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Earth/Black Sabbath
| BAND MEMBER |
FULL NAME |
BIRTHDATE |
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Ozzy Osbourne [vocals/harmonica]
Tony Iommi [guitar]
Bill Ward [drums]
Geezer Butler [bass]
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John Michael Osbourne
Anthony Frank Iommi
William Ward
Terence Michael Butler |
Dec. 3, 1948
Feb 19, 1948
May 5, 1948
July 17, 1949
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 STILL FALLS THE RAIN
(poem that appeared on 'Black Sabbath' - the groups debut album)
"Still falls the rain,
the veils of darkness shroud the blackened trees,
which, contorted by some unseen violence,
shed their tired leaves, and bend their boughs
toward a gray earth of severed bird wings.
Among the grasses, poppies bleed before a gesticulating death,
and young rabbits, born dead in traps,
stand motionless, as though guarding the silence
that surrounds and threatens to engulf
all those that would listen.
Mute birds, tired of repeating yesterdays terrors,
huddle together in the recesses of dark corners,
heads turned from the dead, black swan
that floats upturned in a small pool in the hollow.
There emerges from this pool a faint, sensual mist,
that traces its way upwards to caress the feet
of the headless martyr's statue
whose only achievement was to die too soon,
and who couldn't wait to loose.
The cataract of darkness forms fully,
the long black night begins, yet still
by the lake a young girl waits.
Unseeing she believes herself unseen, she smiles faintly
at the distant tolling bell, and the still falling rain."
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Becoming Black Sabbath
Jim Simpson was a musician and the manager of the 'Bakerloo Blues Band'. In order to better promote the band he opened 'Henry's Blueshouse. The Blueshouse was an major success, and shortly after it was opened it had to stop accepting new bands. Among the first to play there was Led Zeppelin. In 1969 the four members approached Simpson, requesting to play at Henry's. They also asked him to become their manager, as they knew nothing of the business side of music. Simpson arranged for the band to open for 'Ten Years After' and agreed to manage them. Earth was pleased to have found a manager, and with the opportunity to play at Henry's, but the arrangement would eventually turn into a nightmare for the band, though it would be a long time before they realized it themselves.
The group recorded a song in tribute of their new manager entitled "Song for Jim", which is still widely sought after by Sabbath fans, thought extremely hard to find. The band also received some of Simpson's jazz records to inspire them in their writing.
While waiting to go into rehearsal one day, the group noticed a movie playing called "Black Sabbath" and Geezer said he thought it strange that people would go to a movie to scare themselves silly. They group decided to use the name for the title of their first original song. Until this point they had played other artists music.
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"For the first part of their career they were managed by two of the
biggest crooks in the business. They made nothing, I mean nothing."
...Sharon on Sabbath's early management.
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The name went from that of a song to the groups identity when they realized that there was another band with the name 'Earth'. When they entered Henry's to do a gig, someone mentioned that they liked the bands single. Having never released a single, they immediately realized there was a name problem. That night was disastrous - the crowd being upper-class and expecting a totally different type of music than that which the group gave them. As a result of the incident, Geezer suggested that they change their name to "Black Sabbath' after the Karloff movie. This gave the band a name and title song. It has also been said that the name came from Geezer's interest in occult writer Denis Wheatley...
Not having any money, the band relied on Iommi's mother who owned a chocolate shop. They used her van, and
 she provided them with food and cigarettes. Sometimes the group would land gigs on their own, but more often they would show up at places where other bands were scheduled to play, and if a band failed to show up, Sabbath would take their place. When they played the Star Club in Hamburg in Jan. 1969, (a place the Beatles had made famous) they were so popular that they were booked for another five shows. They would play seven shows a day, writing new material as they went. This is evident in their early albums where the songs lyrics differed from the stage to the final album version.
Although Sabbath has long been plagued by cries of 'Devil Worshipers' and 'Satanists', the devil had nothing to do with the choice of the name, regardless of how dark and satanic the name sounded. This point is strengthened by the following incident: As the band began to make news a group of satanists asked them to play at their "Night of Satan" at Stonehenge. They flatly refused, for which they were later informed by the head witch, Alec Sanders, that the group had placed a hex on the band members. Ozzy apparently asked his father to make them up some aluminum crosses, and they wore them 24 hours a day for protection, seeming to take the threat seriously.
continued
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