From: Scott
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006
To: Steve
Okay, I'm a couple days late, but cut me some slack, I have killer clones to write about, which, for some reason, ties in with this week's selection.
If there is one band that has been denied entry to the Hall of Fame for too long and truly deserves to be there, it is Black Sabbath. Am I fan? Not really. Honestly, I know 2, maybe 3 of their songs. Some musicologist I am, huh?
To me, Sabbath will always be one of those bands whose name was written in black marker on the jeans jackets of countless burn outs at our school You remember those kids, the ones who stood one foot off of school grounds to smoke their cigarettes in the dead of winter (wearing only those same jeans jackets, mind you). Now, I'm sure most of those kids are managing large companies and making decent livings while I toil away at being an "artist".
Despite my limited knowledge about Sabbath, I do know that the original line up came to fame in the early 70's with members Ozzy Osborne (who?), the great Tony Iommi on guitar (he plays with a disfigured hand, mind you), Bill Ward on drums and (one of my favorite rock names of all time) Geezer Butler on bass. Their music was derived from the blues, but their lyrical subject matter was DARK, dude. And the darkness of their lyrics seemed to seep into the heaviness of their music.
When Cream were inducted into the Hall of Fame, Clapton claimed that they (Cream) had invented heavy metal. Uh, I don't think so, Slowhand. Cream and Zeppelin created the blueprint, but heavy metal... Real heavy metal, that we associate with countless bands like Iron Maiden, Dio, Judas Priest and Slayer, was born on the Sabbath. And that, my friend, is why this band is so deserving of their induction.
The influence they had on these bands, and therefore on the lives of so many teenagers is what rock music is about. True, the Hall of Fame should be about the artistic importance of the music, but you HAVE to include the commercial side as well.
Finally, think of the thousands of garage bands out there who strap on guitars and immediately play one of two riffs. The first, sadly, is the "Nuh nuh nuh...nuh nuh nuhnuh" of "Smoke on the Water". The other...
"Nuh Nuh nuhnuh nuh, nuhnuhnuhnuhnuhnuh nuh nuh nuh!"
I... AM... IRON... MAN!
Should be interesting to see if Ozzy can manage a coherent sentence when they're inducted.
S
From: Steve
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006
To: Scott
I'm racing around today, so not much time to respond, but I totally agree with everything .
My favorite Black Sabbath moment: December 1984, N O H.S. v. Olmsted Falls home basketball game. Todd Trefz somehow figures out how to access the P.A. system and pipes Side 1 of the classic Sabbath album, starting with "Ironman" over the loudspeakers during JV warmups -- then refuses to tell Dom Pannito, the coach, how to turn it off. (This is one of three Todd Trefz memories. The other two include a ride in his grandmother's "three on the tree" Dodge Rambler in Winter 1985-86, and his drawing a technical foul for a completely idiotic smack of the backboard at Falls in January 1986.)
This was the start of a Sabbath binge for that JV team, which went 18-2 that year. Sabbath on the bus blasting from a cheap Panasonic boom box, Sabbath in the locker room after games before the wet-haired emergence at halftime of the varsity game.
Bonus question: What was song 3 on Side 1 of that album?
From:Scott
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006
To: Steve
I could pretend to actually know the answer to your question, but I was knee deep in Yes madness at that point in my life. So, I will give the answer (as found on Amazon).
“Planet Caravan”
Dom Pannito... I’m cracking up.
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