The First Time Sabbath Blew My Mind...

[Sabbabbath]

I was 16 or just 17 years old when one of my mates elder brothers loaned me Black Sabbaths first album. At this point I was listening to T Rex, Roxy Music, Status Quo etc so when I played the album for the first time it was quite a shock to the system. The title track blew me away and I was quite taken with Behind The Wall Of Sleep & N.I.B too. The rest of the tracks did not make a massive impression on me at this time though I came to like them all at a later time. Not long after this I bought my first Sabbath album, the double album "We Sold Our Souls For Rock 'n' Roll" I did not earn a great deal of money in those days so I could not afford to go out and buy loads of albums by one band so buying compilations and best of's was a cheap way of getting some of the best stuff by a band. I played it to death.

I saw Black Sabbath for the first time at Bingley Hall in Stafford in 1977 on their Technical Ecstacy Tour. They were very loud and I remember thinking as a young kid that I could never possibly see anything better. Little did I know.

I ended up buying all the Sabbath albums eventually when I started earning better money. I got to see Sabbath again with Ozzy one more time before he left, or was told to leave? The venue was the New Theatre in Oxford 1978. It was not long after the did Never Say Die on Top Of The Pops. I thought the band played OK and if you have heard all the bullshit about how Van Halen blew them off the stage don't believe it. They were bloody good to say the least and they easy got an encore which was not easy for support bands in those days but blowing them off the stage? I think this story has kept growing over the years. I don't remember anyone shouting for Van Halen at any time during Sabbaths set. At the end of the show the band come to the front of the stage to thank the audience but Bill Ward fell off his platform and had to be picked up off the stage and carried to the front with the rest of the band.

When I heard RJD was the new front man with Sabbath I was very pleased as he was already my all time favorite rock/metal singer. I loved him with Rainbow but wondered how he would sound doing ozzy's old numbers. Saw them again at Bingley Hall 1981 and could not believe how good they were with Dio.

Never saw Sabbath again but liked the rest of the line up's and bought all the albums. I did see Heaven & Hell once, always great to see RJD. When RJD passed away I think it was one of the saddest days in my life. A great loss.

Thanks for telling! Oh, you attended the Oxford 1978 show. Are you aware of this already? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R6J0zAZc0s
Take care,
Linda

[nutzrocker]

Thank you Linda, no I have never seen this before.

Would be nice if the whole show exists, I could hear if it was as good as I remembered it to be.

Very interesting to hear your father was a Vicar. Can't imagine a Vicar being into Black Sabbath.

He must be a very cool guy

[Sabbabbath]

Thank you Linda, no I have never seen this before.

Would be nice if the whole show exists, I could hear if it was as good as I remembered it to be.

Very interesting to hear your father was a Vicar. Can't imagine a Vicar being into Black Sabbath.

He must be a very cool guy

He's a pretty relaxed vicar. Not specifically a Sabbath fan, just listens to LOTS of music, Sabbath's just one of many bands he likes. Not the kind of parent you could freak out with loud rock music and devil's horns. When he was young, his parents pretty much hated him for going to anti-war manifestations and listening to the Rolling Stones (their opinions about rock music were deeply racist), so he decided to become a better parent then they were, and he did pretty well.

[BOGBLAST]

Very cool solo Linda. I like how it starts out as an instrumental before going full blown solo, almost like getting new music. Thanks for posting.

Paul