Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath Turns 40 Today

Thus starts the first song on the first album in a long line of albums by Black Sabbath. Oh, there were 18 studio albums total, and over 30 people that were in the band over the years and all that. But today is a special day. As I post this, it is February 13, 2010. Fourty years ago today, the first Black Sabbath album was released in the UK. Recorded on October 12th & 13th, 1969, this album set the stage for an awful lot of stuff that has come since. It's been analyzed and appreciated a ton, and if it was't for this release, I wouldn't be doing this website you're reading this short story on. The metal world owes a lot to Iommi, Butler, Ward, & Osbourne for this. Or, if you want to go further into the past, the story of Iommi answering the ad "Ozzy Zig needs gig" is a big deal. Much has been written over the years about how powerful this album was, how it "invented" heavy metal, or whatever other sexy sounding words you want to throw in front of it, but the fact remains. The original Black Sabbath album is a freakin' masterpiece. And today it turns 40 years old. Lest you forget the power that is the first track, check out this video clip.. Shows it well. Anyway, the rain at the beginning of the album and the absolute slamming of the initial opening riff of the song Black Sabbath just tells you up front, this is NOT something you were used to, and 40 years later still kicks the everlovin' crap out of a lot of stuff that passes as "music" these days. But if you're reading this message on this site, then you know this already. I'm gonna stop trying to invent ways to say "This album f'in rocks", you know it. So if you haven't done it already, get the album out, and give it a listen for it's birthday today. There was the new version that came out in June 2009 that was a 2 disc version with extras and whatnot. That was released in the UK (not in the US/North America). It is definitely worth it if you haven't checked those out (or if for some mutant reason you don't own the album). For the record, it is available as an import in the Amazon US store, but you're better off buying it from the UK store, and importing it, it's cheaper that way. Back when it first came out, I did a video review of the album, I'm including that video here. One note about my video. There was an error, I stated the the poem that was included with the original album back int the day is not in the 2 CD Deluxe Edition. That is an error, it is there.