Tony Iommi’s favourite pop song: “Takes me back”
It’s a fairly common misconception that metalheads only listen to heavy metal music. It’s a misconception that we don’t always put our best efforts into clearing up; I’ll grant you that. Our cult-like pride over our passion regularly slides into out-and-out defensiveness at the mere thought that someone isn’t showing metal the respect we think it deserves. However, when you think about it, loving the most extreme music around makes one very open-minded. If you need proof of that, one should look at Black Sabbath axeman Tony Iommi.
One would assume that the man responsible for the viscous, staggering riffs that arguably created heavy metal in the first place would be a reliable figure on the front lines. Someone who would know just what heavy metal means to the people who love it. However, in an interview with BBC West Midlands, he admitted something that, deep down, all metalheads feel.
When asked to detail his favourite songs, artists like The Shadows, Frank Sinatra and Doris Day made the list over other metal artists. To explain, he said, “Because I do what I do, I like to listen to other stuff. I don’t listen to heavy rock and stuff like that much. I like to listen to something that’s different.” If you like metal music, you know exactly what he’s talking about.
It all goes back to what I said earlier about loving the most extreme music around. I don’t want to blow your mind or anything, but from time to time, the most extreme music around gets a little much. Everyone needs a break from it, especially if it’s your job. There is one pick on this list that, if you showed a self-respecting Black Sabbath fan in their 1970s prime, would have broken their tiny mind clean open.
Taking pride of place at the top of Iommi’s list is The Carpenters with their classic hit ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’. Of the pick, Iommi said it “always takes me back to when we were touring in the ’70s. We used to stay in West Palm Beach a lot to try and get there as much as we could in Florida… It always takes me back to that time of being there. I love The Carpenters. It takes me into this zone again. It was nice to relax to.”
Now, this needs a little bit of context. Today, The Carpenters are heralded as one of the most joyous, luscious bands of their time. Fronted by one of the best singers of their generation taken long before her time. In the 1970s though, The Carpenters were as cool as sepsis. This would have been akin to Corey Taylor professing his love for Ladbaby today.
However, that’s what nailing your colours to a subculture like heavy metal should be. By stripping everything of what’s cool and what’s not (and let’s be very clear here, heavy metal is not and has never been cool, even when it’s popular), all you’re left with is the music. A self-respecting metalhead should be able to say when a talent like Karen Carpenter is staring them in the face, making some of the best music of the decade, without needing a leading light of the genre like Tony Iommi to come along and say it’s fine to do so.
