Watching Ozzy sing Mama I’m Coming Home at the recent farewell concert for Black Sabbath was enough to make the devil himself shed a tear. Which is funny, because I know a few people who are so stubborn, with such elitist attitudes, that they will still somehow try to deny this moment that warms so many heavy metal hearts out there. That alone speaks volumes about how some people hold onto such negativity towards things that move other people emotionally, but that’s a different story for a different day. Im more interested in soaking all this Sabbath stuff into my bones along with the rest of the metal community as we all decompress after a wild weekend of clips showcasing such a legendary concert.
With all of this talk about “back to the beginning” it led me to wonder when and where I first experienced Black Sabbath, and to my surprise, Im not entirely sure it was the band itself that got me into their music. The details are scarce, thanks to my ever eroding brain and foggy drug riddled memory banks from long ago, but I can remember two bands specifically who introduced me to Black Sabbath music. The question of which band came first remains a mystery, but it was none other than Faith No More and Type O Negative who were first to serenade my ears with those sweet satanic symphonies of dissonant chords and haunting melodies.
Faith No More did a rendition of War Pigs that to this day remains one of my favorite versions of the song. The band was firing on all cylinders at the time of its recording in the early 90s, and that energy propelled the song into my veins with such ferocity, it instantly made me want to hear the band they were covering. The same can be said for Type O Negative’s cover of Black Sabbath from the Nativity in Black tribute album. It was a style completely different from what Faith No More had done, but the overall vibe and mood was all the same. At that point it made me wonder how the fuck I had never actually listened to this legendary band before?
My main guess is most likely due to the influx of grunge at the time, which was the holy grail for angry young teenagers looking to channel their emotions into a viable source of familiar energy. This movement was absolutely massive, and could have been the reason I kept old bands like Sabbath off my radar. At the time it was more common for people of a similar age to avoid things so nostalgic, and instead opt for something more fresh and obnoxious, like grunge. This of course would quickly change, as many of us who dug further into the grunge bands we loved would find that their main influence came from bands such as Black Sabbath. So that seal of approval opened up the rabbit hole for exploration, and thus began my journey into all things Sabbath.
Not only did I fall in love with everything the band had created in their early days, and the natural obsession into Ozzy’s solo career, but I also became infatuated with Ronny James Dio and his time with the band. Thus leading me down another rabbit hole into Dio’s music, keeping this bizarre tradition of indirect inspiration between all these bands coming full circle. Even the iconic guitar player Randy Rhoads would soon become a staple in my vast collection of music. A fretboard virtuoso who would inspire my own guitar playing early on, almost more than any other player at the time I was starting to learn.
The Back to the Beginning concert was a metal milestone that many fans will remember for the rest of their lives. It served as a celebration for not just Black Sabbath and the indomitable force that is Ozzy Osbourne, but also as a reminder of just how deep their influence ran throughout all of heavy music. I don’t really care who claims who invented heavy metal, nor do I ever want to entertain the argument, I’m just thankful this band came along when they did to help shape the music we love so much into what it is today. Love them or hate them, Black Sabbath’s influence is undeniable. Their legacy is solidified within the hearts and hands of anyone who picks up a distorted guitar or screams into a microphone, and the fans such as myself who will continue to revel in its chaotic and beautiful darkness.
