Snowblind: the decadent tale of Black Sabbath’s drug-fuelled breakdown
The haze of the drug-fuelled hour of the 1970s is often encompassed in one domineering metal band: Black Sabbath. Whilst their wild escapades are far from within the reach of understanding that most of us hold, their fondness for substances was as much specific to them as the cultural movement of the time. Deemed the “hangover of the 1960s”, being a rocker in the following decade came with a price: join the musical madness or get left behind.
Black Sabbath are undoubtedly, undeniably, and irrefutably one of the greatest metal bands of all time. They didn’t just pioneer the movement; they effectively invented it, and the works of notorious frontman Ozzy Osbourne continue to carry a majesty and genius that no other can come near to. However, the drug-fuelled hijinx of ’70s rowdiness led to bizarre, occasionally disturbing, consequences, as evidenced by the array of true stories surrounding the band during their tenure.
The origins of Black Sabbath reach back to the band’s formation in 1968 when they initially went by the names ‘Polka Tulk Blues Band’ and ‘Earth’. They later adopted the name ‘Black Sabbath’, inspired by a film featuring Boris Karloff. This signified the band’s transition from a blues-influenced sound to the establishment of the heavy metal genre. Black Sabbath diverged from the dominant hippie culture of the era, with their music frequently delving into religious motifs, delving into the realms of the supernatural, the afterlife, and the complex interplay between good and evil.
At the same time, the band was deeply immersed in a cocaine-fuelled lifestyle, to the extent that they featured a song called ‘Snowblind’ on their 1972 album Vol. 4. The cost of creating this record exceeded the band’s extravagant expenses on cocaine during the recording process: bassist Geezer Butler revealed that the album’s production reached $60,000, while the indulgent environment in which they recorded the album added another $75,000 to the tally.
Interestingly, the band originally intended to name the album Snowblind as a nod to their homage to cocaine, but their record label vetoed the idea. Osbourne discussed this desire, saying, “For me, Snowblind was one of Black Sabbath’s best-ever albums – although, the record company wouldn’t let us keep the title, ‘cos in those days cocaine was a big deal, and they didn’t want the hassle of a controversy.“
Even though the band chased the drug, it eventually got to a point where its source was unknown. As Osbourne recalled in his autobiography, I Am Ozzy: “Eventually we started to wonder where the f*ck all the coke was coming from. All we knew was that it arrived in the back of unmarked vans, packed inside cardboard boxes. In each box there were about thirty vials – ten across, three deep – and each one had a screw-on top, sealed with wax.“
It may sound like the usual rock and roll culture of the time, but a lot of the stories seem straight out of a horror novel — for instance, there was the time that Tony Iommi accidentally set Bill Ward on fire while recording ‘Heaven and Hell’, and the moment Osbourne accidentally poisoned Ward by spraying him with a toxic aerosol. Osbourne was also so consistently intoxicated that he allegedly had no idea that ‘War Pigs’ was about the Vietnam war. The list goes on.
While the ‘snow’ and their musical endeavours appeared to be intimately connected in a mystifying, almost otherworldly manner, they remain tightly bound within the psychedelic realm where madness intersects with brilliance. Even after Osbourne’s departure four decades ago, Black Sabbath maintains its unmatched dominance, making it almost inconceivable to picture the metal scene without their spellbinding influence.
