Black Sabbath was the Birmingham band that invented heavy metal — Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward, and Ozzy Osbourne, formed in 1968. Paranoid and Master of Reality are the bedrock, Heaven and Hell opens the Dio era, and original Vertigo Swirl pressings are grail material. Shop Black Sabbath vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Black Sabbath formed in Birmingham, England in 1968 from the union of Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass), Bill Ward (drums), and Ozzy Osbourne (vocals). The four members had previously played together in earlier blues-rock bands. Their self-titled 1970 debut and the follow-up Paranoid (1970) are widely regarded as the foundational documents of heavy metal as a genre. Osbourne was fired in 1979 and replaced by Ronnie James Dio for Heaven and Hell (1980) and Mob Rules (1981), with various other lineup configurations across the 1980s and 1990s. The original lineup reunited for live performances starting in 1997 and recorded 13 (2013), their final studio album. The band performed their farewell concert in Birmingham on February 4, 2017.
Black Sabbath's sound - heavy, slow, blues-based, often built on detuned guitar riffs and minor-key harmony - defined heavy metal as a distinct genre. Tony Iommi's guitar work, played with finger tip prosthetics after a workplace accident, established the foundational vocabulary of metal lead and rhythm playing. Their lyrics frequently engaged with darker subject matter including war, occult imagery, and social criticism.
Original Vertigo Swirl pressings of the early-1970s catalog are foundational items in metal collecting. The catalog has been extensively reissued, including multiple anniversary box sets, Super Deluxe editions, and audiophile pressings.
Listeners new to Black Sabbath typically start with Paranoid (1970) or Master of Reality (1971). Heaven and Hell (1980) is a common entry point for the Dio era.
