41 years ago today, four guys from England released an album of songs that would shock, awe and inspired an entire genre of music that would come be known as Heavy Metal! On February 1970, Black Sabbath’s debut album was released in the UK and on June 1, 1970 in the United States. I first heard this album in 1985 and I can remember it scaring the living shit out of me. I had already heard “Paranoid” and loved it but this album was something completely different. It was haunting, dark, murky and I couldn’t get enough of this record.
The artwork itself was so fucking creepy that I can remember looking at it as the first track “Black Sabbath” played and feeling really spooked. How amazing is it that music can actually scare the shit out of you? I loved it and to this day it’s one of my all time favorites. That debut album has been so influential in metal and to this day I can hear elements of it in bands like Crowbar, Down and Cathedral just to name a few. The sound, the imagery and the vibe of that first album has been used by many bands since it’s release and still to this day few do it nearly as good as Sabbath did.
Happy Birthday Heavy Metal! You’re 41 years old and still lookin’ and soundin’ killer.
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