Black Sabbath (song): Difference between revisions
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"Black Sabbath" was ranked the second best Black Sabbath song by Rock - Das Gesamtwerk der größten Rock-Acts im Check.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rehe |first1=Christoph |title=Rock - Das Gesamtwerk der größten Rock-Acts im Check: alle Alben, alle Songs. Ein eclipsed-Buch |date=2013 |publisher=Sysyphus Sysyphus Verlags GmbH |isbn=978-3868526462 |language=de}}</ref> It was ranked the best song in Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne-era discography by [[Loudwire]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://loudwire.com/black-sabbath-cover-woman-black-figure/|title=The Woman on the Cover of 'Black Sabbath' Album Has Been Found|last=Schaffner|first=Lauryn|website=Loudwire|language=en|access-date=2020-02-13}}</ref> |
"Black Sabbath" was ranked the second best Black Sabbath song by Rock - Das Gesamtwerk der größten Rock-Acts im Check.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rehe |first1=Christoph |title=Rock - Das Gesamtwerk der größten Rock-Acts im Check: alle Alben, alle Songs. Ein eclipsed-Buch |date=2013 |publisher=Sysyphus Sysyphus Verlags GmbH |isbn=978-3868526462 |language=de}}</ref> It was ranked the best song in Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne-era discography by [[Loudwire]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://loudwire.com/black-sabbath-cover-woman-black-figure/|title=The Woman on the Cover of 'Black Sabbath' Album Has Been Found|last=Schaffner|first=Lauryn|website=Loudwire|language=en|access-date=2020-02-13}}</ref> |
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"Black Sabbath" was the final song played by Boston rock radio station WAAF on February 22, 2020, its final day of broadcasting.{{ |
"Black Sabbath" was the final song played by Boston rock radio station [[WKVB (FM)|WAAF]] on February 22, 2020, its final day of broadcasting.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 22, 2020 |title=The End Of WAAF Boston |url=https://formatchange.com/the-end-of-waaf-boston/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200223045057/https://formatchange.com/the-end-of-waaf-boston/ |archive-date=February 23, 2020 |access-date=February 23, 2020 |website=Format Change Archive |language=en-US}} |
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*{{cite tweet|user=BostonsBlackie|number=1231119012316184578|title=The last song played was "Black Sabbath" by Black Sabbath|date=February 22, 2020|access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref> According to longtime WAAF host Mistress Carrie, the song was chosen because "the album came out weeks before we signed on the air, and Ozzy released [[Ordinary Man (Ozzy Osbourne album)|a new album]] the day we signed off, and is the only artist to stay current for all 50 years of our history, and well... SATAN. If EMF was going to take our beloved signal, they were going to have to endure Satan first."<ref name="WAAF 10 Questions">{{Cite web |date=March 3, 2020 |title=10 Questions with ... Mistress Carrie & Mike Hsu, Ex APD/MD/Midday & PM Drive Host |url=https://www.allaccess.com/rock/10-questions/archive/31267/10-questions-with-mistress-carrie-mike-hsu |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815084220/https://www.allaccess.com/rock/10-questions/archive/31267/10-questions-with-mistress-carrie-mike-hsu |archive-date=August 15, 2020 |access-date=October 14, 2021 |website=All Access |language=en |ref=WAAF 10 Questions}}</ref> |
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==Music video== |
==Music video== |
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Revision as of 09:43, 9 March 2022
| "Black Sabbath" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Black Sabbath | |
| from the album Black Sabbath | |
| Released | 13 February 1970 |
| Recorded | 16 October 1969 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 6:16 |
| Label | Vertigo |
| Songwriter(s) | |
| Producer(s) | Rodger Bain |
| Audio sample | |
"Black Sabbath" is a song by the English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, written in 1969 and released on their self titled debut album. In 1970, it was released as a four-track 12-inch single, with "The Wizard" also on the A-side and "Evil Woman" and "Sleeping Village" on B-side, on the Philips Records label Vertigo.
History
According to the band, the song was inspired by an experience that Geezer Butler had in the days of Earth. Butler, obsessed with the occult at the time, painted his apartment matte black and placed several inverted crucifixes and pictures of Satan on the walls. Ozzy Osbourne gave Butler a black occult book, written in Latin and decorated with numerous pictures of Satan. Butler read the book and then placed it on a shelf beside his bed before going to sleep. When he woke up, he claims he saw a large black figure standing at the end of his bed, staring at him. The figure vanished and Butler ran to the shelf where he had placed the book earlier, but the book was gone. Butler related this story to Osbourne, who then wrote the lyrics to the song based on Butler's experience.[3] The song starts with the lyrics:
What is this that stands before me?
Figure in black which points at me.
A version of this song from Black Sabbath's first demo exists on the Ozzy Osbourne compilation album The Ozzman Cometh.[4] The song has an extra verse with additional vocals before the bridge.[5] The guitar and bass are tuned down one whole step, resulting in the key position of A being played on the fretboard, but having the pitch as G (octave - D flat) to the listener. It's one of the band's most frequently performed tracks, being featured on every single tour of their career.
Harmony
AllMusic's Steve Huey said the song is an example wherein Black Sabbath appropriated the blue note from the standard pentatonic blues scale and developed a heavy metal riff.[6] The main riff is an inversion of a tritone, constructed with a harmonic progression including a diminished fifth / augmented fourth.[7] This particular interval is often known as diabolus in musica,[8] for it has musical qualities which are often used to suggest Satanic connotations in Western music.[8][9][10] The song "Black Sabbath" was one of the earliest examples in heavy metal to make use of this interval,[8] and since then, the genre has made extensive use of diabolus in musica.[8][11]
The riff was created when bassist Geezer Butler began playing a fragment of "Mars" from Gustav Holst's The Planets suite. Inspired, guitarist Tony Iommi returned the next day with the famously dark tritone.[12]
The main riff of "Black Sabbath" is one of the most famous examples of harmonic progressions with the tritone G-C♯:[citation needed]
Reception
"Black Sabbath" was ranked the second best Black Sabbath song by Rock - Das Gesamtwerk der größten Rock-Acts im Check.[13] It was ranked the best song in Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne-era discography by Loudwire.[14]
"Black Sabbath" was the final song played by Boston rock radio station WAAF on February 22, 2020, its final day of broadcasting.[15] According to longtime WAAF host Mistress Carrie, the song was chosen because "the album came out weeks before we signed on the air, and Ozzy released a new album the day we signed off, and is the only artist to stay current for all 50 years of our history, and well... SATAN. If EMF was going to take our beloved signal, they were going to have to endure Satan first."[16]
Music video
A music video was made for the song, as part of the band's 1970 performance on the German show Beat-Club. The video was filmed in a studio with a village on the foreground.
Cover versions
"Black Sabbath" has been covered by the following bands:
- Flower Travellin' Band in 1970, on their album Anywhere.[17]
- Type O Negative in 1994, for the Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black.[18]
- Vader in 1994, on their albums Sothis[19] and Future of the Past.[20]
- Iced Earth in 2002, on their album Tribute to the Gods.[21]
- Van Helsing's Curse in 2004, on their album Oculus Infernum.[22]
- Gonga in 2014, with trip hop musician Beth Gibbons (under the track name "Black Sabbeth").[23]
- Sampled by Ice-T in the song "Midnight" from the 1991 album O.G. Original Gangster.
References
- ^ Chris Nickson (3 August 2002). Ozzy Knows Best: The Amazing Story of Ozzy Osbourne, from Heavy Metal Madness to Father of the Year on MTV's "The Osbournes". St. Martin's Press. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-4299-5452-5.
- ^ Irwin, William (23 October 2012). Black Sabbath and Philosophy: Mastering Reality. John Wiley & Sons. p. 79. ISBN 9781118397596.
- ^ Osbourne, Ozzy (2010). I Am Ozzy. ISBN 9780446569897.
- ^ "Overview The Ozzman Cometh". Allmusic. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
- ^ "Black Sabbath". Black Sabbath Online. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
- ^ Huey, Steve. "Black Sabbath review". Allmusic. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
- ^ Chesna, James (26 February 2010). "'Sleeping (In the Fire)': Listening Room fearless leader faces down fear". WJRT-TV/DT. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
- ^ a b c d Marshall, Wolf. "Power Lord—Climbing Chords, Evil Tritones, Giant Callouses". Guitar Legends, April 1997, p. 2
- ^ Cooke Deryck, The Language of Music, chapter 2 "The Elements of Musical Expression- the Augmented Fourth". Oxford University Press, Oxford New-York, 1959, Reimpression 2001, p. 84.
- ^ Sadie, Stanley (1980). "Tritone" in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1st ed.). MacMillan, pp.154-155 ISBN 0-333-23111-2.
- ^ Dunn, Sam (2005). "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey". Warner Home Video (2006).
- ^ Classic Albums: Black Sabbath - Paranoid (2010)
- ^ Rehe, Christoph (2013). Rock - Das Gesamtwerk der größten Rock-Acts im Check: alle Alben, alle Songs. Ein eclipsed-Buch (in German). Sysyphus Sysyphus Verlags GmbH. ISBN 978-3868526462.
- ^ Schaffner, Lauryn. "The Woman on the Cover of 'Black Sabbath' Album Has Been Found". Loudwire. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
- ^ "The End Of WAAF Boston". Format Change Archive. February 22, 2020. Archived from the original on February 23, 2020. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
- @BostonsBlackie (February 22, 2020). "The last song played was "Black Sabbath" by Black Sabbath" (Tweet). Retrieved February 22, 2020 – via Twitter.
- ^ "10 Questions with ... Mistress Carrie & Mike Hsu, Ex APD/MD/Midday & PM Drive Host". All Access. March 3, 2020. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
- ^ "Overview Anywhere". Allmusic. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
- ^ "Overview Nativity in Black". Allmusic. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
- ^ "Overview Sothis". Allmusic. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
- ^ "Overview Future of the Past". Allmusic. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
- ^ "Overview Tribute to the Gods". Allmusic. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
- ^ "Overview Oculus Infernum". Allmusic. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
- ^ Gordon, Jeremy (April 24, 2014). "Portishead's Beth Gibbons Covers Black Sabbath's "Black Sabbath" With Metal Band Gonga". Pitchfork. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
