In The Groove, Metal Madness, Seventies

IN THE GROOVE: METAL MADNESS (October 10, 2023)

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

🤘🏽 ☠️ 🤘🏽

During the late 1960s and early 1970s a new musical genre developed into a phenomenon that is still going strong some 50 years later and shows no sign of slowing down. In case you didn’t get the hint from my new header image, I’m talking about heavy metal!

Today I’m featuring another group from the “unholy trinity”, a band Bill and I got to see for the first time in November, 1970 at the Fillmore East. You may recall I mentioned the Fillmore last week but if you are not familiar with the venue, please Google it; that place was the spot to be, especially for groups just starting out. We spent many a Friday or Saturday night there watching group after group, acts ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Cat Stevens, Vanilla Fudge to The Who. There were usually three to four bands each night doing two sets each and our tickets were good for the whole night. We often say it would be easier for us to make a list of groups we haven’t seen than those we have seen. The Fillmore East was a fabulous place for us …. an up close and personal introduction into the world of music!

Now it’s time to talk a little about our next group; I promise, this won’t take long. Brace yourselves, kids, and summon all your courage. The madness continues with group #2 on the list: Black Sabbath.

Sabbath was formed in Birmingham, England in 1968 by guitarist Toni Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osborne. Like so many young guys from that time period, they were looking to escape a life of factory work through music. They got their start in such bands as the psychedelic Rare Breed and Mythology. Influenced by the reigning British rock and blues bands of Led Zeppelin, Cream and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, our four enterprising guys formed Earth Blues Company (shortened to Earth) in 1968. Then, as Black Sabbath, the group helped define the heavy metal music genre early in its career with the release of albums such as the eponymous Black Sabbath (1970), Paranoid (1971) and Master of Reality (1971).

Black Sabbath has sold over 75 million records worldwide, making the group one of the most commercially successful metal bands. They were ranked by MTV as the “Greatest Metal Band of All Time” and placed 2nd on VH1’s list of “100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock”. Black Sabbath was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. In 2019 the band was presented a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ok, boys and girls, it’s time for a little less conversation and a lot more action. My Sabbath playlist is primed and ready; are you? Listen to any, listen to all; each one is great!

From the group’s second studio LP, “Paranoid”, this is “Iron Man”:

Are you game for a couple more? As I said before, listen to as many or as few as you like; we’re here to have fun!

Now for a little change of pace. Break out your cigarette lighters for our last one …. the softer side of Sabbath. This is “Changes”. ✌🏼

That’s the way it is with heavy metal music and groups like Black Sabbath; you can’t stop at just one!

I hope you enjoyed this edition of Metal Madness. Please join me next week for the third member of the “unholy trinity”. Are you having fun yet, gang? The party’s really heating up now! 🤘🏽 🔥

See you on the flip side.

I’m The Sicilian Storyteller

NAR © 2023

26 thoughts on “IN THE GROOVE: METAL MADNESS (October 10, 2023)”

      1. I saw an article on Facebook. It’s already been nine celebrities passing in July. Malcolm Jamal Warner, Ozzy Osbourne, and Hulk Hogan were the three most recent. Oh and Chuck Magione

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  2. I used to wake my soldiers up by playing “Sweet Leaf”. It didn’t go over well at first then it became a thing. I notice you posted “Changes” I somehow turned my late wife on to that track. Nice post!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. One thing true metal fans around the world have in common is they don’t make fun of others music tastes and happily accept anyone among the family; having been on the receiving end of criticism and marginalized, we are anything but towards others…

    A fantastic feature, Nancy 🤘 but then again, how can anything less be expected from you?

    And yes, closing off with my favorite Black Sabbath era

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Everything you said in your first paragraph is so true and I could not have written a better, more accurate statement.

      Very appreciative of you high praise, Nick! We all know that no matter what we do we will never please everyone …. but there’s nothing wrong in trying!

      Grazie siempre e infinite. ❤︎ 🤘🏼

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  4. I apologise for my flippant response earlier today. I had the volume quite high on my laptop, and it (well, quite literally) blew me off my chair. So, I took a different tack on your post, Nancy, by reading the lyrics to both Iron Man and Paranoid.

    Ironman: strikes me as a Dickensian view of tedious labour, and working class people. It could be any time, anywhere. But it’s feels Dickensian to me. Council estates, terraced rows of housing, coal residue clinging black as lungs, illness and death. How to escape it before it takes you with it. Health and safety were never on the agenda for workers in mills or factories and mines. It’s how to undress misery, I think.

    “Is he dead or alive – has he thoughts in his head.”

    Walking dead comes to mind.

    Paranoid: undertones of depression and psychosis, and maybe enjoyment of pleasure and pain. I’ve read in a Nick Tosches’s review that t-shirts for Paranoid were on sale at Walmart. I suppose for many, Paranoid still holds a febrile attraction – Grammy Awards, Hall of Fame.

    But I’ll end here – my words are becoming an arpeggio, which might suggest where my heart is. ♥️

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    2. You are spot on, especially regarding Iron Man.
      As I hinted in my Black Sabbath intro, these four guys suffered the same plight as many young men …. give up your youth and life to working day after day in the factories, the mines or on the docks doing back-breaking manual labor and earning barely enough to exist or find an escape through music. This is true for so many guys who formed bands back then. And success did not come overnight. They earned it all.
      This is just one of the many reasons I love this music so much and why I get annoyed at people who dismiss it out of hand as nothing but noise.
      Thank you sincerely for your acknowledgement of the work I do here; I try my best to do my best. I don’t believe in doing anything half-assed. I especially love the fact that you opened your mind and took the time to learn some things about Black Sabbath instead of closing your device and choosing ignorance.
      You rock, sis! 🤘🏼 ❤️

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  7. I’ve never listened to Black Sabbath before, but I really enjoyed Paranoid. That bass line was phenomenal. I will admit I was surprised to see how young they were too

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Tell me what you're thinking. 🖊️