The story behind Black Sabbath’s first-ever show in the US
The tides of rock music had started to turn the minute Black Sabbath‘s debut hit store shelves. Although they might have been mining the same blues traditions as most of their contemporaries like Led Zeppelin, Sabbath got to the essence of what dark music could be about, writing material that had more in common with horror movies than music. Though their first handful of releases set the world on fire, it would take a little while before Sabbath truly broke in America.
Since the band created most of their debut album on the road, their second effort, Paranoid, allowed them to experiment with different sounds, drawing out their songs into epics like ‘Iron Man’ and ‘War Pigs’. As much as things were looking great for them in their home country, Sabbath’s first gig overseas left a little to be desired.
For their first gig in America, Sabbath played alongside the James Gang, Jethro Tull, and Alice Cooper when they ducked into Glassboro, New Jersey. Although the band was known to play on any stage that would have them, the venue wasn’t the customary rock dungeon many would have expected. As opposed to the usual pub crowds they would play to or the massive halls they would be playing soon, this auditorium was known more for its lineage in poetry.
Only a handful of rock bands had played at this venue before, with most of the other noted appearances being from poets like Robert Frost, who would occasionally pop in to read selections of his poetry to the crowd. Sabbath offered their fans a different kind of ride that night the minute that Tony Iommi’s guitars came storming in.
Although teenagers had become familiar with the sounds of blues from acts like The Yardbirds and Cream, Sabbath combined their tunes wit horrifying imagery, tearing through songs like ‘NIB’ in front of the crowd that night. Despite the tongue-in-cheek humour in some of their tunes, it’s not hard to see why songs like ‘War Pigs’ resonated with the crowd that night.
The year was still 1970, and America was deep into the Vietnam War, often seeing footage of soldiers returning home with limbs torn off while the bigwigs down in Washington showed no sympathy. The Sabbath classic imagined a world where demons spring to life and take these warmongers on trial for their actions, as Satan spreads his wings and laughs maniacally.
Though the gig might have been a bit of a cultural shift for those who were bigger fans of The Archies than Led Zeppelin, that didn’t stop Sabbath’s momentum. After working the singles market with the song ‘Paranoid’, Sabbath started to gain more exposure in America, eventually becoming a cornerstone in metal history and a favourite among fans who wanted something a bit heavier than the latest Rolling Stones single. Sabbath may have started life as the ugly stepsisters of hard rock, but their persistence in making hard-driving rock music gave them a metal army beneath their feet.
