exclusively with Iron Maiden). Especially considering the unknown producer who signed on for this album (not surprisingly, he turned in a disc of subpar sound quality). Iommi's riff writing was in good form, though, and on this album he experiments with some faster, more rock-oriented riffs. In fact, the main riff from Guns 'N' Roses 1988 song "Paradise City" was taken directly from one of these tracks. Vocal duties on this album were handled by former Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan. Gillan was widely regarded as a great rock vocalist, but many people questioned how well he fit with Black Sabbath. Since Appice left with Dio, Bill Ward returned to play drums on this album... he wasn't well enough to tour, though, so that was handled by former Electric Light Orchestra drummer Bev Bevan. 12. SEVENTH STAR - 1986 HUGHES / IOMMI / SPITZ / SINGER After touring for Born Again, Butler left to try and form his own band, Gillan left to take part in a renuion of the original Deep Purple lineup, and Black Sabbath essentially broke up. The original lineup actually reunited for a charity show in 1985, and performed a few songs off the first few albums. Iommi then decided to do a solo album with his buddy Glenn Hughes, who oddly enough, had been the guy who replaced Gillan in Deep Purple. Studio musician Dave Spitz was hired to play bass, and journeyman drummer Eric Singer signed on to play drums. Singer would perform with lots of other bands, including a stint with Kiss. This album was originally supposed to be an Iommi solo album, but as the release date neared, Warner Bros Records insisted (for financial reasons) that it be titled a Black Sabbath album. Iommi wasn't too pleased with this, as it was clearly not as heavy as a Black Sabbath album, and was never intended as such. This was also Iommi's first time ever writing lyrics, and frankly some of them turned out rather cheesy. But, Iommi proved that even in a more laid-back, less-heavy setting, he could still write great riffs. Hughes didn't stick around to tour for this disc, he left to do his own solo album. He was replaced by Ray Gillen, but they only wound up doing like 10 - 15 live shows. 13. THE ETERNAL IDOL - 1987 MARTIN / IOMMI / SPITZ / SINGER By this point, Iommi felt like writing some heavier riffage again, so he decided to just keep using the Black Sabbath name. Ray Gillen was fired during the recording of this album because of his inability to deal with a serious weight problem (which wound up killing him in 1993). He was replaced by talented but largely unknown vocalist Tony Martin. Spitz and Singer returned to play in the studio but still hadn't actually joined the band. Some of the studio bass and drum work was also handled by drummer Bev Bevan and former (and future) Ozzy Osbourne bassist Bob Daisley. Unheard-of musicians Joe Burt and Terry Chimes played bass and drums on tour. 14. HEADLESS CROSS - 1989 MARTIN / IOMMI / COTTLE / POWELL The lineup slightly stabilized here. Laurence Cottle was a studio bassist (and he was the guy who appeared in that Wesley Snipes movie in the mid 90's), but he was soon replaced by former Whitesnake bassist Neil Murray. Iommi friend and former Rainbow drummer Cozy Powell also joined the band, and even helped out with a little of the songwriting. On this album, Martin took over lyric writing duties. This album also features a guest guitar solo by Queen guitarist Brian May (the only time anyone other than Iommi ever played even a note of guitar on a Sabbath album). 15. TYR - 1990 MARTIN / IOMMI / MURRAY / POWELL Martin decided to switch gears here and write lyrics about Norse mythology. Iommi also cranks out some of the most memorable melodies of his career on this disc. It seemed like this lineup had actually started to stabilize, but then... 16. DEHUMANIZER - 1992 DIO / IOMMI / BUTLER / APPICE Since 1982, Dio had been cruising along with his own band. In late 1990, Geezer Butler (who did a 6 month stint with Ozzy, and was currently doing nothing) happened to go to a Dio live show. After the show, Butler happened to make his way backstage, and he and Dio sat around ********ting for several hours afterward. They eventually reached the decision that the Dio / Iommi / Butler version of Black Sabbath, which had only released 2 albums, could have put out some more great music if they hadn't gotten into that big fight over the mixing of their 1982 live album. Butler called up Iommi and talked to him for a while, and eventually Dio, Butler, and Iommi decided to drop their old problems and give Black Sabbath a shot again. This incidentally left Martin and Murray without a gig. Martin went on to do a solo album (which nearly impossible to find a copy of today) and Murray joined Brian May's post-Queen solo band. Back in Sabbath, Dio was actually looking forward to again working with his former Rainbow bandmate, drummer Cozy Powell. However, Powell got injured in a motorcycle accident in 1991, so he was out of the picture. So, Vinny Appice, who had left Dio in 1988 and was doing nothing at the time, signed up... thereby without actually trying to, the lineup from Mob Rules was reformed. This album turned out to be an excellent, angry slab of crushing metal (actually it seems it was *too* heavy for some old-time fans). One song from this disc even appeared on the Wayne's World soundtrack. During the tour for this album, however, things fell apart again. Right around this time, Ozzy Osbourne had released his supposedly final album, and was on his supposedly final tour. it turned out that Sabbath and Ozzy would be touring in California around the same time. So someone came up with the idea that they would do one show in Los Angeles with Black Sabbath opening for Ozzy, and that at the end of the show, Osbourne would come out onstage with Sabbath and perform 4 songs from the first couple Sabbath discs. Well, Dio, of course, had no intention of allowing himself to be slapped in the face in this fashion, and said he would have no part of this show. By the time that show came around at the end of the tour, it became obvious that Dio meant what he said, and he wouldn't be a part of it. So he left the band. Somehow, on a moment's notice, the band managed, for that one show, to enlist the services of former Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford (Halford having just left Judas Priest a month before). The show went ahead, Osbourne retired, Dio reformed his band (again taking Appice), and Iommi went back to the drawing board. 17. CROSS PURPOSES - 1994 MARTIN / IOMMI / BUTLER / RONDINELLI Tony Martin had finished the solo project he was doing, and had nothing in particular on his plate, so Iommi asked him to rejoin Sabbath. Their search for a drummer led to Bobby Rondinelli, who had played with Rainbow (after Dio's and Powell's tenures with them) but was most widely known for his stint with Blue Oyster Cult. This album, partially because of Martin's influence, explored a more melodic side of the band as opposed to the crushingly heavy Dehumanizer. This wasn't to Butler's liking, and following some sort of argument with Iommi, he left the band, vowing to never return (he went on to play bass on Ozzy's 1995 comeback album Ozzmosis). Eddie Van Halen wrote a solo for one of the songs on here, and was supposed to perform it on the album but couldn't due to scheduling conflicts, so Iommi did it himself. A live album was also recorded while on tour for this album. 18. FORBIDDEN - 1995 MARTIN / IOMMI / MURRAY / POWELL Rondinelli left after Cross Purposes to do a solo project. By this point, Cozy Powell had recovered from his motorcycle accident and wanted to get into music again. Meanwhile, Brian May ended his solo project, so Neil Murray was again available to fill the vacancy left by Butler... thus, Black Sabbath just happened to reform the lineup from Tyr. Forbidden has a dry, sharp-edged sound, and features a guest vocal performance by Ice-T on one song. The tour for this album ended in 1996. Just about that time, Ozzy and his wife Sharon were planning the first Ozzfest, which was to take place in 1997. Somehow (largely because of the potential $$$ involved) all 4 original members of the band got together and decided that at the end of the Ozzfest set, they would come out and do a few songs. Iommi more or less dissolved the previous Martin / Iommi / Murray / Powell incarnation of Black Sabbath, Butler, who had played bass on Ozzy's 1995 album Ozzmosis was doing a solo project but had finished touring, and Ward, who was now apparently in good health (and had even released 2 solo albums, one in 1990, another in 1995), all came on board. This was a big financial success, enough so that the band went on a headlining tour in 1998. After that tour, they released a live album, which actually featured 2 new studio tracks. Iommi and Butler then actually moved into Osbourne's mansion for a few weeks and they started writing material for a new Black Sabbath studio album. After a month or two, though, they decided to cancel the project. No real reason was ever given. Iommi went on to make a self-titled solo album in 2000 with a large variety of guest stars, including Dave Grohl, Henry Rollins, Serj Tankian, and Billy Idol. Osbourne released another solo effort in 2001. Butler and Ward have more or less been doing nothing the last couple years. As for other members, Ronnie James Dio reformed his band after leaving Sabbath the second time, and continues on today. Vinny Appice was with Dio until 1999 then left to form his own band (which has yet to materialize). Ian Gillan is still with Deep Purple. Tony Martin did a few guest vocal appearances in the late 1990's, then formed a band with Italian guitarist Dario Mollo. Bobby Rondinelli just released a solo album. Neil Murray went on to briefly rejoin Brian May, then he played with Company Of Snakes until 2001, and who knows what he's doing now. Eric Singer did some side projects and rejoined Kiss in 2000 when the reunion of their original lineup fell apart again. Cozy Powell was in another traffic accident in 1998, and this time he didn't survive. Well, since I've already babbled on this long, let give you a paragraph or 2 about Dio. Ronnie James Dio was born in the mid 1940's (the exact date is the source of some debate) and got into music as a kid in the 1950's. in the late 1960's, he began to really get into heavier rock 'n' roll like Deep Purple and Jimi Hendrix. By 1971, he formed a rock band called Elf, which released 1 little-known album. In 1974, Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore decided to leave Deep Purple and form his own band. He asked Dio to join, and Dio brought along several Elf members to fill out the rest of the lineup in the new band, Rainbow. Their first album was 1975's "Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow". 1976 saw another album, "Rainbow Rising", with a couple lineup changes, including the addition of Cozy Powell on drums. 1978 saw the album "Long Live Rock 'N' Roll", followed by a live album. After this, Blackmore decided he wanted to go in a more pop-rock oriented direction. Dio had no interest in that, and left the band. Rainbow would go on to release a few more albums with a few more lineups, then disbanded in 1987. Just around the time Dio left Rainbow in 1979, Black Sabbath happened to be looking for a new frontman. Dio jumped at the chance, especially since it allowed him to explore some of the darker, heavier themes that he had been wanting to explore. They released "Heaven And Hell" in 1980 and "Mob Rules" in 1981, and a live album in 1982, when everything fell apart. So Dio took drummer Vinny Appice from Sabbath, and formed his own band, along with young British guitarist Vivian Campbell as well as former Rainbow bandmate Jimmy Bain on bass. They released "Holy Diver" in 1983, which continues to be the biggest source of material during Dio live shows to this day. In 1984, they released the classic album "The Last In Line". 1985 saw a bit of a less-heavy turn with the album "Sacred Heart". Campbell then left to join Whitesnake for a couple years, then went on to join Def Leppard (where he remains to this day) following the alcohol-related 1989 death of longtime Leppard guitarist Steve Clark. Here's a little factoid for you... when guitarist Adrian Smith left Iron Maiden in 1990, the first person Maiden auditioned, Janick Gers, was a good fit... if he wasn't though, Campbell probably would have been in the band. Even weirder, the other guitarist in Def Leppard, Phil Collen... back in 1981, when Adrian Smith was first offered the Iron Maiden gig, if he didn't accept, it would have gone to Phil Collen. Anyway, back to Dio, Campbell was replaced with American journeyman guitarist Craig Goldy. They released a live EP in 1986 called "Intermission", then released a full album in 1987 called "Dream Evil", whih featured some of the band's most complex songwriting to date. Around 1988 - 1989, Goldy left to do something or other, Appice got temporarily tired of being a musician, and Bain fell out of sight due to a cocaine addiction. Dio put together a new lineup. Drummer Simon Phillips, a longtime friend, played with AC/DC for a year while their drummer Phil Rudd was away dealing with an alcohol problem. With Rudd back, Phillips was out of a job, and jumped at the chance to join Dio. Ronnie also found a 19 year-old guitar whiz named Rowan Robertson to play on this album, as well as co-write some music. Bass is handled by some unheard-of guy named Teddy Cook. They released the album "Lock Up The Wolves" in 1990. After this album, Dio was sort of looking forward to working more with Robertson, but then the opportunity to rejoin Sabbath came about, so he decided to do that, and shelved the band Dio. Sabbath recorded "Dehumanizer" and went on tour. Once the Sabbath thing fell apart again, he and Appice reformed Dio, this time with heavy, thrash-oriented guitarist Tracy G. Dio wanted to continue exploring the heavy vibe he had been doing with Sabbath on "Dehumanizer". He was also joined by Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson, who, while still a member of Dokken, wanted to try playing some heavier stuff too. the 1994 album "Strange Highways" didn't go over as well with people as "Dehumanizer" had, though it still had some great metal songs. This lineup continued on, and 1996 saw an even darker release, "Angry Machines". After that, they released a live album, and Dio sort of went on hiatus (Ronnie had some family issues, etc, to resolve). Tracy G and Vinny Appice left with the intention of forming their own band (which never really happened). In 2000, Dio finally regrouped, with former guitarist Craig Goldy returning along with bassist Jimmy Bain (who had recovered from his drug problem), and drummer Simon Phillips. Much to relief of many old-time fans, who couldn't handle the heavier stuff, Dio delved back into a more classic metal sound on their 2000 release, "Magica". After touring for that album, Goldy left again, because his position as a manager with a successful limousine company was apparently quite lucrative, but wasn't compatible with being a full-time member of a rock band. So, Dio hooked up with highly-regarded guitarist Doug Aldrich and released "Killing The Dragon". They toured for this album, and released a live DVD, then, for the second time in his career, Dio lost a guitarist to Whitesnake as Aldrich left to join David Coverdale's reformed band. Then, when the offer came along to join the Iron Maiden tour in 2003, Goldy said "what the hell" and signed on for the tour. He may or may not remain with the band at this point. Or, it's even possible that Aldrich may return. |
Good stuff. And I'll be the first to go on record saying I thought the Born Again album with Gillan was phenomenal. It was an ambitious effort that gave the band a whole new sound, rather than try to duplicate the Ozzy era. I'm not slighting Dio's work because I love the Heaven and Hell album. I just think Born Again is greatly underappreciated...
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I'm a huge fan of the first 6 albums but after that it's pretty hit or miss, Ozzy or not.
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When it comes to bands like Sabbath (and KISS and others) some fans can't get past the original line up and refuse to enjoy anything else... a shame really, because they are really missing out on some great rock.
I own every Sabbath album on CD and find something I enjoy about all of them. Heaven and Hell is my favorite Sabbath album... yes even more than the Ozzy stuff, so shoot me. I thought the original few albums with Ozzy are classic and awesome, but the later Ozzy Sabbath albums were well... to but it nicely, not as good. Headless Cross is one of the best 80's metal albums... is it Ozzy or even Dio? no. Does it sound like old Sabbath? no. Should it even be called Sabbath, who knows. Is it good.. hell yeah, it's great, Headless Cross is one of my all time favorite Metal CDs, every song on it is great. Tony Martin was a great singer. Cross Purposes was pretty good too. I miss a new Sabbath album coming out every year or two, I can't believe Forbidden came out in 1995, it seems just yesterday I was in the record store buying it. I'd love to see Tony Iommi put out another Sabbath album with Tony Martin or even Dio... that is if Shannon hasn't bought the copywrite of the Black Sabbath name. :) |
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