From The Beatles to Cream: Five bands that shaped Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath emerged from the late 1960s, armed with a unique sound and vision. They blended heavy riffs with dark, occult imagery, which starkly contrasted with the ‘peace and love’ hippie movement that had dominated mid to late ’60s counterculture.
Although members of Black Sabbath were swept up in the hippie wave, they quickly became disillusioned, with guitarist Tony Iommi stating, “I was really into flower power in the sixties. […] But by the time we wrote the Paranoid album, reality had set in. A lot of my lyrics were my disappointment that the love era was just a pipe dream. The love-ins and protests were all in vain.”
The release of Paranoid came in 1970, only a few months after the release of their poorly received eponymous debut record. However, these albums are now considered to be pioneering works of heavy metal, inspiring countless bands, from Metallica to Nirvana to The Smashing Pumpkins, even if sales were comparatively disastrous.
Despite their trailblazing status, Black Sabbath would not have become the pioneers they are now considered to be if it weren’t for a handful of other bands that helped shape their sound. From The Beatles to Led Zeppelin, here are five bands that influenced Black Sabbath.
Five bands that shaped Black Sabbath:
The Beatles
“When I heard the Beatles. I knew what I wanted to do,” lead vocalist Ozzy Osbourne once told Blabbermouth. “I remember it like it was yesterday. I was walking around with a transistor radio on my shoulder. And ‘She Loves You’ came on. And, I don’t know, it just went, ‘Bang! And that’s what I want to do! Wouldn’t it be great?'” Moreover, primary lyricist and bassist Geezer Butler bonded with Osbourne over a love for the band when they first started making music.
He told the Daily Express, “I loved The Beatles, still do. They changed the world. Lennon’s lyrics were so different to anything that had come before. Unlike previous bands and singers in Britain, they didn’t try to sound American. Their sound was totally British. Theirs was the first music I could truly relate to.” The band were undoubtedly influenced by some of the band’s heavier cuts, such as ‘Helter Skelter’, which has been described as a proto-metal song.
Cream
Before Black Sabbath were Black Sabbath, they were Earth, focusing on bluesy hard rock rather than the heavy metal sound they would soon come to develop. During their brief stint as Earth, the band would cover Cream songs during gigs. Comprised of Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce, Cream disbanded in 1968, just as Black Sabbath were starting out.
Luckily, Butler managed to catch Cream playing live, which inspired him to become a bass guitarist. He told For Bass Players Only: “I used to play rhythm guitar, and rhythm guitar was going out of style back then. I went to see Cream at the local club. I was mesmerised watching Jack Bruce ’cause I’d heard of Eric Clapton, but I’d never heard of Jack Bruce.” Black Sabbath’s drummer Bill Ward was also hugely inspired by Baker, writing, “He changed everything around, and what I was holding onto. Pushed me away and almost demanded I start all over and listen closer this time.”
Led Zeppelin
Although Led Zeppelin formed in 1968, the same year as Black Sabbath, the London-based band released their debut album a year before the heavy metal rockers did, dropping their self-titled record in 1969. Osbourne confessed in a 1995 interview for the documentary, History of Rock and Roll, “I remember listening to the first Zeppelin album. It was like such a great breath of fresh air for somebody doing something acceptable but yet so different.”
An interview with Launch Radio Networks in 2007 also revealed Osbourne’s initial reaction to hearing Led Zeppelin’s music: “The first two albums had such an impact on my voice and on my life. Similar to The Beatles when I first heard them.” The two bands were friends, with Iommi telling Guitarist Magazine, “We knew Planty and Bonham. Bonham was best man at my first wedding. I used to knock about with him a lot. We used to play the same gigs.”
John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers
As one of the most influential British blues outfits, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers featured many musicians that came and went, including Clapton and Bruce, Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, and the Rolling Stones’ Mick Taylor, to name just a few. Iommi discussed the importance of John Mayall and his musicians with The Herald, “We done a few gigs in the early days with John Mayall, who I really liked. I liked blues played on a more modern-sounding guitar, which was Clapton of course. That was sort of the way we went, only coming up with more doomy stuff.”
Furthermore, Iommi told Guitarist Magazine that he initially preferred Clapton’s playing alongside Mayall. “I liked Clapton. I liked John Mayall. That line-up was really appealing. When he went with Cream, I wasn’t so enthusiastic. But then I got used to Cream. I loved his style and his sound.”
Jethro Tull
In December 1968, Iommi briefly left Earth to join prog-rockers Jethro Tull, appearing with them at The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus concert. However, Iommi quickly became disillusioned with the direction of Jethro Tull and returned to the band at the end of the month. He stated, “At first, I thought Tull were great, but I didn’t much go for having a leader in the band, which was Ian Anderson’s way.”
Regardless, Jethro Tull still had a considerable influence on Black Sabbath, particularly their work ethic. Iommi once said: “I learned that you have got to work at it. You have to rehearse. When I came back, and I got [Earth] back together, I made sure everybody was up early in the morning and rehearsing. […] I said to them, ‘This is how we have got to do it because this is how Jethro Tull did it.'”
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