Tony Iommi on the three most underrated Black Sabbath albums: “I found that frustrating”
Musicians are a funny breed. Although several notable names have released throwaway songs for a myriad of reasons, from joking at the expense of fans to commenting on the nature of the industry, most of the time, their output, however stylised, is a reflection of themselves. Typically, they’re protective of their output, and no matter how objectively bad it might be, they’ll defend it until the end. Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi typifies this trend.
There’s no doubt that the Birmingham legend will be more than satisfied with the consequence of his output, his status as a pioneer of guitar-playing and metal music, and the fact that because of these triumphs, he has written his name in the history books. That’s not bad going, particularly when considering that his infamous factory accident threatened to completely end his dream after the ends of his fingers were shaved off. Yet, he wasn’t taking this terrible shift in fortune. Iommi was forced to innovate to continue his career, which had barely even started.
Despite later saying that his greatest life regret was the accident, with it becoming a burden in how his story is told and the widespread and likely erroneous belief that it impacted his sludgy approach, Iommi’s career can be defined by his relentlessness, dedication to achieving his goal, and refusing to give in, even when the writing seemed to be indelibly on the wall.
Throughout all the drug abuse, acrimony, and shifting lineups, Iommi remained Black Sabbath’s only constant member, their leader, guiding them through the various mires that they would encounter. In a total affront to his accident, he’s released 19 studio albums with them. However, this story isn’t as one-dimensional as you might expect. While having numerous influential titles to his name would be enough to partially satisfy most musicians, another great regret of the guitarist’s, is that some of his records do not get the plaudits he thinks they deserve.
This is only natural, given the closeness between musicians and their art, as well as the fact that Iommi continued to guide Black Sabbath amid changing lineups and shifting listener tastes and, for a while, maintained their status as the definitive titans of metal, before other new takes on the genre emerged and sat at the forefront of its development. Iommi has made no bones about the 1980s being the lowest point of his career, with him forced to “hold the pieces together” of the band, but he still believes a handful of records from this period are “underrated”.
Iommi told Mojo in 2005: “Mob Rules was underrated. Born Again was the one that got ignored, and I found that frustrating. I thought that was brilliant. Of the later albums I really like Headless Cross.”
Regarding 1981’s Mob Rules, the band’s second effort with Ronnie James Dio as frontman; Iommi’s not wrong. A massively underrated moment that boasts the sprawling atmosphere of ‘Sign of the Southern Cross’, one of the band’s darkest, most metallic numbers, featuring a crunching chord progression, exquisite acoustic work from Iommi, and a searing, textural solo in the climax, the album has several highlights.
Its follow-up, 1983’s Born Again, featuring another metal pioneer as the band’s vocalist, former Deep Purple man, Ian Gillan, is also a cult moment. However, Gillan’s wails and the generally cheesy music, typified by the single ‘Trashed’, are less characteristic of Black Sabbath the metal legends, and might be taken as the moment the band started to forego their status for a while.
As for 1989’s Headless Cross, it features Tony Martin’s singing and saw the group lean into the bombastic hair metal of the era. Although you have to say fair play to Iommi for rejuvenating the band and keeping them up with the time, the general musical aesthetic, inclusion of dramatic synths and production pale in comparison to the band’s early work. Musicians are musicians, though, and Iommi clearly thinks these records have their merits.
