Black Sabbath Part 2

First Recordings

Tony Hall, an independent producer, paid for the band to record some demo songs at the Regent Sound Studio on Tottenham Court Rd. Roger Bayed produced these songs, and his name appears on many of the albums. One demo cut, 'Evil Woman', was released on the Fontana record label in January 1970, and, unbeknownst to the band, did quite well. Another demo was called 'The Rebel' and is played as a ten second sample in "The Black Sabbath Story - I" video. The song, about a reclusive voyeur, is one of the rarest Sabbath songs, as it did not make it to the final album.

Black Sabbath's first completed album was released on Friday February the thirteenth, 1970. It was recorded in only eight hours and cost only 800 British pounds (approx. $1200 US). It was recorded on four tracks on an eight track machine. The band was not very popular at the time of the recording, and they simply wished to do what they liked best - sing about the darker aspects of life. They likely never thought that they would make it big in the music business at this point. In fact Ozzy has said that he was just happy to show his mother that his voice could be recorded on a piece of vinyl. It was not an altogether easy process - it took 14 tries before Jim Simpson finally found a company (Vertigo) that would carry the album.
The record company took it upon itself to place an upside down cross on the gatefold of the album, and this immediately caused people to associate the band with Satanism. Sabbath did not want the upside down cross, but bowed to the record companies marketing methods. Inside the inverted cross was a poem that seemed to correspond with the album's cover - a woman standing in a countryside, in a gothic appearing setting. The poem is called "Still falls the rain" (as on the previous page).

Ozzy proudly brought the album home to show his parents, but the reception was not what he had hoped for. The Osbourne's were a family that would sit around the phonograph, listening to music, sipping beer, and singing along. When his parents heard his music, his father remarked "Are you sure you were just drinking alcohol?, this isn't music, this is weird." The first song began with rain falling in the background and a church bell tolling early. This was also the first time Ozzy had heard the final product, which would reach #8 on the UK charts, and #23 in the United States.

The four unknowns were now beginning to make a name for themselves with the release of an album. The same month that their album came out, Black Sabbath broke the attendance record at Simpson's club - a record set and untouched for over a year by Jethro Tull. Success was nearing, and of course with an album came touring, and with touring came the united States. America would have a great impact on the young band. In fact, America washed over them like a tidal wave, bring them into a world unlike they had ever experienced. They had their groupies and took in the incredible sights that America offered them, and began to taste the sordid side of Rock and Roll.

One of their first American shows was played at the Fillmore East. Some of their first trip overseas can be seen on the commercial video "The Black Sabbath Story - Volume 1". On this particular video tape, drummer Bill Ward speaks of the prodding the band would engage in trying to get the audience to do more than sit and listen to the music: In New York, the audience was doing this, and the band, putting 150% effort into their songs, was becoming discouraged by their idleness. Ozzy would often yell at the audience to get up and go crazy, and on this particular show this had no affect. Bull Ward, frustrated, picked up his drum set and threw it at the audience. As a result, Ward claims that the band did seven encores that night. By the time they reached Los Angles, people were talking about this band called Black Sabbath.

Paranoid
While working on their next album, the band released a single called "Paranoid". The single was amazingly popular. On October 23 1970 the band was playing at the Mayfair Ballroom in Newcastle, to a drunk and noisy crowd, who began to crawling over the stage and equipment. The group begins playing "Paranoid" in an attempt to get them off of the stage, but by the time the show is over, the band has had equipment smashed and stolen. The audience had gone crazy over the new single. Ozzy, extremely upset by the ordeal, said "If it means us having to give up putting out singles then we will. We want people to listen to us, not try to touch us. I was really terrified, shocked out of my mind." This gig would also give birth to the song "Fairies Wear Boots" which was written as a result of the band being attacked in the street by a group of skinheads. Iommi's arm was seriously injured during the attack, and they were forced to cancel their next show. The song "Fairies Wear Boots" was the bands way of making fun of the 'punks'.

It was fairly common practice for Sabbath to become verbally abusive if the audience was not responding well to their performance. If they were talking, the band would crank the music louder. Bands were so loud in this period that the Leeds City Council introduced a "96 decibel law". If any band's music rose above this level the amplifiers would cut out. Black Sabbath did not consider their night's work complete if they did not have at least three cut-outs a night.

The album 'Paranoid' was recorded in four days, again at Regent Sound, and released in January 1971. The cover shows a person running out of the forest with a sword and shield in hand. It seems a strange representation of being paranoid, but the album was actually intended to be called "War Pigs" (mans constant desire to have weapons of destruction and killing). The record company objected to the title, and so they named the album after the song on the album, "Paranoid". The song "War Pigs" actually came about when the band had been told tales of horror and war from soldiers at an American Air Force Base while the band played there. The Paranoid album reached first place on the UK charts and twelfth in America. It was in the time between Paranoid and the Master of Reality albums that Sabbath fired their manager, Jim Simpson.