Welcome to an emotionally charged Top Ten Things, here at Enuffa.com!
The world has just lost a legend. One of the most influential figures in rock n' roll history, one of the founding fathers of what has for me been the life-altering genre of heavy metal, has left our existential plane. This week, Ozzy Osbourne lost his battle with Parkinson's disease at the age of 76, only two weeks removed from his farewell concert in Birmingham. The timing really supports the idea that when people have something they want to accomplish late in life, they tend to stay alive long enough to do it. I can't imagine how thankful all those musicians must feel to have been part of what was truly Ozzy's swan song.
As for my relationship with Ozzy and his work, I've always been sort of a casual fan. I discovered, or more accurately sought out Black Sabbath when I was thirteen, motivated by having heard "Iron Man," or more accurately a knockoff of "Iron Man" used as the entrance theme for legendary wrestling tag team The Road Warriors. So I decided to buy a cassette of Paranoid, and slowly explored that album. But for a while that was as far as I got with Ozzy's music. It wasn't until 1991's No More Tears album that I began to appreciate his solo work, and a couple years later the first of two Sabbath tribute albums, Nativity In Black came out, introducing me to many more of their classic songs.
One interesting thing I've noticed about Sabbath's songwriting: on the early albums especially there are almost no vocal chorus hooks. Ozzy would sing verse sections and then leave the guitar riff as the main feature and de facto "chorus." You don't notice it until you really stop and think about what's happening in the songs, but there it is. Next time you hear "NIB" or "War Pigs" or "Symptom of the Universe" or "Black Sabbath," notice how its the guitar and not the vocals that get most of the glory. This approach really did pave the way for bands like Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer, where the guitar riff is king.
Having grown up with 60s rock n' roll parents, I wasn't exposed to much 1970s music as a kid, thus I was very late to the party in acquiring a taste for artists like Led Zeppelin, Queen, Rush, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, and yes, Black Sabbath. So my ranking of the band's best works may differ from some of yours. But let's take a look.....
10. Technical Ecstasy
Sabbath's seventh record was a big departure from their signature sound, as they tried to incorporate more 70s prog and arena rock tropes into the mix. Tony Iommi produced the album and left lots and lots (and lots) of room for extended guitar solos and some synth parts, and while many of the songs contain strong riff ideas, Ozzy's vocal melodies don't really match that energy, and his lyrical content strayed into cheeseball AOR territory ("Rock n' Roll Doctor??"). Thus most of the songs are fairly forgettable. Technical Ecstasy sounds like a band going through an identity crisis, with the different members not necessarily being on the same page. There definitely seems to be some Zeppelin and KISS influence on this album, and the song "It's Alright" (sung by Bill Ward) sounds like Paul McCartney could've written it. Nothing wrong with letting some of these inspirations into the music, but the execution was just very uneven. Also why are the robots on the cover peeing on each other?
Key Tracks: Gypsy, All Moving Parts (Stand Still), She's Gone
9. 13
2013 saw the original Sabbath lineup (minus Bill Ward, replaced by Rage Against the Machine's Brad Wilk) reunite for their first album together in 35 years, titled simply 13. Produced by Rick Rubin, this album feels like an attempt to recreate Sabbath's classic sound with modern recording techniques. It achieves that to a certain extent but unfortunately a lot of the songs are rather meandering (on average nearly seven minutes) and not all that discernable from each other. The band remembered the notes but not the music, so to speak. All the ingredients for a return to form are there, but the urgency and exuberance are missing, as though Sabbath didn't have much new to say.
Key Tracks: End of the Beginning, God Is Dead?, Dear Father
8. Heaven and Hell
After handing Ozzy his walking papers in 1979, Sabbath recruited ex-Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio as his replacement, forming a supergroup of sorts. Their first album together was the 1980 release Heaven and Hell, which sold like hotcakes and was very well received critically. But as great as Dio's soaring vocals are, this iteration scarcely resembles Black Sabbath at all. By the early 80s the band's sound started to blend in with the metal bands they'd inspired, like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden (The track "Die Young" sounds like it could've been on Maiden's first record, released a week before this one). As Zakk Wylde would later lament, "They should've just called the band Heaven and Hell....That sounds about as much like Black Sabbath as Blizzard of Ozz does." This album is a perfectly solid early 80s metal record, but if you're in the mood to hear Black Sabbath, this definitely would not be the album you'd put on. Dio would stay with Sabbath for one more album - 1981's Mob Rules - before departing to form his own band, returning for one additional record in 1992.
Key Tracks: Children of the Sea, Heaven and Hell, Lonely is the Word
7. Vol. 4
My least favorite of their classic output is the fourth album, titled Vol. 4. The band started to fully experiment with different styles here, adding some jazz flourishes to a few songs and even including a piano ballad. The album has a few gems but nothing that stands up with their finest tunes in my opinion. I was never a fan of "Changes," but "Supernaut" and "Snowblind" are very good Sabbath songs. "Laguna Sunrise" is a pretty little acoustic instrumental, though I wish they'd have fleshed it out more. Overall I consider Vol. 4 an admirable but not entirely successful effort at experimentation.
Key Tracks: Supernaut, Snowblind, Laguna Sunrise
6. Never Say Die!
Ozzy's final Black Sabbath album for the next 35 years was this eclectic, arena rock-esque departure which seemingly carries influences from burgeoning 70s acts like Boston and KISS, with some more jazz thrown in. Rather poorly received upon its release, Never Say Die! nonetheless has some very strong material, including the title track and the super-hooky, vocal harmony-laden "A Hard Road." Members of the band itself were not high on the record; Bill Ward said it was easily their worst album, while Ozzy hated the direction so much he was often absent from the studio, ultimately resulting in the band firing him less than a year later. But like so many "wacky left turn" albums by other bands (Metallica's Load, Megadeth's Risk), if you forget who put the record out and just listen to it on its own merits, it's actually pretty good.
Key Tracks: Never Say Die!, Junior's Eyes, A Hard Road
5. Master of Reality
At 34 minutes, Sabbath's third album is their most concise, boasting only six full-length tracks (plus two instrumentals totaling two minutes). But aside from the lackluster (in my opinion) "After Forever," MOR contains nary a misstep. From the opening ode to weed "Sweet Leaf" to the syncopated metal shuffle of "Children of the Grave" to the Satanic "Lord of this World" to the Moody Blues-tinged "Solitude" to the album's doomy closer "Into the Void," Master of Reality is chock full of Sabbath mainstays, building on their signature sound while beginning to branch out into new territory.
Key Tracks: Sweet Leaf, Lord of This World, Solitude
4. Black Sabbath
In 1970 a new genre of rock n' roll was born. Out of the blues-influenced hard rock pioneered by bands like Cream, Led Zeppelin, and The Beatles (whom I credit with helping invent heavy metal with the song "Helter Skelter") was spawned a gloom-and-doom filled opus called Black Sabbath, the eponymous debut album by four guys from Birmingham, England. The opening title track laid the foundation for this visceral, intense new style of music with an ominous, tritone-based guitar riff that cut right to the point and introduced the world to what the soundtrack to Hell might sound like. The far-reaching influence of this guitar riff cannot be overstated; it was the blueprint for metal music and every one of Sabbath's offspring, both direct and indirect, owes it a debt. Elsewhere on this strangely sequenced album (the US release contains only five tracks, two of which are multi-part compound tracks), classic Sabbath songs like "The Wizard" and "N.I.B." further demonstrated the band's dark, mythical new take on hard rock n' roll. Black Sabbath truly plays like a prototype for the metal genre, much as Metallica's Kill 'Em All would for speed metal 13 years later.
Key Tracks: Black Sabbath, The Wizard, N.I.B.
3. Sabotage
These top three all place very close together for different reasons. The band's sixth album came after the melodic semi-departure from Sabbath's signature sound that was Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, and was almost a mix of the two approaches. Sabotage features two marathons in "Megalomania" and "The Writ," and "Symptom of the Universe" ends with a bouncy, Spanish-tinged acoustic jam. But the album also includes some of their most aggressive material in songs like "Hole in the Sky" (a direct influence on bands like Corrosion of Conformity and songs like "Stonebreaker") and the iconic main riff of "Symptom." Likewise, Ozzy's vocals sound angrier and more attitude-laced than usual. Sabotage is a great mix of where the band started and where it was going, the last great album before a bit of a creative decline in the late 70s.
Key Tracks: Hole in the Sky, Symptom of the Universe, Megalomania
2. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
This one is a very close second for me, as the band showed huge songwriting growth here. SBS incorporated some new musical elements and elevated their production game significantly, and Ozzy really stretched his vocal range like crazy on this record. Rick Wakeman of Yes provided piano and Moog parts on "Sabbra Cadabra" for some additional texture, and The Phantom Fiddlers did the same for "Spiral Architect" with lush string parts. Sabbath explored some new progressive rock territory on this album, and it paid off in spades, with colorful, melodically sophisticated, memorable songs.
Key Tracks: A National Acrobat, Sabbra Cadabra, Looking for Today
1. Paranoid
I couldn't in good conscience rank anything else at the top. Paranoid was my Sabbath/Ozzy gateway so it has sentimental value, but how can you argue with an album like this one? "War Pigs," "Iron Man," "Electric Funeral," "Hand of Doom," and the hastily composed but nevertheless iconic title track - it's almost a Greatest Hits album in its own right. Nevermind the absolutely AWFUL cover art, I dunno what the band was thinking using a pic of some dork in a goofy homemade sci-fi/fantasy costume (Why is he wielding a sword and shield AND wearing a motorcycle helmet, and what does any of it have to do with the album's title?) Despite the ridiculousness of the image on the front, Paranoid is a masterpiece of proto-metal, containing numerous enduring classic tunes. It's essential listening for any fan of heavy music.
Key Tracks: War Pigs, Iron Man, Electric Funeral
And that about wraps it up. I hope you enjoyed this casual fan's take on Sabbath lore. Rest in power, Mr. Osbourne, and thank you for co-creating the greatest music genre in the world!
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