As everyone prepares for “The Big Game” with Super Bowl LI (which doesn’t mean the game is in Long Island BTW) I am thinking of more important things to my field of interests and a large portion of my mental focus today is the fact that yesterday the mighty Black Sabbath played their last gig ever and has closed their personal book on Heavy Metal history. “The End” is no longer near nor on its way and has instead arrived and passed. Today is the day that founding members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler sit back and rightfully rest upon their laurels and believe me there are many laurels to be sitting on after such a career. I thank them profusely for the just shy of fifty years that Metal music was delivered under the Black Sabbath banner. Of course, we have plenty of others to thank now as well with the original founders closing this historic tome so let’s raise the horns for them as well. The clip below is from the actual final shows ending moments and the images used are from the final show that happened in New Jersey late last year.
To the INCREDIBLE former members of the Black Sabbath lineup both living and deceased such as Bill Ward, Ronnie James Dio, Geoff Nichols, Dave Walker, Craig Gruber, Vinny Appice, Ian Gillan, Bev Bevan, Ron Keel, David Donato, Eric Singer, Dave Spitz, Glenn Hughes, Ray Gillen, Bob Daisley, Tony Martin, Terry Chimes, Jo Burt, Cozy Powell, Laurence Cottie, Neil Murray and Bobby Rondinelli. Some of these folks I never even realized had been members over the years but indeed they have and I thank them for their own offerings to the legendary name.
To the Touring Contributors that made Black Sabbath live even more powerful a Metal force such as Tommy Clufetos, Adam Wakeman and Mike Bordin. While everyone was feeling distressed at the lack of Bill Ward for the final shows, I must send accolades upon accolades to Tommy Clufetos who helped propel the founder’s night after night during these closing shows and made me feel as though I was watching a much younger band based on the overall energy being displayed on the stage. It was something.
To the talented people who did session work with Black Sabbath throughout their history such as Rick Wakeman, Gerald Woodroffe, Don Airey, John Elstar, Gordon Copley, Brian May and Brad Wilk. Sure, some of these names only did a single tune on an album or two long ago but they were a part of the puzzle and I send thanks as well.
PiercingMetal Thoughts: As this whole thing was pretty much a PM Thoughts, I wanted to close it up with a question of you readers when I am finished. Thanks to the efforts in musical creativity from Black Sabbath, the world as we know it received the gift of Heavy Metal music and scores of talented people found inspiration from these teachings. Now it’s up to us as fans to lend the necessary support to what else is out there making our music vibrant and interesting and most important of all – that which is propelling it into the future to makes sure it remains something valuable. Sure, you should always listen to your Sabbath albums or watch the videos that we have available but it’s even more important to listen to and rally behind the other incredible bands that are out there striving for your maximum amount of entertainment. Do the research and scour the Facebook Official Pages of as many bands as possible and give them a chance. Make a list of the ones you liked the most in Spotify and you are on your way. We shall never forget the teachings of Black Sabbath and the Metal that they gave to us but I am hard pressed to think that Ozzy, Tony and Geezer would want you to only listen to their stuff now that they are retired from the band as opposed to helping this stuff move forward and keep its value.
Thank you Black Sabbath. I got into you later than many of my friends did and wasn’t able to see you in concert all that much until these last few years but you are super important to my music library. My question of the readers is what did Black Sabbath mean to you and how will you move forward to keep the Metal music scene strong. Your comments are of super value on this one for sure. Until next time. To see any reviews, galleries or special articles about Black Sabbath that were done on this website click HERE for the rundown.
Official Website: http://www.blacksabbath.com