The Black Sabbath riff Tony Iommi “knew” was legendary
There are some things in life you cannot beat: your first crisp pint on a Friday after work, the refreshing feel of new socks, and the moment you write a legendary riff. While the first two are something most can relate to, the latter is a feeling that only a select few have experienced, and by all accounts, it’s about as life-affirming of a sensation as you can get. The first one is the start of their life changing markedly and reaching the dreamland their heroes had inhabited long before them. Just ask Tony Iommi; he’s felt it many times.
Like every guitar playing great, the Black Sabbath legend hasn’t just experienced this feeling once. He’s written many legendary riffs, and heightening this triumph is that they helped change rock music. Not only are Iommi’s riffs so instantly recognisable due to his gritty, sludgy sound, but they’ve had such an impact that many other consequential players can trace their lineage back to them, ranging from Eddie Van Halen and James Hetfield to Billy Corgan.
Most guitarists dream of being in Iommi’s position, and it’s something that’s not lost on him. He knows exactly what effect his riffs have had on the world. He’s also acutely aware that some of his creations stand out above others for him. It’s strange for musicians, but as their compositions are extracted from something intangible and emotional deep within, they see their music differently from everyone else, even their bandmates who were in the room with them when they transformed them into a fully fledged song.
Naturally, this applies to the riffs as well, and Iommi once revealed the one classic Black Sabbath riff he just “knew” would be legendary from the moment he first played it. It is ‘Black Sabbath’, the titular opener of their eponymous 1970 debut. That’s fitting as well, as the song introduced the band’s ominous sound to the world, typified by the de-tuned muscle of Iommi’s guitar.
Iommi revealed all when speaking to Loudwire Nights in 2024: “Well, without sounding big-headed, [there were] a few. [Laughs] When we’d first done the ‘Black Sabbath’ riff, straight away I knew — it just had this vibe and a feeling and it was something so different in them days that you’d never heard that sort of thing before. And I don’t know how it all happened. It’d just sort of come out. And that was the benchmark for that album.”
The guitarist continued: “Once we’d done ‘Wicked World’ and ‘Black Sabbath’, then the rest of them flowed along. And the same with ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’. And also ‘Into The Void’. That was a riff that I really liked, and that was Eddie Van Halen’s favourite, to be honest, ‘Into The Void’.”
While ‘Black Sabbath’ is the riff that Iommi instantly knew would be legendary, he maintained that all of his big ones are special in different ways. For instance, ‘Into The Void’ sticks out to him as it reminds him of his old friend and big fan, Eddie Van Halen, and others such as ‘Iron Man’ – one of his most simplistic – also hold a unique place in his heart for other reasons. He’s written so many great ones that they all have a place in his history, reminding him of both good times, and bad ones.
