Black Sabbath

605,162 listeners (15,538,967 plays)

heavy metal, metal, hard rock, classic rock, rock… see all

Birmingham, England (1968 – present)

Black Sabbath is an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, originally comprising Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass), and Bill Ward (drums). In the early ’70s they were the first to pair heavily distorted, sonically dissonant blues-rock at slow speeds with lyrics about drugs, mental pain and abominations of war (they came from Aston, a poor district of Birmingham damaged by bombing during World War II), thus giving birth to generations upon generations of metal bands that followed in their wake.

Black Sabbath formed in Birmingham, England in 1968 under the name Polka Tulk Blues Band (soon shortened to “Polka Tulk”), and later Earth. Initially a blues-rock band, Earth moved in a darker direction when their bassist, Geezer Butler, a fan of the black magic novels of Dennis Wheatley, wrote lyrics for an occult-themed song titled “Black Sabbath” (the song name was inspired by a 1963 Mario Bava film), and Tony Iommi wrote a riff based on the tritone, sometimes called “diablos in musica” (“the Devil in Music”). In their Last Supper concert film, the band stated that the song is based on an experience Geezer had one night when he saw a black object at the end of his bed and noticed the next day that an occult book Ozzy had given him was missing. When the band found themselves being confused with another local band called Earth, they adopted the song title as their new name.

1	Paranoid full track	8,945
2	Iron Man	5,692
3	War Pigs	3,842
4	Planet Caravan	2,692
5	Electric Funeral	2,654
6	Black Sabbath	2,501
7	The Wizard	2,442
8	Sweet Leaf	2,423
9	Children of the Grave	2,406
10	Sabbath Bloody Sabbath	2,101
11	N.I.B.	1,815
12	Heaven and Hell	1,783
13	Snowblind	1,722
14	Hand of Doom	1,701
15	Into the Void	1,573

Top Albums

Paranoid
Black Sabbath
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Master of Reality
Black Sabbath
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Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
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Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Black Sabbath
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s4l0m0n wrote:
11 hours ago

When the apocalypse finally comes, god will play electric funeral!

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gregj5555 wrote:
yesterday evening

i love these guys..witch is kinda surprising..since i usually hate "heavily distorted, sonically dissonant blues-rock at slow speeds with lyrics about drugs, mental pain and abominations of war" (Quoted form description)...but Black Sabbath is more than that..thier songs and lyrics are all true and have actual meanings..not just "Fuck it all" or "Life sucks" like most of todays bands who "sound" similar to them..whos with me here?

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Siman88 wrote:
yesterday afternoon

Symthom of the Universe rox, indeed.

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munchies1 wrote:
yesterday afternoon

its all about sabotage! SYMPTOM OF THE UNIVERSE DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

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monbozia wrote:
yesterday afternoon

Agreed with below. For me, it's early Ozzy or nothin' at all. (first 5 albums)

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mrvenlafaxine wrote:
yesterday morning

pre-dio sabbath ftw!!

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SadWingsThorn wrote:
yesterday morning

STFU Xbox360!

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FromHeartache wrote:
Thursday afternoon

http://www.last.fm/group/The+British+Rock+Artists+League - Join to make your favourite team be a champion!

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GravelessSouls wrote:
Wednesday evening

Join if you only listen to full albums. http://www.last.fm/group/Full+Albums+Only

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elhector_ wrote:
Tuesday evening

http://www.last.fm/group/The+group+with+666+members join

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FightforFreedom wrote:
Tuesday evening

(Usually) Prefer live over studio? Then check this group out. http://www.last.fm/group/Live+is+better+than+Studio

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FromHeartache wrote:
Tuesday evening

Join the latest craze. Want a failure to the big brother of http://www.last.fm/group/The+British+Rock-Metal+Upcommers+League to be in here? well come and join in!

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ReverendDoom wrote:
Tuesday afternoon

they need to add a few dozen more tracks here... Paranoid doesn't cut it.

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dominic508 wrote:
Tuesday afternoon

''Trivium Own these posers! '' Lol I hope that was sarcastic O_o

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Rooster__ wrote:
Tuesday afternoon

Trivium Own these posers!

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JohnnyArvik wrote:
Tuesday afternoon

i love the wah-wah effect on Electric Funeral, niiiice

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peaceloveandlsd wrote:
Tuesday morning

shout out to tony iommi!

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Adrienne__ wrote:
Tuesday morning

I listened to the Eternal Idol recently. Not bad. Not bad at all. . .

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munchies1 wrote:
Monday evening

holy riffs

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MadMalakian wrote:
Monday evening

Paranoid is a fucking masterpiece...

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