Widely called the last great album Black Sabbath recorded with their powerhouse lineup – Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is still considered a classic and influential release. Yet there was a time in the summer of 1973 when it looked like the follow-up to Vol. 4 might have to be scrapped.“I just got stuck and couldn’t think of anything to write,” Iommi told me in 2009. “I…
In 1987, MTV released the iconic Headbangers Ball during the height of the heavy metal movement. It quickly became the premier destination for all things heavy, even helping lead grunge into the mainstream in the early ‘90s.When Nirvana appeared on the show in 1991, Kurt Cobain famously wore a yellow ballgown. “It’s Headbangers Ball, so I thought I’d wear a gown,” Cobain said, before pointing to Krist Novoselic and adding, “He wouldn’t wear his tux. He…
The music industry was going through seismic changes at the turn of the 21st Century, thanks to accelerating advancement of technology, the Internet and a specific revolutionary catalyst called the MP3 file, which allowed fans to indiscriminately share music, both digitally and illegally, via groundbreaking digital tools like Napster. Every musical artist on earth, without exception, was caught in the crosshairs of this new technology and the sudden, illicit consumer behavior it encouraged — most…
There are stories sometimes so rewarding and full that they can’t be completely told in just one song. Luckily a number of acts in music history have revisited characters and tales of a multiple songs. One such band is up-and-comers The Black Moods, who turned heads last year with their single “Sunshine” and are building up to their new album with “She Gets Out,” a song that carries over a narrative.The band tells us, “‘She…
In 2001, System of a Down reached new heights with their Toxicity album, but rather than rush into a follow-up, the band opted to release an odds and ends collection called Steal This Album in 2002. By the time 2004 rolled around, the band had plenty to say and a lot of music set to come out of them.”The whole world’s gone crazy over the past couple of years, so that’s brought out a lot…