[Early years] [Black Sabbath part 1] [Part 2]  [Part 3]  [Part 4] 
 [Randy Rhoads]  [Sharon-Wife/Managed] [Later years]  [Controversy & Madness]

Home

Master of Reality

In 1971 Ozzy married his first wife, Thelma, and became stepfather to her son Elliot. It was also the year that the "Master of Reality" album was released. It hit 5th place in UK and 8th place in US song charts. This album would raise eyebrows with the song "After Forever", which was clearly a religious song. Churches called it blasphemy, and others began to speak out against the band, perhaps partly because of the song, or what the band represented. In any event, 1971 turned into a roller coaster of events, from the groups dressing room walls being decorated with crosses painted in blood in Memphis, to a Satanist jumping on stage with a sacrificial knife during the same show. The local witches coven later gathered outside the band's hotel, Geezer trying to scare them off with a fake hex. That year threats were made against the band claiming that they would be shot sometime during their US tour. At one show the lights suddenly failed in the middle of their third song, and Ozzy stood on the stage, frozen with fear. Adding to the conflicts of the year, the group put a song called "Sweet Leaf" on the album, which spoke of using marijuana. The song begins with a coughing sound that was reported as being Iommi coughing as he finished smoking from a water pipe and the sounds were included in the final version of the song.

Volume 4 

The following year, 1972, "Volume 4" was released. Again the record company took control of the album title, no allowing the group's original title "Snow-blind" to be used. They felt it was too controversial, being another drug reference, and changed it to "Volume 4", it being the bands fourth album. At this time the group was becoming heavily involved in drugs of all kinds, including cocaine, and it is claimed that during this albums recording the band sat around in a Jacuzzi snorting coke, getting up every once in a while to record a new song. Not being allowed to use their preference for the album's title, they added a line to the albums sleeve that read: "Thanks to the COKE-Cola Company". This year, while Ozzy was deep into the drug would, he and Thelma had their first mutual child, Jessica.

Management Issues

The same year that Paranoid was racing up the charts, Patrick Meehan and Wilf Pine began courting Sabbath, after leaving their management company. They offered the band a chauffeured limo and fine dining, and began voicing their opinions about Simpsons management of the group. They said that Sabbath was not being managed properly, and that the group would be much better off with them as managers. Sabbath was already unhappy with Simpson because they felt that his insisting that they perform at shows that they had already been booked for, caused them to earn less then they should. The old bookings were worth a lot less than the usual fee - then around 2000 pounds a show. The group accepted Meehan and Pine's offer, and so on Sept. 4th, 1970, Jim Simpson was dropped as manager of Black Sabbath. The man who had brought then from nothing was history. Simpson sued Sabbath for breach of contract, Ozzy once being handed a subpoena on stage. The resulting court case would last years...
~~
By 1974 the band is living a fast life filled with drugs, sex and cars. One thing they didn't see much of however, was money. If they needed something, they asked management for it, and received it swiftly. They became very successful, especially in the UK charts, but all material possessions were provided by management.

On April 6th, 1974, the Cal Jam concert took place in Ontario, California. The concert was televised to millions of viewers, and had over 450,000 people in attendance and featured bands such as The Electric Light Orchestra. Apparently Sabbath didn't even know that they were to play the show. In the middle of the night their management threatened them with a lawsuit if they did not play the show. Sabbath was in no way ready for such a huge show, not having practiced in months. The was one of the final straws - the band began the process of getting rid of management once again. In "The Decline of Western Civilization II", a documentary, Ozzy discusses how the group questioned how much money they were really making if management could afford homes and cars.

Sabbath decided, after getting rid of their second management and finding out that the cars and houses they had been given were not really theirs, and losing it all, that they would manage themselves. This way they would have complete control of all aspects of Black Sabbath and would not have to be concerned with anyone else mistreating them. It would be a learning experience, as none of the band members had any management experience, but they were confident it was the right thing to do. 

They had lost all their expensive items, but still had the Warner Bros. label in America and stuck with Warner Bros. through the management change.