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B L A C K S A B B A T H : L I G H T I N T H E D A R K N E S S

Copyright 1987 Bob Szekely.

  John Michael Osbourne, (known as "Ozzy" to his fans), has in his long 

career as vocalist for Black Sabbath had his work with the group misconstrued as advocating Satanism. In a 1983 radio special featuring Ozzy, the interviewer expressed precisely this point; "…Ozzy has always been shrouded in the darkest of Satanic imagery. Yet if you really listen to his music, you'll find that what he is saying differs greatly from his image…."(1) Even the group's image has often been described as "occult and diabolic".(2)

  The important point to remember here is to differentiate between appearance 

and reality. Although the name "Black Sabbath" conjures up images of witches and sorcerers paying homage to Satan for the powers bestowed upon them, this does not make it safe to assume that the group that went by this name necessarily drew the inspiration from the occult.(3) The closest they ever came to it was a gothic horror film featuring Boris Karloff as narrator; they adopted their name directly from the name of this film.(4) Black Sabbath was involved in the black arts as much as Karloff practiced casting spells off- screen. Tony Iommi, the group's guitarist, summed it up best when he described the group as having basically "…the same appeal as a horror movie. It's all an act."(5)

  Just as their film counterpart did, Ozzy and Sabbath found the occult 

mythos to be an effective vehicle for powerful social commentary; particularly when put in the context of heavy-metal rock and roll. Ozzy himself noted that there are "…people who pick up my [album] cover[s] and go…'This guy's got to be singing about Devil, doom, death and destruction.' Which is not the case…."(6)

  The late Lester Bangs likened the group to Bob Dylan and William Burroughs, 

describing them all as "…moralists…trying to deal with a serious present situation in an honest way…."(7) Ozzy and Black Sabbath merely bring to light the many evils of our world in their work, to try and make us realize that we are all victim to their influence. They hope to make us recognize these evils so that we may take up arms against them; a point Ozzy emphatically stresses: "…one thing everybody has got to understand about Black Sabbath's lyrics. They're not downer lyrics, they're just telling everybody where it's at…"(8) He also cites the group's most controversial tune, "Black Sabbath", as a response to the ignorant hippie culture still force when the tune was written in 1970: "The hippies said: 'The world is beautiful man.' (sic) You only had to look around you to see how crappy it was. It was ridiculous listening to that stuff, let alone playing it, so we just wrote about the world the way it really was and how it affected us - and we felt better in ourselves because we were really being honest…."(9)

                         A F T E R   F O R E V E R 
  I   1   HAVE YOU EVER THOUGH ABOUT YOUR SOUL-
      2   CAN IT BE SAVED?
      3   OR PERHAPS YOU THINK THAT WHEN YOU ARE DEAD
      4   YOU JUST STAY IN YOUR GRAVE.
      5   IS GOD JUST A THOUGHT WITHIN YOUR HEAD OR IS
      6   HE A PART OF YOU?
      7   IS CHRIST JUST A NAME THAT YOU READ IN A BOOK
      8   WHEN YOU WERE AT SCHOOL?
  II  9   WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT DEATH DO YOU LOSE
      10  YOUR BREATH OR DO YOU KEEP YOUR COOL?
      11  WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THE POPE ON THE END
      12  OF A ROPE - DO YOU THINK HE'S A FOOL?
      13  WELL I'VE SEEN THE TRUTH - YES I'VE SEEN 
      14  THE LIGHT AND I'VE CHANGED MY WAYS.
      15  AND I'LL BE PREPARED WHEN YOU'RE LONELY 
      16  AND SCARED AT THE END OF OUR DAYS.
  III 17  COULD IT BE YOU'RE AFRAID OF WHAT YOU'R
      18  FRIENDS MIGHT SAY 
      19  IF THEY NEW YOU BELIEVED IN GOD ABOVE
      20  THEY SHOULD REALISE BEFORE THE CRITICISE
      21  THAT GOD IS THE ONLY WAY TO LOVE.
  IV  23  IS YOUR MIND SO SMALL THAT YOU HAVE TO FALL
      24 IN WITH THE PACK WHEREVER THEY RUN
      25  WILL YOU STILL SNEER WHEN DEATH IS NEAR
      26  AND SAY THEY MAY AS WELL WORSHIP THE SUN.
  V   27  I THINK IT WAS TRUE IT WAS PEOPLE LIKE YOU
      28  THAT CRUCIFIED CHRIST
      29  I THINK IT IS SAD THE OPINION YOU HADE WAS THE
      30  ONLY ONE VOICED.
      31  WILL YOU BE SO SURE WHEN YOUR DAY IS NEAR
      32  SAY YOU DON'T BELIEVE?
      33  YOU HAD THE CHANCE BUT YOU TURNED IT DOWN
      34  NOW YOU CAN'T RETRIEVE.
  VI  35  PERHAPS YOU'LL THINK BEFORE YOU SAY THAT
      36  GOD IS DEAD AND GONE
      37  OPEN YOUR EYES, JUST REALIZE THAT HE IS THE
      38  ONE.
      39  THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SAVE YOU KNOW FROM
      40  ALL THIS SIN AND HATE.
      41  OR WILL YOU STILL JEER AT ALL YOU HEAR?
      42  YES!-I THINK IT'S TOO LATE.
  In this piece, the group asserts a belief in an afterlife and spiritual 

redemption. As grisly as the image of a hanged pontiff is, its shock value is a necessary part of the message: They reject religious dogma, stating that a belief in God, in one's own heart, is the only guiding light to help one inn his life (lines 11/12, 39/40). Furthermore, the reject religious hypocrisy (lines 5/6, 7/8) and peer pressure (verses III, IV) as excuses for not accepting God. To clarify further: following the crowd does not justify shrugging responsibility for one's own actions.

  After re-reading, it becomes obvious that this song is an ascerbic critique 

of atheism; (line 35/36) I refer here again to verses three and four. In these two verses, the picture painted in one of Godless conformity and how it's viewed as being as foolish as Paganism. These lyrics set an example for the listener by relating personal experience (lines 13-16). However, for those who cannot accept this the group has no recourse but to condemn them, although rather ironically; they hope that their rhetorical loss of faith in the listener will open his eyes (line 42).

                         B L A C K   S A B B A T H 
          WHAT IS THIS, THAT STANDS BEFORE ME?
          FIGURE IN BLACK, WHICH POINTS AT ME
          TURN ROUND QUICK AND START TO RUN
          FIND OUT I'M THE CHOSEN ONE.  OH, NO!
          
          BIG BLACK SHAPE WITH EYES OF FIRE
          TELLING PEOPLE THEIR DESIRE
          SATAN'S SITTING THERE, HE'S SMILING
          WATCHES THOSE FLAMES GET HIGHER AND HIGHER
          OH, NO, NO, -- PLEASE GOD HELP ME!
          
              IS THIS THE END MY FRIEND?
              SATAN'S COMING 'ROUND THE BEND
              PEOPLE RUNNING 'CAUSE THEY'RE SCARED
              THE PEOPLE BETTER GO AND BEWARE
              NO, NO!  PLEASE--NO!!
              
              
  The all time controversy winner!  Is this not irrefutably  THE song about 

Black Magic in rock? It's all so obvious, suffuse with evil imagery; Satan, walls of flame, figure in black, and damnation at the end. Yes, I see the images too; it definitely concerns Black Magic. Then again, Shakespeare's Macbeth employed scenes of witches involved in conjurations; does that mean that Shakespeare was a warlock? Poe used to write sardonic tragedies about twisted murderers and the bizarre nature of acts, did that make him an evil, leering, demented killer? Did either of them advocated what they wrote about? One has to remember that writing about something is not necessarily the same as emulating it. Tony Iommi spoke out quite strongly about this: "People are bringing us down saying that we are a Black Magic group. I think they must be

getting mixed up with Black Widow. We don't do any sacrifices on stage, and we're not on a black magic kick. We wanted to do heavy numbers and the guitar riffs we worked out were more suited to evil things than love. We play songs about black magic, but they are more likely to be against than for it."(12)

  By now, you're probably asking yourself who Black Widow is, right?  Then 

it's time for a little history:

      Sabbath, before they were known as Sabbath, had the same line-up but 

two earlier names. The first one was Polka Tulk, which seemed sure to doom them to obscurity.(13) The soon realized this and changed the group's name to Earth. Now, Earth was a blues band at the end of the English blues boom. As if that wasn't bad enough, they soon discovered that not only was there another group named Earth, but they had also released a single. To avoid confusion, they changed their name again.(14) But what made them decide on that name? Just ask Ozzy: "I just liked the name Black Sabbath because of the succession of vowel sounds.(15) If that sounds ludicrous just consider this: Sabbath was "…the first of the really committed, loud and heavy bands…"(16) They needed a name to match the gut-wrenching power they were developing. Tony knew that he wanted Sabbath to be noticed above all the rest of the British blues bands: "We wanted something of our own that we'd like and people would like. And we wanted something loud!"

  Tony didn't hate the blues.  He'd cut his teeth as a guitarist on the likes 

of The Shadows, Buddy Holly and Django Rheinhardt, developing his own style from there. But he realized the group had no future in the blues:

      'We couldn't keep playing 12-bars forever.  We just got fed up with 

Earth music. It was jazz, blues stuff. It was good for practice but nothing else.'

  In the late 'Sixties, blues groups were a dime a dozen in Birmingham and 

interest was waning in the blues boom due to the glut of groups. One man, by the name of Jim Simpson, had heard Earth around the Birmingham club circuit and understood what they were trying to do. He decided to take them under his wing. With the aid of his massive record collection, Jim expanded the group's horizons in the areas of jazz and blues. He introduced them to artists like Wes Montgomery, Count Basie and Jimmy Rushing. It was from Rushing in particular that they derived the repetitive riff style so readily noticeable in their later incarnation as Black Sabbath.

  The Count Basie influence is evidenced in the song "Wicked World" from the 

first album; Sabbath drummer Bill Ward uses a "'sighing hi-hat'…in the manner of Basie's drummer Jo Jones."

  The influence is subtle, almost subliminal.  Yet it is one which was not 

thought capable of hard, 'heavy' rock bands in the late 'Sixties. Although Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix also had their work steeped in blues and jazz derivations (Hendrix' "Third Stone From the Sun" and Zeppelin's version of Willie Dixon's "I Can't Quit You Baby" from their first album), neither was able to match the intense energy of Black Sabbath. Iommi has always had a preference for music with an original, distinct style of its' own; as an example, he mentions guitarists Joe Pass and Alvin Lee as two of his strongest songwriting influences.

  It would also be necessary that Sabbath develop a unique, distinctive style 

and image of their own. Though they had changed their name from Earth to Black Sabbath to avoid confusion with the other Earth; at the same time another group emerged by the name of Black Widow "…who WERE profoundly influenced by the occult, had a male witch as a patron, and wrote pieces like "Come to The Sabbat." Unfortunately, Sabbath was constantly reaping the benefits of Widow's publicity.

  Sabbath was a group that never minced words.  If they saw something as 

destructive, they would be sure to rub the listener's face it it. They did not want their point to be missed.

  With their straightforward, sometimes brutal way of looking at things, they 

try to shock the listener's conscience back into awareness. The imagery of "Hand of Doom", from the Paranoid album, is candid and condemning; it is a strong statement against drug addiction and rightly so…

                          H A N D   O F   D O O M 
          WHAT YOU GONNA DO?
          TIME'S CAUGHT UP WITH YOU
          NOW YOU WAIT YOUR TURN
          YOU KNOW THERE'S NO RETURN
          
          TAKE YOUR WRITTEN RULES
          YOU JOIN THE OTHER FOOLS
          TURN TO SOMETHING NEW 
          NOW IT'S KILLING YOU
          
          FIRST IT WAS THE BOMB
          VIETNAM, NAPALM
          DISILLUSIONING
          YOU PUSH THE NEEDLE IN
          
          FROM LIFE YOU ESCAPE
          REALITY'S THAT WAY
          COLORS IN YOUR MIND
          SATISFY IN TIME
          
          OH, YOU -YOU KNOW YOU MUST BE BLIND
          TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS
          TO TAKE THE SLEEP THAT YOU DON'T KNOW
          YOU'RE GIVING DEATH A KISS
          POOR LITTLE FOOL, NOW!
          
          YOUR MIND IS FULL OF PLEASURE
          YOUR BODY'S LOOKING ILL
          TO YOU, IT'S SHALLOW LEISURE
          SO DROP THE ACID PILL
          DON'T STOP TO THINK, NOW!
          
          
          YOU'RE HAVING A GOOD TIME, BABY
          BUT THAT WON'T LAST
          YOU'RE MINDS ALL FULL OF THINGS
          YOU'RE LIVING TOO FAST
          GO OUT AND ENJOY YOURSELF
          DON'T BOTTLE IT IN
          YOU NEED SOMEONE TO HELP YOU
          STICK THE NEEDLE IN, YEAH!
          
          NOW YOU KNOW THE SCENE
          YOUR SKIN STARTS TURNING GREEN
          YOUR EYES NO LONGER SEE
          LIFE'S REALITY
          
          PUSH THE NEEDLE IN,
          FACE DEATH'S SICKLY GRIN
          HOLES ARE IN YOUR SKIN
          CAUSED BY DEADLY PIN
          
          HEAD STARTS SPINNING 'ROUND
          FALL DOWN TO THE GROUND
          FEEL YOUR BODY HEAVE
          DEATH'S HANDS START TO WEAVE
          
          IT'S TO LATE TOO TURN
          YOU DON'T WANNA LEARN
          PRICE OF LIFE YOU CRY
          NOW YOU'RE GONNA DIE
          
          
  Many people felt the group's overall direction was pessimistic and had a 

negative effect on its listener's due to that. "Ozzy insisted that if people thought he was having a bad effect on the minds of young kids, they should go and watch the TV news where real murder and mayhem were a way of life, and shown night after night." (18)

  Sabbath was never negative in their message; they were simply truthful 

about waht they saw as wrong in the world. If you "Strip away the horror stories, the imagery and the hysteria, (and) turn down the amps a notch…you have a well-rehearsed, solid blues and rock band, powered by a dedication to well defined objectives." On the top of the list of those objectives was truth; Sabbath never feared facing that truth squarely, regardless of what many people thought of them.

                                    NOTES
  (1)Jim Ladd, "Innerview:  Ozzy Osbourne,"

(New York: WAPP 103.5 FM, April 4, 1983) 12-1 a.m.

  (2)Richard Hogan, :Black Sabbath:  Masters of Reality," Circus Rock 

Immortals #1 (1980) p. 31.

  (3)Harry E. Wedeck, "Black Mass/Sabbat," A Treasury of Witchcraft (New 

York: Citadel Press, 1968) pp. 119-120.

  (4)Hogan, p. 31
  (5)Chris Welch, Black Sabbath (New York:  Proteus Publishing Company, Inc., 

1982) p. 67.

  (6)Ladd.
  (7)Welch, p. 53.
  (8)Ibid, p. 80.
  (9)Ibid, p. 20.
  (10)Master of Reality (New York:  Warner Brothers Records Inc., 1971).
  (11)Black Sabbath, "Black Sabbath," Shattering Sounds From 4 Albums, et al 

(New York: Tro Essex Music International) pp. 4-8.

  (12)Welch, p. 28.
  (13)Ibid, p. 12.
  (14)Welch, p. 20.
  (15)Ibid, p. 28.
  (16)Welch, pp. 67, 72, 50, 14, 17, 55.
  (17)Black Sabbath, "Hand of Doom," Shattering Sounds, pp. 137-147
  (18)Welch, pp. 91-70
                                BIBLIOGRAPHY

Black Sabbath. Master of Reality.

  Warner Brothers Records Inc., 1971.

Black Sabbath. Shattering Sounds from 4 Albums, et al.

  New York:  Tro Essex Music International.  pp. 4-8, 138-147

Hogan, Richard. "Black Sabbath: Masters of Reality."

  Circus Rock Immortals # 1, 1980.  pp. 31-32.

Ladd, Jim. "Innerview: Ozzy Osbourne." New York:

  WAPP 103.5 FM.  April 4, 1983, 12-1 a.m.

Rogan, Michael. "Heavy Metal Havoc: Black Sabbath - Live Evil/ Ozzy Osbourne -

  Speak of the Devil"  Good Times, 326, March 1-7 1983. p. 15.

Rothberg, Gerald. "Face to Face with Ozzy Osbourne."

  Circus, June 30, 1981.  pp. 28-29.

Wedeck, Harry E. "Black Mass/Sabbat."

  A Treasury of Witchcraft.  New York:  Citadel Press, 1968.  pp. 119-120.

Welch, Chris. Black Sabbath. New York: Proteus Publishing Company, Inc.,

  1982.  passim.

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