Black Sabbath

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

Any thoughts on the world's heaviest band?  I'm bored on a Saturday night, crankin' the best and worst of Ozzy/Dio/Gillian era Black Sabbath...

Examples:

Neon Knights
Sweet Leaf
The Wizard
Turn up the Night
etc.

[Oz]

Hmm, I'm afraid my opinion on bands like that is that I really respect the influence they had on bands like, for instance, QOTSA (just to name of the many that were influenced by BS), I mean, I like that band and I know they wouldn't exist without all those early metal bands, so I respect their groundbreaking experiments, but to actually sit and listen to them, no. It just bores me to death. Same with old blues. Robert Johnson, for example. I know that almost every band or singer I love wouldn't be able to do his or her thing if it hadn't been for old blues singers like Robert Johnson. But when I listen to his recordings, I get so bored after a while... And I'm a little ashamed everytime that happens, 'cuz yeah, all those guys were the groundbreakers, they're the shit, but we've advanced so much, there have been so much artists who took it to a higher level... Why listen to that, uhm, 'lower level'  again? I love old rock 'n roll songs when Patti Smith does 'em, for she twists them around and adds poetry and some intellectualism and some magic and sex and whatever. And yeah, she has her sources, and I respect that, but those sources aren't half as great without that stuff that Patti added to it. So, uhm, this is a long post that's not really an answer to your question, but uhm... I just thought I'd share all this with you.  :)

[igor]

rock on, i've been jamming to blue cheer a lot lately.

i'm a big fan of the old blues. it's always of interest to me how they came up with the sounds they got out of their guitars with not much else to go on. i have yet to hear anyone that can fingerpick the way mississippi john hurt did, i think the last person i can remember that impressed me as much was nick drake. and you gotta remember back in the old days, there was no overdubbing, so all these guys were playing in one take.

oh yeah, patti smith is the great stuff. checkout some richard hell too, if you haven't yet.

[hipkink]

OOH... Mississippi John Hurt! He was perfection on the guitar. I understand where O is coming from, but the reason I don't feel the same way is because, while music may have become more advanced in so many ways, it certainly hasn't gotten any better. I LOVE Robert Johnson, and all kinds of old music, because those people made their music so simply! It was so pure. Black Sabbath didn't use all the gadgetry that musicians have today. They sounded dark and crazy because their music was dark and crazy (not their effects processors). And Robert Johnson, with his beat up acoustic guitar may have made the darkest music I have ever heard. All that Devil talk! Imagine Robert backed by Sabbath... And I know that it may not be hip, but "Paranoid" is one amazing song! I wish it was 100 minutes long.

[plank10]

I can't imagine how anyone could get bored listening to Robert Johnson. The box set of his stuff that I have are some of the most constantly played CDs I have.

I love Black Sabbath and can still listen to tons of them. As for Patti Smith, Horses has been one of my favorite records for years.

Now i'll say something that is sure to get a response.
I hate the Doors and Led Zepplin. I think they are both totaly overated and not worth the hype that has always surrounded them. For my money the Who were/are a much better and inventive band that Zepplin ever were.

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

Shoot, dawg-that is a throwdown!

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions on bands/artists...Led Zep continue to be a favorite of mine, and not just because I was raised on a steady diet of I, II, III, etc. etc.

I still think Presence is one of their best records.  I think that I and III are right there in the top three as well, and I need to go get How the West was Won.

I'm with you on The Who, they are also a fav-but I went through a serious Doors phase in college, so I can't agree with you on them.  It's all a matter of perspective, really.  I didn't dig any of these bands due to the hype-by the time I was starting to groove on them, they were all broken up by then (except for The Who, whom I saw in '89), so my perspective is through the filter of rural America with no good radio stations in listening range, so 8-tracks ruled the day!!

[CC]

oh plank, how can you not love the zep? please, do me a favour and go listen to 'Down By The Seaside' RIGHT NOW! it's heavenly... you'll love it! ;)

[plank10]

I've tried to listen to them tons of times and I just don't like it. I like some of the components of the songs but never the tracks themselves.

[igor]

i agree, the doors are over-rated. i think led zep just gets what they deserve not over or under -rated, imo. i'm not their biggest fan, but their first 5 records i really like.

i think the velvet underground kill all of them though. :-P

[Oz]

Okay, I think we´re gonna have some religious wars over here. Ha! Finally we found a way to avoid the mellownes!  :)

And to be entirely honest, I never really gotten into Led Zeppelin myself. There´s a few songs I like, I don´t know any titles, but I like the simple ones. All those long epic songs with guitar solos that last for hours and that irritating high voice... Not my thing. But I heard a few simple ballads of ´em and man, they were really beautiful. So Riny, I hope 'Down By The Seaside' is one of those.

The Doors are overrated, yes. The Who is great. The Velvet Underground are saints. Untoppable. Except by Patti Smith ofcourse, ´cuz she is God and ´Horses´ is really the only record you need. Ever.

Okay, wich band´s next?  ;D

[marktwain]

I think that since "classic rock" is all over the radio, and because we are all told we should love it, a lot of people get turned off by it.  It's kind of a highbrow vs lowbrow thing, where folks (esp. in the indie rock world) feel above anything so adored by the masses.  

But no matter how many people eat cheeseburgers, cheeseburgers still taste good. The Doors aren't my favorite, but they have some pretty rockin songs. Roadhouse Blues?! Good Lord!  Led Zep rocks the house, so does Hendrix, the Stones.

I hit adolescence as Nirvana was breaking, and I still love the music, though it really turns me off to see all the Kurt Cobain t-shirts everywhere.  When it comes down to it, I think these bands are overexposed but not overrated.  It's really about the music not the marketing

[plank10]

Igor and O I agree Velvet Underground tops them all and Horses has been a favorite of mine since i was 14 or so.

Yeah "classic rock" is everywhere and completely over hyped but I think those two bands are overated on top of the hype.

Some stuff that was totally overplayed I can go back and listen to now and appreciate but anything like that is almost always tainted in some way.

[otter]

I think it's funny that through all of the comparisons of Lynard Skynard and Neil Young. The Doors, Led Zeppelin and The Stones....nobody has ever noted the similarity with Black Sabbath and Ozzy and their use of reverb. Nearly all of their songs are laden with reverb.

Whether we like Ozzy and Sabbath...it's actually one of the more plausible comparisons in my view. They have done heavy things... they have done melodic things... and they have been very successful in pleasing their following