“Hold the pieces together”: The lowest point of Tony Iommi’s career
Metal pioneers, they may be, but Black Sabbath had a more complicated existence than most. Whether it be alcohol, drugs, or creative differences, the Birmingham outfit remains an intriguing subject given that they managed to trudge on through the various mires they encountered for nearly 50 years, save for a couple of years off here and there. The man who steered the ship through it all was guitarist Tony Iommi, and he’s much more than just a master of the riff.
After finding their feet as Earth and then settling on the name Black Sabbath, the quartet were in the right place at the right time in the late 1960s. The flower power movement that they had always despised was dying a fast and miserable death thanks to many of its leading lights being engulfed by the trappings of fame alongside other uncontrollable elements such as the Manson Family murders, which signified the party was over.
To mirror the spirit of the era, now there was an appetite for heavier, much more sinister music, and Black Sabbath were masters at conjuring it, taking the spiritual baton from Iron Butterfly’s ‘In-a-Gadda-da-Vida’, and expanding the blueprint extensively. Possessing the appropriate elements in Iommi’s sludgy, de-tuned riffs, a thunderous rhythm section of Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, and the otherworldy wails of vocalist Osbourne – not to mention lyrics obsessed with the occult and sci-fi – the group released their first two albums in 1970. They became cornerstones of the emergent metal genre, even if many listeners were yet to mature their tastes to catch up with their innovations.
Over the early 1970s, the group would carry on this winning streak, releasing further substantial albums in Master of Reality and Vol .4. Still, by the time 1973’s Sabbath Bloody Sabbath rolled around, it was clear that things were altering. By this point, critics might have been fully on board. Still, the band’s hard-living and increasingly experimental sonic proclivities saw their sound shift, and over the rest of the decade, both would negatively impact the quality of their output.
Due to their notorious penchant for ingesting narcotics, the personal relationships within the group started to fray. After briefly leaving in late 1977, Osbourne rejoined early the following year to make Never Say Die! However, he was soon fired. Over the next couple of years, Butler and Ward would also leave, and replacement vocalist Ronnie James Dio was hired. This would commence well over a decade of Black Sabbath, heading deep into the creative wilderness, which featured a revolving cast of characters throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
As life changed and Black Sabbath welcomed various musicians through its doors, including Ian Gillan and Vinny Appice, Iommi would remain its only constant member, battling on as critical reception to their output continued to fall. This led him to write the entirety of 1986’s Seventh Star, billed as ‘Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi’. It was even intended as a solo album before notorious manager Don Arden changed his mind.
It was a period of immense stress for Iommi, and when speaking to Classic Rock in 2022, he was in no doubt that the lowest point of his career was the prolonged period of trying to “hold the pieces together”. He said: “The lowest point of my career was trying to hold the pieces together in the ’80s and ’90s. I kept the Sabbath name, and I took a lot of criticism for bringing other people in. I just wouldn’t let go. But when everybody but me had been replaced you think, what happened?”
Luckily for Iommi, he would reconcile with Osbourne just as time looked like it was up for Black Sabbath after the release of 1995’s Forbidden. He rejoined two years later, and in 1997, the original lineup reformed in one of music’s most unlikely comebacks. Although there would be acrimony on the way, for a period after this extensive rough patch, everything was so golden that it was as if the recent past had never really happened.
