Maria Milito

Maria Milito

Maria Milito Is On Air Every Day To Rock The Airwaves! Don't Forget To Check Out Maria's Podcast 'Maria's Mutts And Stuff' On iHeartRadio.Full Bio

 

Being Mislabeled As Satanic 'Helped' Black Sabbath, Tony Iommi Says

Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi says his band greatly benefitted from religious groups misinterpreting it early in its career as celebrating black magic and evil.

It's a mistake that would be difficult to make for anyone who actually listened to Sabbath with any degree of objectivity. In the title track from the band's debut album, Ozzy Osbourne screams "Oh no!" at the end of the first verse in which he describes a demonic encounter.

It doesn't get much clearer than that. But religious groups of the day weren't listening to Sabbath; they were preoccupied with saving the souls of their children by warning them about rock and roll. Rock and roll that sounded scary seemed even more evil.

But those warnings only stoked intrigue in the Birmingham group, Iommi told Metal Hammer in a recent interview.

"I think in one way it helped us," said the guitar hero, who identifies as Catholic. "At one point we weren't doing any interviews, so nobody knew much about us. I heard stories about people being frightened to meet us. But it created this thing, and people wanted to come and see what we were like. So the image was good and bad, really."

Black Sabbath was actually just channeling its interest in horror films, ghost stories and the occult into its music, he clarifies.

The band didn't quite understand the outcry against at the time. Iommi says he and his band mates took some of it personally, but they also genuinely liked the music they were making, and the feedback from live shows was encouraging.

"We had to get over a lot of fences, but we just forged ahead," he said. "It's the only way you can do it. You can't just fall apart because of what other people say. You've got to believe in what you do. And we certainly did."

Photo: Getty Images


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content