ARTICLE: Why I love Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

On this day 50 years ago, Black Sabbath released Sabbath Bloody Sabbath on Vertigo

I didn't grow up in a household of heavy music, so my first memory of hearing metal is being in my friend's kitchen at around seven years old, at the time when The Osbournes was on the telly. I didn't know what Black Sabbath or metal was back then, but I picked up on a couple of earworms that turned out to be Sabbath songs later down the line. Fast forward to the age of 13 and I was chatting to an older mate of mine about music. When I told him that I was listening to a lot of Green Day and Kings of Leon, he turned his nose up and told me I should try a bit of Black Sabbath and get into metal.

I went to a youth club in my village back then and a few months after that conversation I noticed a CD lying by the player at the end of a night with 'Black Sabbath Greatest Hits' written on the front. I stole it, put it on my mp3 player (showing my generation here) and brought it back the next week. I listened to Paranoid, NIB, and Changes, recognising them all from being stood in my friend's house as a young boy. Track Four on the disc was Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, which I wasn't so sure about. The lyrics were a bit too dark and scary and I'd never heard anything remotely like the breakdown riff at the end. I didn't venture past those first four songs for a while, but there was something alluring about the dark, industrial music that kept me coming back.

That summer, I played Guitar Hero 3 for the first time in my best friend's living room. Incidentally, I'd start my first teenage band with that mate later that year, and down the line he'd play bass with me in Slump. I remember hearing Raining Blood, The Number of the Beast and One very clearly that day. They were all at the end of the track list before the guitar battle with Satan. So, this is what metal music was. Now, and only now, was I brave enough to go further into Black Sabbath's Greatest Hits.

The next tracks after Sabbath Bloody Sabbath were Iron Man and Black Sabbath on that disc. To say I found them absolutely terrifying is to put it lightly, especially listening for the first time at midnight on a rainy evening. Still, once I'd got over it, I just kept coming back and back. I loved the huge songs from Paranoid. They were just so timeless, even though they were nearly 40 years old back then. Ozzy's demented vocal wail got into my head, Geezer's basslines changed how I'd hear bass forever, Bill's drum fills were so inventive. Most importantly, as someone who'd been playing guitar for less than a year, were Tony's riffs and solos, which blew my mind. I was a bit too young and innocent to have clocked onto the kind of leaf they were praising in Sweet Leaf, mind you.

Eventually I got into Sabbath cuts that weren't the mega hits, or from Paranoid. Heaven and Hell is an amazing album, and I used to play 13 on repeat when it came out - especially Damaged Soul! From the classic Ozzy era, I really enjoyed Wheels of Confusion, with its effortless, 70s sense of cool. Solitude is just beautiful. Being more into faster bands like Metallica and Anthrax in my early days as a metalhead, Symptom of the Universe obviously was very popular back then. Obviously, it still is. But it was still too early to have gone down the rabbit hole of doom, stoner and sludge metal at that point.

There was something magical about hearing Killing Yourself To Live for the first time back then, though. The intro really grabs you with a vintage, bluesy Iommi riff at his very best. The verse and chorus then go really dark and moody - even by Sabbath's standards - before building into a mid-section that's just epic. The groovy second part then is incredible. It's the combination of infectious blues, jazz swing and downtuned darkness that just ticks all the right boxes when you're listening to mid-70s Sabbath. So many bands have copied it, but never bringing that same natural euphoria as Sabbath do.

As I got older and went to uni, I started listening to more metal which instead of trying to be as hard, aggressive, evil or fast as possible, bands with atmosphere and a different kind of energy really caught my attention for the first time. For this reason I feel I grew with Sabbath as I got older. I wouldn't have been able to appreciate the graceful, laid back beauty of a song like A National Acrobat in the early days as a young metalhead. You'll find some of the best chilled out riffs in heavy music in this song. Its instrumental buildup into a faster ending is so well written. Ozzy carries and deliveries the melody masterfully with hazy, thought provoking lyrics. And Bill's drumming is just unbelievable on this one. As I dived deeper into Sabbath, as well as metal that wasn't trying to be the heaviest thing on the planet, this track stood out from an early stage.

Looking For Today could be easily overlooked, but for me, it's as essential as the others. Sure, the main riff is upbeat and almost happy-sounding, but it still has that undeniable mid-70s sense of cool that's hard to replicate and sound convincing. The lyrics are top drawer too, with a take on the music industry that's as relevant today as it was half a century ago. The chorus brings a nice contrast to the heavy verses and its catchy, closing hook leads nicely into Spiral Architect. It's not necessarily my pick of the bunch - purely on personal taste - but there's moments of darkness and I have a lot of time for Sabbath's sonic experimentation and weirdness, that's all over Vol 4 and Sabotage. Fluff is also pretty experimental, but in more of a relaxing than sonically weird way.

Speaking of weirdness, who can forget Who Are You? It might be a marmite track for some, but I love it. Geezer's bass is what really makes this track a heavy Sabbath banger. I'm also a big fan of how Ozzy's vocals give it a bit of a major key feel, but with tons of heaviness and doominess lurking beneath. There's a really nice instrumental mid section that shows off Iommi as a composer, which Fluff or Laguna Sunrise from the album before allude to, but in a nice, condensed form here. Plus, the synth tone always makes me think of a strange little alien visiting the planet. As I said, you either get it or don't, but for me it's brilliant.

Metallica's cover was probably the first I heard of Sabbra Cadabra, but the original is miles better. I truly think this is Ozzy's best ever vocal recording, showcasing his incredible high range. For me, his peak is this album and Sabotage. But the band more than hold their own, with an early version of stoner rock at the start leading into a wonderfully doom-laden ending. The use of piano gives a really nice sense of flair and class to the song, but still keeping it dark. This song has textbook Sabbath swing, which really seems to have been lost over the years to the point that whenever I hear a newer band replicate it well, it sounds really fresh and fun.

Fourteen years later, I can now listen to Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, the song, without feeling uncomfortable, scared, or that the end is too heavy for me. But that first reaction I had as a youngling is all part of it. Years later, I have so much respect for the song's colossal heaviness, the main riff that has been ripped off by countless later bands, and the excellent lyrics and vocal performance. How iconic is Ozzy screaming 'You bastards!'? I also appreciate how Sabbath stop themselves from going into one-dimensional noise with a soft, jazzy chorus that gives the listener a bit of breathing room. This will always be one of the best. It might not be as stratospheric as War Pigs or Paranoid, but so much of vintage Sabbath magic is in this song.

I understand that picking a favourite Sabbath album is heresy and many of my friends tend towards Master of Reality if they had to pick one. And why not? It's full of classic Sabbath gold, like Children of the Grave and Into the Void. Vol 4 has Snowblind and the monolithic Under the Sun. Paranoid has more bangers than a Toby Carvery. Sabotage birthed progressive metal. The self titled started it all. And what about the Dio years? Plus, I wouldn't say Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is quite a perfect album. If I'm listening on streaming I can be tempted to skip a couple.

I'm not denying anything about Sabbath's other albums, but I always pick Sabbath Bloody Sabbath because there are too many high points on this album to ignore. When Sabbath get it right on this album, they completely knock it out of the park. This album has consistency, too. So many on here hit those heights, of Sabbath at their very best. Plenty is dark and doomy here, but the early hints of stoner rock, taken from the band's jazz and blues influences, give it its character, and have directly influenced a lot of what I do as a musician, as a guitarist in two bands that you could call stoner. And I know I've already mentioned it, but Ozzy's vocal performance... Come on! It's elite.

This album is dark and foreboding throughout, but with an understated sense of coolness and chill. It's as if you're hanging out with the Devil on a lazy Sunday morning. I've now been listening to Black Sabbath for half the years I've been on the planet. I may have listened to other bands more often over the years, but considering that they're from the city I was born in and currently live in, and started a style of music that I now play and write about, they do mean a lot. For the reasons above, this album's an important one.

Happy birthday, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.