Black Sabbath: An Oral History [Paperback]

Dave Marsh (Author), Mike Stark (Author)

Book Description

Series: For the Record | Publication Date: September 3, 2002

On February 13, 1970,
Black Sabbath released its first album and
changed the face of music forever.

The band seemed to come out of nowhere, with a dark, otherworldly sound dominated by the soul-piercing wail of twenty-two-year-old John "Ozzy" Osbourne. Once its brooding, overpowering music was out, millions of listeners couldn't get enough, an record and in concert. It was the birth of heavy metal.

In Black Sabbath: An Oral History, Mike Stark leads you into the studio and on tour with the quintessential British metal band, a primary influence right up to the present day on hundreds of rock groups, from Metallica to Spinal Tap. Here are firsthand accounts from Black Sabbath's four founding members -- Bill Ward, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Ozzy Osbourne -- and from other members through the years, including Ronnie James Dio, Rob Halford, Eric Singer, Tony Martin, Cozy Powell, and Neil Murray. In their own words, they tell you what it's like to turn up the amps, hit the stage, and power-chord an audience into submission -- and create a brand -- new kind of rock in the process.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dave Marsh was a founding editor of Creem and an editor at Rolling Stone, where he created The Rolling Stone Record Guide. He is a music critic at Playboy, publisher of Rock & Rap Confidential, and a prolific author of books about music and pop culture. His Before I Get Old is the definitive biography of The Who, and Glory Days and Born to Run, both about Bruce Springsteen, were bestsellers. He lives in New York and Connecticut. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Critics hated us. Audiences loved us. We were never accepted by the press. We were not accepted by any religious factors anywhere in the world. We had a terrible time. Going to Miami going to Louisiana,

going down to Baton Rouge, trying to get into Corpus Christi, Texas, in the seventies was not an easy task. We had to face the mayor of the town. We were banned all the time. They were afraid of us. They really thought we were going to put a spell on you.

I know that sometimes in our music it was loud and there was profanity, and there was violence, too, onstage violence. Often I would become violent onstage. It's not an unusual phenomenon where I would literally pick up my drums and throw them at the audience. That's audience participation, I guess. But back then, it was just that the band was just extremely turbulent. So we had to do a lot of trailblazing and take a lot of heat.

A lot of other bands were going in but they were safe. It was safe. Zeppelin was safe. And I love Zeppelin. I mean, it's not a put-down. But the mayors in the towns, man, would come out and meet us. "You're not playing in this town. Period." We'd have to confront forty or fifty cops or something, man. All these places now you can go. In Corpus Christi today, you can go there. Heavy metal and punk and everything. There's a wonderful selection of music now, but twenty odd years ago these were tough territories.

Copyright ) 1998 by Mike Stark

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (September 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060529458
• ISBN-13: 978-0060529451
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,628,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most legitamite Black Sabbath history book, March 9, 2001

By 

Bill M. "bill_m1" (MA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: For the Record 2: Black Sabbath (Paperback)

Most band biographies are inaccurate and poorly done. This is usually because an author will quote somebody, then insert some of his own thoughts, and continue with another quote, giving the illusion that the band shares all the author's ideas. But "Black Sabbath : An Oral History (For the Record)" consists of all direct quotes, ordered by subject chonologically. Maybe not everybody is going to like this style, but after hearing SO many crazy Black Sabbath rumors over the years (like why was Ozzy fired, why did Glenn Hughes drop out of the 7th Star tour, what's this song about, why didn't the such-and-such reunion work out) I'm glad to finally hear the real deal, right from the horse's mouth. Also, Mike Stark (who conducted the interviews) writes an excellent introduction about the music of Black Sabbath. His praisingly creative descriptions of Ozzy Osbourne ("the banshee") and Ronnie James Dio ("The Sorcerer") were so dead-on!

There are many quotes from Bill Ward, which I was very pleased to see. With all the personal conflicts or collaborations that have gone on between Tony, Ozzy, Geezer, and Ronnie, I always wanted to hear what Bill's point of view was in all of this. It was also very refreshing to hear Ozzy and Ronnie complement each other.

The book covers the entire Black Sabbath history, from their beginnings on the streets of Birmingham, through all their 25 years worth of albums and line-ups, and finally to the Ozzfest reunions in 1997. I own the first edition, and the only glaring typo I noticed was "Ray Gillen" being replaced by "Ian Gillan" everywhere. I mentioned it to Mike, and he knew about it, was frustrated about it, but told me that he was hoping to get it fixed in the next edition.

Anyway, if you're a Black Sabbath fan, here's where to get the truth of those crazy stories once and for all. And some excellent anecdotes that I've never heard in any other interviews too.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Feels rushed,too short,not enough detail,not a full story, March 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: For the Record 2: Black Sabbath (Paperback)

Seems to go through almost thirty years in a flash,text and substance reads like a heavy metal magazine(not a complement).Too little spent during the time they were a musical force(1970-1978)and way too much on their dark years (1981-1996). All in all not bad but I expected better for a band as influential as Sabbath.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Black Sabbath: An Oral History (For the record), March 1, 2000

By 

Craig Amabello - See all my reviews

This review is from: For the Record 2: Black Sabbath (Paperback)

It is a very short "quote" book, mostly consisting of statements from Bill Ward (The Drummer). Although interesting to read, the book lacked any other real veiwpoints from others that have been in the band. It would have been great to have a more balanced account from all the members of the band. Especially Ozzy osbourne & Tony Iommi. There are only a few quotes from these two, & lets face it, these guys are the ones who could have given us deeper insight into the wild ways of Black Sabbath in their Heyday! Overall, not bad.