The man that walked out on Black Sabbath
Every metal band to come out of the woodwork in the past century has taken their cues from Black Sabbath. While they might not have known it then, the Birmingham band had composed songs that stood alone as the heaviest riffs imaginable, with Tony Iommi making strides to twist the traditional guitar riff into something feral and mean. Although the band might have been a great draw in the English clubs, it wasn’t enough to impress those with the money.
Then again, it’s not hard to see why Sabbath wasn’t a huge draw when first getting started. Rather than the massive hit potential of any other band looking to get a record deal, Sabbath was known to play long jams whenever they played live, creating a cacophony that left many listeners dumbfounded as to what they were hearing.
When talking about grabbing the group a record deal, their manager Jim Simpson thought that the labels were playing it too safe when listening to Sabbath, telling Metal Evolution, “There wasn’t a hit on the charts that sounded like that. If you sit around in your posh purple office with your white suit on, you want to hear something safe. Anything else, they’re scared of it.”
Although the band couldn’t hope for many hits, they started to hone in on their signature sound when Iommi came up with the riff for their namesake track, using the dreaded tritone interval to create an eerie feeling for Ozzy Osbourne’s vocals. Despite the massive power behind the band live, one potential talent scout was less than impressed when he heard Sabbath play for the first time.
Instead of working up for a talent showcase, the band would drive through the night to play different gigs for potential labels. When the band turned in to play their set for one label, one scout thought that the band wasn’t even worth the few minutes they had onstage.
When recalling those days, bassist Geezer Butler remembered the man’s distaste for them, saying, “None of us had slept. We were just absolutely exhausted. The guy came from the record company, and he literally walked out halfway through the second song. Like ‘What is this crap?’”.
Although the band may have had a slim chance of getting a record deal, it was only a matter of time before the label Vertigo picked them up, liking Sabbath for their dark music compared to the sounds of the day. Rather than the psychedelic movement happening around the same time, Sabbath was looking to drive a stake through the heart of every hippie they came across.
While there were prior antecedents like Cream in the band’s delivery, Iommi was looking to tear down the walls of conventional songwriting, writing glorious hymns of doom that resonated with kids who wanted to hear something slightly heavier than The Doors whenever they turned on the radio. The labels may not have been clamouring for Sabbath, but they proved they could work their way onto the charts through sheer force of will.
