The Decibel Diaries by Carter Alan

Author:Carter Alan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University Press of New England

CHAPTER 28

BLACK SABBATH AND OZZY OSBOURNE

SABBATH VS. OZZY

Boston Garden, March 4, 1982, and April 2, 1982

Listen to: Black Sabbath, “Black Sabbath,” “War Pigs,” “Iron Man,” “Paranoid,” “Children of the Grave,” “Heaven and Hell”; Ozzy Osbourne, “Over the Mountain,” “Crazy Train”

Ronnie James Dio regarded me from the couch, considering the question I had just asked. In that brief moment I couldn’t help but be amazed that a man of his size (five feet, four inches) possessed a profound, operatic-level voice that could thrill an entire stadium audience. Considered one of the most powerful and expressive singers in hard rock, his manner in person was conversely soft-spoken and respectful, yet with a commanding presence. Two of his bandmates in the current version of Black Sabbath, original bassist Tony “Geezer” Butler and recently added drummer Vinnie Appice, skulked about, picking at an inviting room service array of breakfast pastries, juice, and coffee. It was March 1982 and I’d been sent by Boston Rock magazine to interview anyone in the band who wanted to talk, and, impressively, three showed up. My query was deliberately loaded: “You don’t view Black Sabbath as over the hill?” Dio, though, didn’t take the bait, finally responding with a grin, “Everyone hates Sabbath, but the fans sell out the shows all over the world!”

“So you’re going to be out on tour for . . .”

“Forever!” Appice shot back, cracking us all up.

That Black Sabbath still sold out arenas was nothing short of remarkable, especially since the rock and roll hangman had fit his noose tightly around the band’s neck at least three years earlier. As a kid, I’d discovered Sabbath on their second album, Paranoid, then embraced the earlier debut and snatched up each new release the moment it came out: Masters of Reality, Vol. 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, and Sabotage. By 1975, however, the group’s commercial peak had been realized as substance and alcohol abuse by all four members gutted their creative core while the advent of punk and a younger metal scene sidelined fans’ attention. At that point, after a career that literally defined heavy metal, with headline status at colossal rock festivals and a string of million-selling albums behind them, the members of Black Sabbath somersaulted into the show-biz purgatory reserved for those who had fought their way to the top, then squandered everything away. The death-defying booze-fueled high jinks of lead singer Ozzy Osbourne outstripped that of the others, leading to a toxic madness that dashed any efforts to return the band to fighting form.

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