The one bandmate Tony Iommi couldn’t stand the sight of: “I used to beat him up”
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Black Sabbath?
Ozzy Osbourne? ‘Iron Man’? Maybe Ronnie James Dio for people who got on board later in life? All of them are worthy choices for what Sabbath are all about, but when looking at their lineage, the band has always been in the hands of one person: Tony Iommi. He was the one bringing those unholy riffs to life on every one of their albums, and even when he was putting the band together in the early days, there were more than a few members that Iommi would have preferred not to have in the band at all.
Then again, there’s a good chance that the band wouldn’t have worked without the key foursome that started everything in their inception. The first thing that catches your ear is Iommi’s guitar, but Osbourne’s voice bellowing on the first Sabbath record is what sends chills up your spine, especially when he begins singing Geezer Butler’s macabre lyrics about being in love with Satan and a spirit dragging him down to Hell.
The same could be said for every other iteration of Sabbath as well. Tony Martin had more than his fair share of highlights throughout his time with the band, and while Dio is still considered one of the greatest singers that the world has ever seen due to his solo band, he wouldn’t have been able to create half of what he had done without going through the two classic Sabbath albums he made.
But the fact that Iommi tried to join Jethro Tull right at Sabbath’s inception should really illustrate the problems with the first version of the band. He didn’t fit anywhere in Ian Anderson’s prog-rock vision, and when he returned to his mates later, he knew that there was a lot more ground for them to cover when they broke through on their own. When someone first suggested that he work together with the future ‘Prince of Darkness’, Iommi never thought that a band with him was ever going to work.
For one thing, he and Osbourne had already been sworn enemies since they had met in school. The two weren’t exactly rivals on the playground or anything, but since Iommi was a few years older than his singing friend, it wasn’t that hard for him to make Osbourne the butt of every single joke that he made as he walked around with his guitar across his back. So when he first laid eyes on Osbourne as a singer, Iommi remembered not even entertaining the idea when he started.
So when the idea was first floated, he felt that he would be very happy if he never crossed paths with Osbourne again, saying, “I used to hate the sight of Ozzy. I couldn’t stand him, and I used to beat him up whenever I saw him. It’s amazing that he eventually became part of Sabbath.” If you look at all the goofiness that Osbourne had, though, that trademark personality became half the reason why he worked so well.
He never took himself all that seriously when he started singing with Sabbath, and while he did put everything he had into every single one of his shows, he felt that it was better to be a little bit silly from time to time. He’s clearly having a lot of fun when working on his scared voice on the band’s title song, and he would continue being one of the most lovable figures in the metal industry even when he was managing to piss off parents all over the world.
Iommi may have only seen it as annoying, but it’s not that hard to see why Osbourne was welcomed into the world’s hearts by the time he struck out on his own. No one could have imagined making that kind of leap, but Osbourne had the two magical elements that not every member of Sabbath could claim to have: the most distinctive voice in heavy metal and absolute boatloads of charm.
