“One of my favorite bands”: The 1971 song Ozzy Osbourne never got tired of
There are a few big names in music that are synonymous with different genres. When we think of rock and heavy metal, we also automatically think of Black Sabbath; that’s just a given.
They were a band incredibly ahead of their time, as they were able to take rock music, something that was easily the biggest genre in the world, but then give it a bit more edge and grit. Their sound was layered, dark, and used lyrics that talked about subjects a lot of people at the time wanted to stay away from, such as horror, war, and mental health.
They have a name that will always stay in people’s hearts, no matter how much the genre of heavy metal advances and adapts in the years to come. That being said, while Black Sabbath might be a very appropriately appreciated name, there are a lot of bands out there that don’t get the recognition they deserve, despite influencing so many great artists.
One of these acts is Mountain. Sure, if you listen to a lot of rock music, no doubt you will have come across them at some point, but that doesn’t stop them from being somewhat underrated. There are a great deal of exceptional bands who have learned important lessons from a band like Mountain, as their sound was one which was layered and cinematic, but that still stayed true to the ethos of rock ‘n’ roll.
Ritchie Blackmore has previously admitted that the song ‘Mississippi Queen’ had a huge impact on Deep Purple. A lot of his band’s heavier records came as a result of listening to Mountain, as they wanted to try and channel the huge music that they were so effortlessly putting out.
“I really loved Leslie West’s playing,” said Blackmore, “I remember being in a place in Germany, and Ian [Paice] and I were out drinking together […] In those days, you could go to a club and listen to the new records in their entirety that had just come out. Paice and I heard, ‘Mississippi Queen’, and we both went white! We were thinking, ‘Who the hell is that?!’ It had such a big sound! For three guys, it was incredibly heavy.”
It wasn’t just Deep Purple who found themselves influenced by Mountain, either; the members of Black Sabbath were equally in awe of the musical titans. Ozzy Osbourne had always been a big fan of Leslie West and everything that the band managed to put out. In 2005, when the Prince of Darkness decided to record a covers album, it only made sense for him to include a rendition of ‘Mississippi Queen’ as an homage to such an influential band.
What made the cover even more special, however, was the fact that Leslie West agreed to play on it. Suddenly, Osbourne wasn’t just recording one of his favourite songs, but he was recording it with one of the people who were instrumental in making it. If the music of Mountain is enough to get the lead singer of Black Sabbath star-struck, there’s no escaping the fact that these are a band who deserve a lot more recognition.
“I’ve had a soft spot for Leslie when he was big, when he was bad, when he was on heroin, when he was not on heroin…” said Osbourne. “Mountain were, were, and still are, one of my favorite bands. ‘Mississippi Queen’ was always one of my favorite songs. And then Sharon says, ‘You know, we got Leslie West to play on it’. I was like, ‘You’re joking!’”
