Black Sabbath

BIOGRAPHY


Black Sabbath are a British heavy metal band originally composed of Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass), Bill Ward (drums).

Black Sabbath started in Birmingham, England in the late 60s under the name Earth.. Initially a blues band. Black Sabbath became one of the definitive classic heavy metal bands, to be ranked alongside Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Judas Priest.

With a competent rhythm section and the extraordinary antics of Osbourne the band enjoyed success with their British metal of brutal riffs right from their first album, the eponymous Black Sabbath (1970). Their second album Paranoid (1970) made them a success in America. Both the albums's tunes and covers marked the band as influenced by the occult and 'black' magic.

They released a further three albums, Master of Reality (1971), Vol. 4 (1972) and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973) before management problems and the label change from Vertigo to WWA ruined the bands schedules in 1973. The next album Sabotage was not released until 1975 and the follow-up to that, Technical Ecstasy (1976) was the last Ozzy-Era album in the heavy Sabbath style.

In 1978 the band released Never Say Die and rumours that Osbourne was to leave the band were proved true in 1979 (Osbourne formed Blizzard of Ozz, swiftly renamed to Ozzy Osbourne Band). He was replaced by Ronnie James Dio but it was the end of an era.

Black Sabbath's first album with Dio, Heaven and Hell, did much to bring back the Sabbath spirit of heavy metal. However, after the departure of Bill Ward, with the Mob Rules album, they started to lose their touch, effectively fading into generic heavy metal oblivion for the most part.

That is, until the reunion of all the original Sabbath members in 1998.

The band rarely received any critical praise ("blundering bozos" was one description) and Osbourne vocal talent can be safely labelled as exuberant but non-existent. Their musical talent and ingenuity are however irrefutable. They served as a pioneer in the heavy metal field, and many heavy metal bands cite Sabbath as their inspiration, including such famous and successful groups as Iron Maiden and Metallica.

Many of the incidents and characters in the spoof rock documentary This is Spinal Tap are based on Black Sabbath.

Members

Tony Iommi - guitar
Ozzy Osbourne - vocals
Geezer Butler - bass
Bill Ward - drums
Geoff Nichols - keyboards
Rick Wakeman - keyboards (guest musician)
Dave Walker - vocals (never recorded)
Don Airey - keyboards (guest musician)
Ronnie James Dio - vocals
Vinny Appice - drums
Ian Gillan - vocals
Bev Bevan - drums
Dave Donato - vocals (never recorded)
Jeff Fenholt - vocals (never officially released)
Glenn Hughes - vocals
Ray Gillen - vocals (recorded "Eternal Idol," vocals redone by Tony Martin)
Dave Spitz - bass
Eric Singer - drums
Jo Burt - bass (never recorded)
Terry Chimes - drums (never recorded)
Gordon Copley - bass
Tony Martin - vocals
Bob Daisley - bass
Eric Singer - drums
Laurence Cottle - bass
Cozy Powell - drums
Rob Halford - vocals (never recorded)
Neil Murray - bass
Bobby Rondinelli - drums


Current line-up

Ozzy Osbourne - vocals
Tony Iommi - guitar
Geezer Butler - bass
Bill Ward - drums


Lineup reunions

In 1985, the original members of Black Sabbath (Iommi/Butler/Osbourne/Ward) reunited for the Live Aid benefit concert. They played only three songs ("Children Of The Grave", "Iron Man" and "Paranoid").
In 1992, the 1980-1982 version of Black Sabbath (Iommi/Butler/Dio/Appice) reunited and toured for the album Dehumanizer.
In 1992, the original members of Black Sabbath played three songs after one of Ozzy Osbourne's "retirement" concerts in Costa Mesa, California.
In 1995, the 1989-1991 version of the band (Iommi/Powell/Martin/Murray/Nicholls) reunited for the album and tour for Forbidden.
In 1997-98, the original members of Black Sabbath reunited, toured and released Reunion. In 1999, 2001, 2004 and 2005 the original Black Sabbath toured on Osbourne's Ozzfest festival. Since at least 2001, there have been rumours of a new album with new songs, but to date, nothing has surfaced, and no formal plans to record have been made. They recorded demos but decided they were not up to the legacy of the band.
According to Osbourne's website, the band are discussing the possibility of a new album; the official announcement will be during 2007.

Black Sabbath discography



Studio and live albums

1970 Black Sabbath

1970 (U.K.),
1971 (U.S.) Paranoid
1971 Master of Reality

1972 Black Sabbath, Vol. 4

1973 Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

1975 Sabotage

1976 Technical Ecstasy

1978 Never Say Die!

1980 Heaven and Hell

1981 Mob Rules

1982 Live Evil (live)

1983 Born Again

1986 Seventh Star

1987 The Eternal Idol

1989 Headless Cross

1990 Tyr

1992 Dehumanizer

1994 Cross Purposes

1995 Cross Purposes Live (live)
1995 Forbidden

1998 Reunion (live)

2002 (Recorded 1970-1975) Past Lives (live)
2007 (Recorded 1981) (live) Live at Hammersmith Odeon Rhino Handmade



Compilation albums



1975 We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll

1996 The Sabbath Stones (Compilation of 1983-1995 material)
2002 Symptom of the Universe: The Original Black Sabbath 1970-1978 (Compilation - Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward)
2004 Black Box: The Complete Original Black Sabbath (1970-1978) (Box set - Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward)
2006 Greatest Hits 1970-1978 (Compilation - Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward)

2007 Black Sabbath: The Dio Years (Compilation CD of Dio Material)





Singles




1969 "Evil Woman" - - - - Black Sabbath
1970 "Black Sabbath" - - - - Black Sabbath
1970 "N.I.B." - - - - Black Sabbath
1970 "The Wizard" - - - - Black Sabbath
1970 "Paranoid" - - Paranoid
1971 "Iron Man" - - - Paranoid
1971 "War Pigs" - - - - Paranoid
1971 "Fairies Wear Boots" - - - - Paranoid
1971 "Sweet Leaf" - - - - Master of Reality
1971 "Children of the Grave" - - - - Master of Reality
1972 "After Forever" - - - - Master of Reality
1972 "Snowblind" - - - - Vol. 4
1972 "Tomorrow's Dream" - - - - Vol. 4
1973 "Supernaut" - - - - Vol. 4
1973 "Changes" - - - - Vol. 4
1973 "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" - - - - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
1974 "Sabbra Cadabra" - - - - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
1975 "Am I Going Insane? (Radio)" - - - - Sabotage
1975 "Hole in the Sky" - - - - Sabotage
1975 "Symptom of the Universe" - - - - Sabotage
1976 "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor" - - - - Technical Ecstasy
1976 "Dirty Women" - - - - Technical Ecstasy
1978 "Never Say Die!" - - - Never Say Die!
1978 "A Hard Road" - - - Never Say Die!
1980 "Neon Knights" - Heaven and Hell
1980 "Heaven and Hell" - - - - Heaven and Hell
1980 "Children of the Sea" - - - - Heaven and Hell
1980 "Die Young" - - - Heaven and Hell
1981 "Mob Rules" - - Mob Rules
1982 "Turn Up The Night" - Mob Rules
1982 "Voodoo" - - - Mob Rules
1982 "E5150" - - - - Mob Rules
1983 "Trashed" - - - - Born Again
1986 "No Stranger to Love" - - - - Seventh Star
1989 "Headless Cross" - - - Headless Cross
1989 "Devil and Daughter" - - - Headless Cross
1990 "Feels Good To Me" - - - Tyr
1992 "TV Crimes" - - - Dehumanizer
1992 "I" - - - - Dehumanizer
1992 "Computer God" - - - - Dehumanizer
1998 "Psycho Man" - - - Reunion
1999 "Selling My Soul" - - - Reunion
2000 "N.I.B. (with Primus)" - - Nativity in Black II: A Tribute to Black Sabbath
2007 "The Devil Cried"

Mixing equal parts bone-crushing volume, catatonic tempos, and ominous pronouncements of gloom and doom delivered in Ozzy Osbourne's keening voice, Black Sabbath was the heavy-metal king of the '70s. Despised by rock critics and ignored by radio programmers, the group sold over 8 million albums before Osbourne departed for a solo career in 1979 [see entry]. The band's original lineup reunited for a two-year tour in 1997.

The four original members, schoolmates from a working-class district of industrial Birmingham, first joined forces as the Polka Tulk Blues Company, a blues band. They quickly changed their name to Earth, then, in 1969, to Black Sabbath; the name came from the title of a song written by bassist Geezer Butler, a fan of occult novelist Dennis Wheatley. It may also have been an homage to a Boris Karloff film. The quartet’s eponymously titled 1970 debut, recorded in two days, went to #8 in England and #23 in the U.S. A single, “Paranoid,” released in advance of the album of the same name, reached #4 in the U.K. later that year; it was the group’s only Top 20 hit.

The single didn’t make the U.S. Top 40, but the Paranoid LP, issued in early 1971, eventually sold 4 million copies despite virtually no airplay. Beginning in December 1970 Sabbath toured the States relentlessly. Despite the band members’ intense drug and alcohol abuse, the constant road work paid off, and by 1974 Black Sabbath was considered peerless among heavy-metal acts, its first five LPs all having sold at least a million copies apiece in America alone.

In spite of their name, the crosses erected onstage, and songs dealing with apocalypse, death, and destruction, the band members insisted their interest in the black arts was nothing more than innocuous curiosity (the sort that led Ozzy Osbourne to sit through eight showings of The Exorcist), and in time Black Sabbath’s princes-of-darkness image faded. Eventually, so did its record sales. Aside from a platinum best-of, We Sold Our Soul for Rock ’n’ Roll (1976), not one of three LPs from 1975 to 1978 went gold. Osbourne, racked by drug use and excessive drinking, quit the band briefly in late 1977 (ex–Savoy Brown–Fleetwood Mac vocalist Dave Walker filled his shoes for some live dates). In January 1979 he was fired. Ronnie James Dio, formerly of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, replaced Osbourne.

Although Dio could belt with the best of them, Sabbath would never be the same. Its first album with Dio, Heaven and Hell (1980), went platinum; its second, Mob Rules (1981), gold. But thereafter, the group’s LPs sold fewer and fewer copies, as Black Sabbath went through one personnel change after another. Ill health forced Bill Ward out of the band in 1980; Carmine Appice’s brother Vinnie took his place. Friction between Iommi and Dio led the singer to quit angrily in 1982; he took Appice with him to start his own band, Dio. Vocalists over the years have included Dave Donato; Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan; Glenn Hughes, another ex-member of Purple; Tony Martin; and Dio again.

By 1986’s Seventh Star, only Iommi remained from the original lineup. He had to wince when Geezer Butler teamed up with the phenomenally successful Osbourne in 1988, though the bassist did return to the fold three years later. Despite bitterness expressed in the press between Osbourne and Iommi, the original foursome reunited in 1985 at the Live Aid concert in Philadelphia, and again in 1992, at the end of what was supposedly Osbourne’s last tour. Throughout 1993 word had it that Osbourne, Iommi, Butler, and Ward would tour, but by year’s end Osbourne had backed out, allegedly over money. The indefatigable Tony Iommi went right back to work with Butler, rehiring vocalist Tony Martin and adding former Rainbow drummer Rob Rondinelli. That lineup proved as unstable as the previous one, with drummers coming, going, and returning over the following years. Despite hiring Body Count’s Ernie C to produce 1995’s Forbidden (and inviting guest vocalist Ice-T to sing on a track), Black Sabbath seemed increasingly out of touch with the times, and at the end of the Forbidden Tour, the band unofficially went on hiatus.

But not for long, as Iommi, Butler, and Osbourne reunited to headline Ozzfest 1997. Ward was not invited (he was replaced by Faith No More’s Mike Bordin), but he did participate in two shows in the band’s hometown of Birmingham, England, in December 1997. The resulting live album, Reunion (#11, 1998), also featured two new studio tracks, including the single “Psycho Man.” The album went platinum in the U.S., and the live version of “Iron Man” earned the band its first Grammy for Best Metal Performance - nearly 30 years after the song was originally released. The ensuing tour lasted two years and ended in December 1999. (Ward, who suffered a heart attack in May 1998 before the European tour kicked off, rejoined the group in December 1998; Appice sat in for him while he recuperated). Tony Iommi released his first solo album in 2000; a prestigious roster of guest singers (Osbourne, Billy Corgan, Henry Rollins, Dave Grohl) handled the vocals. Among metalheads, Iommi is something of a guitar god, due in part to the fact that he plays spectacularly despite having lost the tips of two right fingers in a welding accident at age 17. His hero was the great jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, who also lost two fingers and yet continued to play. In mid-2001 it was announced that all original members were writing material for a new Black Sabbath album.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)

"Black Sabbath has been so influential in the development of heavy metal rock music as to be a defining force in the style.
The group took the blues-rock sound of late '60s acts like Cream, Blue Cheer, and Vanilla Fudge to its logical conclusion, slowing the tempo, accentuating the bass, and emphasizing screaming guitar solos and howled vocals full of lyrics expressing mental anguish and macabre fantasies.
If their predecessors clearly came out of an electrified blues tradition, Black Sabbath took that tradition in a new direction, and in so doing helped give birth to a musical style that continued to attract millions of fans decades later.


The group was formed by four teenage friends from Aston, near Birmingham, England: Anthony "Tony" Iommi (b. Feb 19, 1948), guitar; William "Bill" Ward (b. May 5, 1948), drums; John "Ozzy" Osbourne (b. Dec 3, 1948), vocals; and Terence "Geezer" Butler (b. Jul 17, 1949), bass. They originally called their jazz-blues band Polka Tulk, later renaming themselves Earth, and they played extensively in Europe. In early 1969, they decided to change their name again when they found that they were being mistaken for another group called Earth. Butler had written a song that took its title from a novel by occult writer Dennis Wheatley, Black Sabbath, and the group adopted it as their name as well. As they attracted attention for their live performances, record labels showed interest, and they were signed to Phillips Records in 1969. In January 1970, the Phillips subsidiary Fontana released their debut single, "Evil Woman (Don't Play Your Games With Me)," a cover of a song that had just become a U.S. hit for Crow; it did not chart. The following month, a different Phillips subsidiary, Vertigo, released Black Sabbath's self-titled debut album, which reached the U.K. Top Ten. Though it was a less immediate success in the U.S. -- where the band's recordings were licensed to Warner Bros. Records and appeared in May 1970 -- the LP broke into the American charts in August, reaching the Top 40, remaining in the charts over a year, and selling a million copies.


Appearing at the start of the '70s, Black Sabbath embodied the Balkanization of popular music that followed the relatively homogenous second half of the 1960s. As exemplified by its most popular act, the Beatles, the 1960s suggested that many different aspects of popular music could be integrated into an eclectic style with a broad appeal. The Beatles were as likely to perform an acoustic ballad as a hard rocker or R&B-influenced tune. At the start of the 1970s, however, those styles began to become more discrete for new artists, with soft rockers like James Taylor and the Carpenters emerging to play only ballad material, and hard rockers like Led Zeppelin and Grand Funk Railroad taking a radically different course, while R&B music turned increasingly militant. The first wave of rock critics, which had come into existence with the Beatles, was dismayed with this development, and the new acts tended to be poorly reviewed despite their popularity. Black Sabbath, which took an even more extreme tack than the still blues- and folk-based Led Zeppelin, was lambasted by critics (and though they eventually made their peace with Zeppelin, they never did with Sabbath). But the band had discovered a new audience eager for its uncompromising approach.


Black Sabbath quickly followed its debut album with a second album, Paranoid, in September 1970. The title track, released as a single in advance of the LP, hit the Top Five in the U.K., and the album went to number one there. In the U.S., where the first album had just begun to sell, Paranoid was held up for release until January 1971, again preceded by the title track, which made the singles charts in November; the album broke into the Top Ten in March 1971 and remained in the charts over a year, eventually selling over four million copies, by far the band's best-selling effort. (Its sales were stimulated by the belated release of one of its tracks, "Iron Man," as a U.S. single in early 1972; the 45 got almost halfway up the charts, the band's best showing for an American single.)


Master of Reality, the third album, followed in August 1971, reaching the Top Ten on both sides of the Atlantic and selling over a million copies. Black Sabbath, Vol. 4 (September 1972) was another Top Ten million-seller. For Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (November 1973), the band brought in Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman on one track, signaling a slight change in musical direction; it was Black Sabbath's fifth straight Top Ten hit and million-seller. In 1974, the group went through managerial disputes that idled them for an extended period. When they returned to action in July 1975 with their sixth album, Sabotage, they were welcomed back at home, but in the U.S. the musical climate had changed, making things more difficult for an album-oriented band with a heavy style, and though the LP reached the Top 20, it did not match previous sales levels. Black Sabbath's record labels quickly responded with a million-selling double-LP compilation, We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll (December 1975), and the band contemplated a more pronounced change of musical style. This brought about disagreement, with guitarist Iommi wanting to add elements to the sound, including horns, and singer Osbourne resisting any variation in the formula. Technical Ecstasy (October 1976), which adopted some of Iommi's innovations, was another good -- but not great -- seller, and Osbourne's frustration eventually led to his quitting the band in November 1977. He was replaced for some live dates by former Savoy Brown singer Dave Walker, then returned in January 1978. Black Sabbath recorded its eighth album, Never Say Die! (September 1978), the title track becoming a U.K. Top 40 hit before the LP's release and "Hard Road" making the Top 40 afterwards. But the singles did not improve the album's commercial success, which was again modest, and Osbourne left Black Sabbath for a solo career, replaced in June 1979 by former Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio (b. June 10, 1949). (Also during this period, keyboardist Geoff Nichols became a regular part of the band's performing and recording efforts, though he was not officially considered a band member until later.)


The new lineup took its time getting into the recording studio, not releasing its first effort until April 1980 with Heaven and Hell. The result was a commercial resurgence. In the U.S., the album was a million-seller; in Britain, it was a Top Ten hit that threw off two chart singles, "Neon Knights" and "Die Young." (At the same time, the band's former British record label issued a five-year old concert album, Black Sabbath Live at Last, that was quickly withdrawn, though not before making the U.K. Top Five, and reissued "Paranoid" as a single, getting it into the Top 20.) Meanwhile, drummer Bill Ward left Black Sabbath due to ill health and was replaced by Vinnie Appice. The lineup of Iommi, Butler, Dio, and Appice then recorded Mob Rules (November 1981), which was almost as successful as its predecessor: In the U.S., it went gold, and in the U.K. it reached the Top 20 and spawned two chart singles, the title track and "Turn up the Night." Next on the schedule was a concert album, but Iommi and Dio clashed over the mixing of it, and by the time Live Evil appeared in January 1983, Dio had left Black Sabbath, taking Appice with him.


The group reorganized by persuading original drummer Bill Ward to return and, in a move that surprised heavy metal fans, recruiting Ian Gillan (b. Aug. 19, 1945), former lead singer of Black Sabbath rivals Deep Purple. This lineup -- Iommi, Butler, Ward, and Gillan -- recorded Born Again, released in September 1983. Black Sabbath hit the road prior to the album's release, with drummer Bev Bevan (b. Nov 25, 1946) substituting for Ward, who would return to the band in the spring of 1984. The album was a Top Five hit in the U.K. but only made the Top 40 in the U.S. Gillan remained with Black Sabbath until March 1984, when he joined a Deep Purple reunion and was replaced by singer Dave Donato, who was in the band until October without being featured on any of its recordings.


Black Sabbath reunited with Ozzy Osbourne for its set at the Live Aid concert on July 13, 1985, but soon after the performance, bassist Geezer Butler left the band, and with that the group became guitarist Tony Iommi's vehicle, a fact emphasized by the next album, Seventh Star, released in January 1986 and credited to "Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi." On this release, the lineup was Iommi (guitar); another former Deep Purple singer, Glenn Hughes (b. Aug 21, 1952) (vocals); Dave Spitz (bass); Geoff Nichols (keyboards); and Eric Singer (drums). The album was a modest commercial success, but the new band began to fragment immediately, with Hughes replaced by singer Ray Gillen for the promotional tour in March 1986.


With Black Sabbath now consisting of Iommi and his employees, personnel changes were rapid. The Eternal Idol (November 1987), which failed to crack the U.K. Top 50 or the U.S. Top 100, featured a returning Bev Bevan, bassist Bob Daisley, and singer Tony Martin. Bevan and Daisley didn't stay long, and there were several replacements in the bass and drum positions over the next couple of years. Headless Cross (April 1989), the band's first album for I.R.S. Records, found veteran drummer Cozy Powell (b. Dec 29, 1947, d. Apr 5, 1998) and bassist Laurence Cottle joining Iommi and Martin. It marked a slight uptick in Black Sabbath's fortunes at home, with the title song managing a week in the singles charts. Shortly after its release, Cottle was replaced by bassist Neil Murray. With Geoff Nichols back on keyboards, this lineup made Tyr (August 1990), which charted in the Top 40 in the U.K. but became Black Sabbath's first regular album to miss the U.S. charts.


Iommi was able to reunite the 1979-1983 lineup of the band -- himself, Geezer Butler, Ronnie James Dio, and Vinnie Appice -- for Dehumanizer (June 1992), which brought Black Sabbath back into the American Top 50 for the first time in nine years, while in the U.K. the album spawned "TV Crimes," their first Top 40 hit in a decade. And on November 15, 1992, Iommi, Butler, and Appice backed Ozzy Osbourne as part of what was billed as the singer's final live appearance. Shortly after, it was announced that Osbourne would be rejoining Black Sabbath.

That didn't happen -- yet. Instead, Dio and Appice left again, and Iommi replaced them by bringing back Tony Martin and adding drummer Bob Rondinelli. Cross Purposes (February 1994) was a modest seller, and, with Iommi apparently maintaining a Rolodex of all former members from which to pick and choose, the next album, Forbidden (June 1995), featured returning musicians Cozy Powell, Geoff Nichols, and Neil Murray, along with Iommi and Martin. The disc spent only one week in the British charts, suggesting that Black Sabbath finally had exhausted its commercial appeal, at least as a record seller. With that, the group followed the lead of the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac, putting the most popular lineup of the band back together for a live album with a couple of new studio tracks on it. Recorded in the band's hometown of Birmingham, England, in December 1997, the two-CD set Reunion -- featuring all four of Black Sabbath's original members, Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, and Ward -- was released in October 1998. It charted only briefly in the U.K., but in the U.S. it just missed reaching the Top Ten and went platinum. The track "Iron Man" won Black Sabbath its first Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. The band toured through the end of 1999, concluding their reunion tour on December 22, 1999, back in Birmingham. In February 2001, Black Sabbath announced that it would reunite once again to headline the sixth edition of Ozzfest, Osbourne's summer concert festival, playing 29 cities in the U.S. beginning in June. More surprisingly, the group also announced its intention to record a studio album of all-new material, the original lineup's first since 1978. By the end of the year, a failed recording session with producer Rick Rubin proved what an unreasonable idea this was, and the band laid dormant while Osbourne enjoyed scoring a hit TV series the following spring."

William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide- VH1 biography

Legacy and influence



Thhe late 1980s and early 1990s saw a fairly radical reappraisal of the group: not only of their instrumental skills but also because they had become widely acknowledged as some of the most influential pioneers in the heavy metal field. Osbourne himself received an NME award for "godlike genius" in 2004.

Heavy metal sub-genres doom metal, stoner metal, and sludge metal reflect a direct influence from Black Sabbath, especially the slower, heavier style on the band's earlier albums.

Some of the incidents and characters in the spoof rock documentary This Is Spinal Tap are based on Black Sabbath.
For example the Stonehenge stage set idea in the film was taken from a real stage used by Black Sabbath for their Born Again Tour. In contrast to the set in the film, in which Stonehenge was made too small to be very imposing on stage, the Black Sabbath version of Stonehenge was in fact too large to fit in many of the arenas the band played in. The eventual fate of the set is not clear, although Iommi has said it was probably abandoned on a loading dock somewhere.[citation needed]

Some grunge groups such as Alice in Chains and Soundgarden are influenced by the Sabbath sound.
Hardcore bands like Bad Brains and Black Flag have claimed Black Sabbath as one of their major influences.
Black Flag vocalist Henry Rollins wrote the liner notes for Black Box: The Complete Original Black Sabbath (1970-1978) released in 2004. "Sweet Leaf's" main riff was played by the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the end of their own number "Give It Away". Soundgarden, alongside bands such as Corrosion of Conformity, Soulfly, Therapy?, White Zombie, Megadeth, Godspeed, Ugly Kid Joe, Godsmack and others including Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson appeared on the "Nativity in Black: Tribute to Black Sabbath" series, proving that the legendary band continues to be an inspiration.
Black Sabbath has also inspired bands outside of the heavy metal or hard rock genres. The Cardigans, for instance, have occasionally covered their songs on their own albums. Shooter Jennings included a riff from "Sweet Leaf" in "Busted in Baylor County" from his 2005 release, Put The "O" Back In Country, which is expanded even further in the live version on Live at Irving Plaza 4.18.06.
In 1987, Anthrax covered "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" on their EP single "I'm the Man." This cover also featured the opening riff from "Sweet Leaf" at the end.
The comedy Rock band Tenacious D wrote that Black Sabbath were one of their influences on their short-lived television show. The duo also has a song entitled "Dio" in tribute to Ronnie James Dio.
Also in 1987, Butthole Surfers covered "Sweet Leaf" as "Sweat Loaf" on their album Locust Abortion Technician.
In 1989, Faith No More covered "War Pigs" on The Real Thing.
In 1991, Alice Donut also covered "War Pigs" on "Revenge Fantasies Of The Impotent", but with a trombone instead of singing.
In 1994, the heavy metal band Pantera released a cover of "Planet Caravan" on their album Far Beyond Driven. Pantera also covered Hole In The Sky on their greatest hits album Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys' Vulgar Hits.
Also in 1994, Danzig guitarist John Christ has told Guitar School that the song "Her Black Wings", which appears on their second album Danzig II: Lucifuge, compares the riff of "Zero the Hero".
Danzig has also released a song cover of "Hand of Doom" on their 1996 album Blackacidevil.
In 1995, the thrash metal band Megadeth covered "Paranoid" on their album Hidden Treasures.
In 1997, the thrash metal band Sepultura covered "Symptom of the Universe" on their album Blood Rooted.
In 1998, Metallica covered "Sabbra Cadabra" in their album "Garage Inc.". The song is listed as "Sabbra Cadabra", however it cuts to a cover of "A National Acrobat" where the solo for "Sabbra Cadabra" would usually be.
In 1998 hip hop artist Busta Rhymes sampled the Black Sabbath song "Iron Man" for his song "This Means War." Ozzy Osbourne also did guest vocals on the song.
In 2001, straight edge, vegan hardcore band Earth Crisis covers Children of the Grave from their album Last of the Sane.
In 2002, former Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins bass player Melissa Auf der Maur led a Black Sabbath tribute band called Hand of Doom. They recorded one album, the live Live in Los Angeles featuring a guest appearance by Nick Oliveri. Sotiri Papafylis, formerly of Montreal thrash metal band Eudoxis joined Black Led (a Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin tribute band) in 2006.
Black Sabbath have also heavily influenced Alternative Metal band System of a Down. SOAD have covered many Black Sabbath songs, including "Snowblind", "Iron Man", and "Children of the Grave". Guitarist Daron Malakian and bassist Shavo Odadjian listened to them while in their youth.
In a 2005 documentary on heavy metal entitled Metal: A Headbangers Journey, Rob Zombie stated "Every cool riff has already been written by Black Sabbath. You're either playing it faster or slower or backwards, but they wrote it first."
During their tour in 2005, The Dresden Dolls covered "War Pigs". This can be found on their website.
In 2007, Cake covered "War Pigs," which was subsequently released via their website for download, and is due to be included on their upcoming "Rarities" album.
Amon Amarth, melodic death metal band, covered their song 'Sabbath bloody sabbath' on their demo from 1993 named 'Thor arise'

Ozzy was interviewed recently, and asked about his favourite 5 bands, so here's what he said:

1. Led Zeppelin

2. Motorhead

3. Black Sabbath: Ozzy says he had total artistic control upon whatever they would have produced.

4. Nirvana: he has met Kurt Cobain, or so Dave Grohl says.Down at Devonshire Studios, in a room with a pool table. They both had OZZY tattooed permanently on their fingers and tried to hide it so Ozzy wouldn't see.

5. Green Day: My favourite album is `American Idiot`. Brilliant.

interview with Ozzy here:

http://www.metalhead.ro/Interviuri-Interviu_Video_OZZY_Osbourne-185.html