1. Wednesday, February 4, 2004

    black history month 

    : Black Sabbath

    i took jeanine to see Ozzy’s farewell tour in 1991 at irvine meadows. rob halfords band Fight opened, then Ozzy played, and then a reunited Sabbath came out with halford singing for them, and then Ozzy sang some old chestnuts with his old band and brought out his little kids and he said “this is why im quitting all this shit. for these kids, man!”

    then he hugged his kids and then tony iommi plugged his sg back into the marshall stacks and the kids ran off stage and carmen appiece from ozzys band pounded out a drum beat and ozzy started clapping all hunched over like he does and they broke into something from sabbath bloody sabbath and this little 13 year old kid sitting next to me spilled his super big gulp and didnt even notice.

    black sabbath were the kings of grunge 20 years before it even had a name. some would say they were the godfathers of metal but metal never had the warmth of a warpigs and i hate to say it but iommi never had the speed that one looks for when you think metal. sure they inspired all those bands but so did miniskirts.

    sad thing about ozzys new fame is the kids today might think that hes always been this bumbling old man with a crazy wife and fucked up kids. truth of the matter is ozzy is not only one of the most important singers in rock music but one of the top ten important frontmen of all time. maybe top 5. jagger, bon scott, bono, morrison, ozzy. yep, that covers it.

    i like sabbath because they werent afraid of long droning epic spinal tappy adventures through the darkness.

    i like sabbath because when they didnt want ozzy to sing with them (huge mistake) they got ronnie james dio to sing with them (perfect choice.)

    i like sabbath because they love wearing crucifixes, long, hair, and moustashes.

    i like sabbath because they still kick the shit out of all the pansy asses who pretend that what theyre doing is rock.

    i like sabbath because they remind us that the beatles made ditties to hum to your children but that rock is bigger and deffer than all of that.

    and lastly i like sabbath because they were the perfect combo of substance over style, spirit over image, soul over marketing.

    happy black history month.

    gods lonely man + black history month sports timeline + the mighty doc searls