[1.0] Introduction
[1.1] What was Ozzy's childhood like?
[1.2] How did Ozzy start his music career?
[1.3] Who was Jim Simpson? (Manager Number One)
[1.4] Who was Earth/Black Sabbath?
[1.5] How did Black Sabbath come to be?



1.0 INTRODUCTION

1968  In a small German club, a band by the name of "Earth" is up on the stage. The audience is ignoring the band as audiences typically do. The lead singer, Ozzy, decides to get their attention. He goes back to the dressing room, unnoticed by the audience. Backstage, he coats his hands, face and feet with purple paint. He returns to the stage and then screams at the audience. The audience remains oblivious to this purple man screaming at them. The band resigns themselves to the fact that the audience is just not going to pay them any attention. 1998 ==== Ask someone if they have heard of Celine Dion or Tom Cochrane, and even if their answer is no, they have most likely heard about Ozzy Osbourne or Black Sabbath. Since his debut in the late 60's as a blues/rock singer, this man has had a world wide impact on the music scene. You may think of him as a drugged out lunatic who sacrifices animals and eats dead frogs for supper while worshiping Satan with dead bodies around him. This is of course complete and utter nonsense... I have never heard of him using more than one dead body. :) The most common stories are the beheading of the bat, wasn't there something about a dove?, and what was that about the Alamo? From his childhood right on up to his current Ozzmosis album, this file will attempt to explain it all. At the age of 50, this man still has the mind, and at times, the body of a 22 year old. His records still continue to sell and make it to the charts, his concerts sell out within minutes, all this despite his never having followed any given 'trend' as a lot of music groups try to do today. When Alanis Morissette is 48, do you think she will still have sell out concerts? "When I left school I wanted to become a plumber. When I heard the Beatles I wanted to become a Beatle" ...Ozzy
Read another brief biography about Ozzy before continuing below

1.1 What was Ozzy's childhood like?

The year was 1948 and John Michael Osbourne was born on December 3rd in the industrial town of Birmingham, England to Jack and Lillian Osbourne. John was the fourth of six children (2 brothers, Paul and Tony) and 3 sisters (Jean, Iris and Gillian) in a small two bedroom home at 14 Lodge Road in Aston, England. Needless to say the house was more than a little crowded. Ozzy's father worked nights in a steel plant while his mother worked days in the Lucas car plant assembling electrical circuits. His family was in poor financial shape with no money, no car and little food. Ozzy says his childhood consisted of one pair of shoes, one pair of socks, no underwear, one pair of pants and one jacket. There would be a bucket at the end of the bed to urinate in, which sat there for months. Their beds never had clean sheets, and sometimes they used overcoats as bed shets. Ozzy was beaten quite a bit by his father, most of it was deserved for stunts like trying to kill his siblings. (Ed: While I don't condone the beating of a child, I also don't think one should attempt to kill one's siblings either. Take the above comment with this in mind.) One day Ozzy's friends gave his brother a used condom and told him it was a balloon. His brother went into the house with the condom blown up, and his father washed his mouth out with soap. In his spare time, Ozzy would watch television. He liked shows such as "I love Lucy", "Lassie" and "Roy Rogers". This was the lifestyle of Birmingham, a time where you went to work all day and then to the pub to drink and play darts until deciding to stagger home. For the Osbourne family, life was no different. It was all work and little time to enjoy the finer moments in life. While the Beatles were singing about flower power and loving one another, the people of Birmingham simply had to take a good look around them to see the reality of the world: it was hard. Life was no different for the Osbourne family. While in school, other students called John, "Ozzie" or "Oz-brain" with respect to his last name. Quite the rebel, Ozzy did however take part in various school opera-plays such as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Mikado and The Pirates of Penzance. There was one student at school named Tony Iommi whom Ozzy did not get along with. Tony and John were from two different crowds and there was no love lost between the two. Tony and his mates would make fun of Ozzy's high voice and compared his singing to that of a girls. The two of them would later reunite later on under totally different circumstances. Ozzy did not do particularly well in school and wanted to get out as soon as he could. When asked on a school survey what his ambition was, he wrote that he wanted to become a plumber. This was not to happen however. Ozzy was kicked out from school. His parents argued often, and the main issue was their lack of money. Ozzy decided that he could fix this if he could go out and get a job. So at the age of 15, Ozzy took his first job as a plumber's assistant. and then a toolmaker's apprentice. Ozzy then went on to work in a slaughterhouse in Digbeth for two years, killing cows. Perhaps this influenced his musical style, I do not know. Other jobs included an auto mechanic, house painter and even two weeks at a mortuary. His first musical job was working in the Lucas electrical plant tuning car horns. He later said, "I liked heavy metal better because it was louder". Ozzy did not care for working for other people so he decided to try crime instead. He once tried stealing a 24 inch television set. Balanced on top of a wall with it, and trying to keep his balance, he fell off with the television landing on top of him. He did some more break and enters but used a pair of gloves with the fingers cut off. Naturally he was caught. Unable to pay the fine, Ozzy spent three months (or was it 6 weeks?) in Birmingham's Winson Green Prison for breaking into an occupied boarding house. While incarcerated there, Ozzy tattooed the now famous letters O-Z-Z-Y on his left knuckles and happy faces on his knees using sewing needle and a graphite slab. One happy face can be seen on his left knee on the "Diary of a Madman" album cover. He would later be put in jail again for punching a police officer in the mouth. Shortly after his release from prison for burglary, Ozzy wound up in the hospital on glucode for 12 hours after being thrown through a glass window while fighting 3 men.

1.2  How did Ozzy start his music career?

After getting out of jail, Ozzy decided he did not want to go end up going back. At this time, The Beatles were becoming increasingly popular and becoming the craze. Ozzy thought that this would be the way to go. There was money to be made in singing as opposed to crime. In fact the Beatles were one of his main influences. Even to this day he still listens to the Beatles before going out on stage. It is of interest to note that this would not be his first musical experience though: earlier at the age of fourteen he had already been in a band named 'The Black Panthers'. A band by the name of "Music Machine" needed a singer because theirs was sick. Ozzy liked the idea of being able to travel to gigs and meeting women so he filled in. Later on he joined a band named "Approach" but didn't like the band so he quit. He then decided to call himself "Ozzy Zig" and placed this ad in the local music paper/shop: "Ozzy zig requires gig. Ozzy's father loaned him some money and together they purchased a 50 watt amp. Ozzy placed an ad in a local record store reading, "Ozzy zig requires gig. Owns own P.A.". Another 18 year old Brummie named Terence 'Geezer' Butler had been playing guitar for just six months when he saw Ozzy's ad on a shop bulletin board and decided to go look him up. After the two met, they decided to form a band named "Rare Breed". Rare Breed lasted only two shows before disbanding. Elsewhere Ozzy's old schoolmate, Tony Iommi had teamed up with an 18 year old assistant truck driver named William Ward who had just quit his job. Tony and Bill also decided to form a band, "The Rest", and recruited a singer named Chris Smith. The Rest eventually moved north to a small town named Carlisle where they renamed themselves "Mythology" and gained a large following of fans. They played mainly blues songs inspired by such groups as The Yardbirds, Cream, The Beatles and John Mayal. Mythology eventually split up; Tony and Bill returned to Birmingham and went to the music shop where they also saw Ozzy's ad. Tony was hoping this was not the same 'Ozzy' he had went to school with because that Ozzy could not sing well and the two of them disliked one other. It turned out that it was indeed the same Oz and decided it would not be a good idea to form a band together. Tony was also not impressed with Ozzy because he had very short hair (really!). Since Ozzy and Geezer still needed a drummer they later approached Tony to see if he knew of a drummer. Bill was at Tony's place and agreed to join them but only if they'd let Tony join too. So along with a slide guitar player named Jim Phillips and a saxophone player, they formed a new band. The new band returned to Carlisle where Tony and Bill had been a success and played some gigs. Not being pleased with a six piece band, they broke up and then rejoined once the two extras had gone. This was a polite way of getting rid of the two unnecessary members. The foursome them learned 18 songs in their first week together. Ozzy named the band "Polka Tulk Blues Band" after a tin of talcum powder. It has also been said that the name came from a Pakistani clothing store named the 'Polka Tulk Trading Company'. Geezer Butler switched to playing bass guitar since Tony was now the lead guitar player. Unable to afford a bass guitar, Geezer simply took two of the guitar strings off his guitar and re-tuned it to make a bass guitar. Another name change ensued and the group was soon known as "Earth". History: ------- Ozzy Osbourne Geezer Butler Tony Iommi Bill Ward | | | | Black Panthers (1962) | Rocking Chevrolets | | | | | Music Machine/Approach | | | | | >>> The Rest <<< >>>> Rare Breed <<< | | | >>>>> Polka Tulk Blues Band <<<<< | Earth (Autumn 1967-August 1969) | Black Sabbath (Aug. 1969-1978) | Black Sabbath (1978-) [After Ozzy left, Ronnie James Dio left 'Rainbow' to replace him) "Black Sabbath makes Led Zeppelin look like a kindergarten house band" ...Advertisement by Jim Simpson

1.3 Who was Jim Simpson? (Manager Number One)

Jim Simpson was a musician who played jazz trumpet. He was also the manager of a Brummie band named 'Bakerloo Blues Band'. Unable to find a place where he could promote the band, he opened his own place called "Henry's Blueshouse". Henry's, located at Hill Street and Station Road was an instant success. It wasn't before long before the club had to stop accepting new bands. A band that was just starting out, Led Zeppelin, would also be one of the first bands to play Henry's. In 1969, the four members of Earth approached Jim and asked if they could play at Henry's. They also wanted him to be their manager since they knew nothing of the business sense of things. He told them that they could open for the band 'Ten Years After', which pleased them. Happy to have a manager who supposedly cared for their interests, they recorded a song in tribute to him, "Song for Jim". The song was a spoof of their manager and the jazz music he played. This elusive song is still sought after by Sabbath fans worldwide. Simpson would also give the band some of his jazz records to inspire them to write songs. It is of interest to mention that around this time, Tony left to join Jethro Tull. While Tony did not appear on any of Tull's albums, he did make an appearance at the "Rolling Stone's Rock and Roll Circus" which was never released, because the Stones were upstaged by other acts. Tony and Jethro can be heard on a bootleg called "Archangel Rides Again". The movie was eventually released in the movie festival circuit. Tony's stint with Jethro Tull was very brief (for two weeks). He left Tull and was soon back in Earth.

1.4 Who was Earth/Black Sabbath?

BAND MEMBER FULL NAME BIRTHDATE Tony Iommi [guitar] Anthony Frank Iommi Feb 19, 1948 in Aston Bill Ward [drums] William Ward May 5, 1948 in UK Ozzy Osbourne [vocals/harmonica] John Michael Dec. 3, 1948 in Aston Osbourne Geezer Butler [bass] Terence Michael July 17, 1949 Butler

1.5 How did Black Sabbath come to be?

"When we hit America we were the wild bunch. We bought dope and f***ed anything that moved" ...Ozzy While waiting to go into a rehearsal one day, they noticed a Boris Karloff movie playing named "Black Sabbath" (1965). Geezer mentioned it was strange that people would go to a movie to scare themselves silly. Until this time they had only played other artist's material. They decided to use the name of the movie as the name for their first original song. One day the band showed up to do a gig at Henry's. There, someone mentioned they liked the bands single. The only problem was the foursome hadn't ever released a single! They then realized that there were two bands by the same name. The audience were of upper class and expecting a totally different type of music. Unable to back out of the show, the scruffy four played blues and rock to the audience. It was a disaster! The band however did have some fun in watching the crowd try to dance to their type of music. As a result, Geezer came up with the idea to change their name to that of the Karloff movie, 'BLACK SABBATH' to avoid being confused with the other band named Earth. They now had a song and a band name taken from the movie's title. This would also reflect the groups interest in the occult. It has also been said that the name Black Sabbath came from Geezer's interest in occult writer Denis Wheatley. Not having any money, the band relied on Tony's mother who owned a chocolate shop, for the use of a van, food and cigarettes. Sometimes the group would get gigs on their own, other times they would show up at a place where another band was to be playing. In the event that the scheduled band failed to show up, the Sabs would take their place. They played the Star Club in Hamburg in Jan. 1969, a place the Beatles had made famous. They were so popular that they were booked to come back for 5 more shows. They would play 7 shows a day, and write new material as they went along. This would also explain why their early songs had different lyrics than the final album versions. As Black Sabbath made news, a group of Satanists asked them to play at their "night of Satan" at Stonehenge. They refused. The head witch of England, Alec Sanders who was a regular fan of Sabbaths, informed them that these Satanists had placed a hex on the band members. Ozzy asked his father to make aluminum crosses, which he did, and then had them blessed. They wore these crosses 24 hours a day for protection. The cross remains a well known Black Sabbath symbol even to this day. You see, Black Sabbath as Satanic and dark as the name sounded, had nothing to do with the devil when they chose their name. An independent producer named Tony Hall paid for the band to record some demo songs at the Regent Sound studio on Tottenham Court Rd. These were produced by Roger Bayed, whose name appears on many of their albums. One demo cut, a single called "Evil Woman", was released on the Fontana record label in Jan. 1970. This was a cover song from a Minnesota band named Crow, which did quite well unbeknownst to the band. One demo was called "The Rebel" and is played as a 10 second sample in "The Black Sabbath Story - I" video. The song, about a reclusive voyeur, is one of the rarest Sabbath songs in that it did not make it to the final album. Their first completed album was released on Friday, Feb. 13th, 1970. It took them only eight hours to record and cost a mere 800 British pounds (approx. $1200 US). The album was recorded in four tracks on an 8 track machine. The band was not that popular at this time, they simply wanted to do what they liked best... sing about the darker, more depressing things that surrounded them. It was not likely they ever intended to make the big time, in fact Ozzy has said he was just happy to show his mother that his voice was recorded on a piece of vinyl. It was not as easy as it sounds though, it took them 14 tries before Jim Simpson found a record company (Vertigo) that would carry the album. The record company chose to put an upside down cross on the gatefold of the album and thus people readily associated the band with Satanism. The band knew nothing about this and did not want the upside down cross, however they backed down from the record company's "wiser and higher" marketing methods. Inside the inverted cross was a poem. The poem seemed to correspond with the album's cover showing a woman standing in a countryside, apparently in a gothic setting. The poem is called "Still Falls the Rain". Due to requests by fans, it is shown below: *** STILL FALLS THE RAIN *** "Still falls the rain, the veils of darkness shroud the blackened trees, which, contorted by some unseen violence, shed their tired leaves, and bend their boughs toward a gray earth of severed bird wings. Among the grasses, poppies bleed before a gesticulating death, and young rabbits, born dead in traps, stand motionless, as though guarding the silence that surrounds and threatens to engulf all those that would listen. Mute birds, tired of repeating yesterdays terrors, huddle together in the recesses of dark corners, heads turned from the dead, black swan that floats upturned in a small pool in the hollow. There emerges from this pool a faint, sensual mist, that traces its way upwards to caress the feet of the headless martyr's statue whose only achievement was to die too soon, and who couldn't wait to loose. The cataract of darkness forms fully, the long black night begins, yet still by the lake a young girl waits. Unseeing she believes herself unseen, she smiles faintly at the distant tolling bell, and the still falling rain." The first album contained the following songs: 1) Black Sabbath (a dark doom sounding song) 2) The Wizard (a song about a wizard who walks through towns cheering people up through the use of magic) 3) Wasp/Behind The Wall of Sleep 4) Bassically/N.I.B. (a song about the devil falling in love with a mortal woman and changing to a good person) 5) Wicked World (society, and our struggle to survive) (Euro versions had 'Evil Woman' instead, another great single) 6) Sleeping Village/Warning (a very blues influenced song that is an easy listener, about found/lost love) This was definitely NOT a satanic album! Today there are still people who hear the words "Black Sabbath" and think hard rock devil music. This is plain ignorance. Remember the band was originally a blues band, and there is a definite blues sound in their debut album. Ozzy brought the album home to proudly show his parents. The Osbourne's were the type of people who would sit around the phonogram with a beer and merrily sing alone to the records. This was not to be though. When Mr. Osbourne heard the album he asked John, "Are you sure you were just drinking alcohol?, this isn't music, this is weird." The first song began with a church bell tolling and the sound of rain falling in the background, and was eerie to say the least. Ozzy too had not heard the final product until now. It would reach #8 in the UK charts and #23 in the United States. The four unknowns were now finally making a name for themselves with the release of an album. It is of interest to note that their album followed the release of Led Zeppelin's first album. Both bands knew one another personally since they both played in the same club and the music scene was a close knit group. It came in the form of a surprise to the Sabs when someone put on a brand new album from Led Zeppelin. Bill Ward was close to Zeppelin's drummer, John Bonham. He talks about the relationship between the two bands in the book, "The Story of Black Sabbath". It is of interest to point out that in February of 1970, the same month their debut album came out, they broke the attendance record at Simpson's club which had remained untouched for over a year by Jethro Tull. Tony had made the right choice in returning to Sabbath it would seem. With an album comes touring, and with touring comes America. America would have a great impact on them as well. Ozzy has said that people would go around saying, "if you go to San Francisco be sure to wear a flower in your hair". This mystified him because he did not know what or where San Francisco was. When the band eventually did tour America, it took them by storm. They had never seen anything like it. They had their share of groupies and took in the marvelous sights of America. They played one of their first shows at the Fillmore East. Some old 8mm footage of their first trip overseas can be seen on the commercial video, "The Black Sabbath Story - Volume 1". It must be said, that on this particular videotape, Bill Ward the drummer relates an interesting story: While playing in New York, the audience was still at the stage where they would simply sit there and listen to the music. The band wanted a stronger reaction from the audience since they were putting 150% effort into their songs. Ozzy would often yell at the audience to get up and go crazy (as many bootlegs can attest to). At one particular show they were growing fed up with the audience just sitting there and Bill picked up his drum set and threw it at the audience. Bill says that as a result, that night they did SEVEN encores. Can you think of any band in today's scene which does seven encores? By the time they reached Los Angeles, people had already heard about this "Black Sabbath".


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