It is Saturday July the 5th, Ozzy who is sitting in his bat-and-skull encrusted throne, yells to the audience “GO FUCKING CRAZY, IT’S OUR LAST SONG!” as Black Sabbath closes up the festival in Villa Park with the fan favourite ‘Paranoid’, Back to the Beginning in their hometown in Birmingham, England. You can feel the emotion, the vibes, the love, the support, and the fans who had been with this band since its foundation in 1968.
Watching snippets of the live-streaming event that occurred Saturday wasn’t just a goodbye, but a way of saying thank you to the Godfathers of Heavy Metal. It felt like a homecoming to bring the circle in full for a band that inspired others including Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Twisted Sister, Blood Ceremony, Rosalie Cunningham, Gojira, Napalm Death, and Electric Wizard.
Ozzy Osbourne, Bill Ward, Terry “Geezer” Butler, and Bill Ward, they gave life, electricity, power, volcanic forces, and in your face explosives that were waiting to give their creature to life. The emotions that night will never let go. I felt the same similarity watching on TV when Pink Floyd reunited with Roger Waters (before he went batshit crazy) at Live 8 twenty years ago when they played four songs at Hyde Park, July the 2nd in 2005.
And now with Black Sabbath’s homecoming, it’s time to reflect, remember, and look at the highlights that occurred at Back to the Beginning. My introduction to Black Sabbath was when I heard the song ‘Time Machine’ from the Wayne’s World soundtrack in 1991. It had energy, revved-up riffs, and a killer voice from the late, great Ronnie James Dio. I was 7 years old, then I completely forgotten them.
It wasn’t until 1996 when I bought the soundtrack to another movie that had a big impact on me, a movie that proved that animation didn’t have to be “Just” for kids. That soundtrack was from an adult-animated movie released in 1981 called, Heavy Metal (based on the adult-illustrated fantasy magazine). Hearing ‘The Mob Rules’, it opened the door to see who this band was.
So, Dio came first, Ozzy came second. I did it in reverse order. Back to the story, when I finally watched the movie in 1999 on the STARZ cable channel, during the summer of that year after seeing Drop Dead Gorgeous on the big screen, I was blown away. This was a movie, despite what people may think of it, broke the rule book and threw it into the fire. It had attitude, elements of E.C. Comics, Sword and Sorcery, Penthouse, and giving Mickey Mouse and its Disney-sque bullshit, the big, giant middle finger which it badly needed.
When I bought Paranoid back in 1997 at Soundwaves for a used price, then later on in 1998, the compilation We Sold Our Soul for Rock & Roll and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath which would later become one of my favourite Sabbath albums from the Ozzy-era, I knew that this was going to be my favorite band for a long, long time. And then the first Black Sabbath album in 1999. I always said that Pink Floyd are my Beatles, Rush is my Rolling Stones. Now, writing this down, Black Sabbath are my Elvis Presleys.
Going back and listening to those albums again, it was like going through a scrapbook and reflecting the good memories you had during the ‘90s when everything was bleak. Those songs from those albums and others including Master of Reality are like massive tidal waves, ready to hit any city in a nanosecond.
‘Electric Funeral’ and ‘Children of the Grave’ represented the dangers of Nuclear War and the living dead ready to reign terror in the post-apocalyptic war. You can imagine the stories that controversial writer Alan Moore and Gail Simone had written between both Watchmen and Leaving Megalopolis, had this alternate reality of choosing these songs for the graphic novels they had written for.
One where superheroes were disgraced or retired uncovering the nightmares that are about to unfold. The other, is what would happen if the Justice League who were once the good that people look up to, have turned into homicidal maniacs where a group of small people trying to get out of Megalopolis that’s become this almost post-apocalyptic scenario in a dystopian atmosphere. But being chased by the heroes, that becomes a whole other ball game.
I don’t want to think of the classics the band are known for which include ‘War Pigs / Luke’s Wall’, ‘Paranoid’, ‘Changes’, ‘Iron Man’ and the title-track ‘Black Sabbath’, but the deeper cuts that can cut you like a knife. ‘Megalomania’ evoked a sense of the dark side of human struggles and obsession by ruling a city with an iron fist. From its mournful spooky organ arrangements for the first three minutes and twenty-four seconds, then into the heavy nightmare of powerful riffs, cowbell, Ozzy’s blaring vocals, and Dalek-like backgrounds.
How metal can you get? Pure adrenaline. I can imagine Ozzy himself had taken inspiration from Peter Hammill’s arrangements with Van der Graaf Generator when Sabbath were working on the Sabotage album. But let’s not forget, and I don’t want to take up the time because I want to talk about Back to the Beginning, you have the classical orientations between Tony Iommi’s acoustic textures behind ‘Laguna Sunrise’, ‘Fluff’, ‘Orchid’, and his take of musique-concrete with ‘FX’.
The spaghetti western turned mellotronic beauty on ‘Who Are You’, using an orchestra on ‘Spiral Architect’, the synthesised prog-rock wonders on ‘Sabra Cadabra’ with Rick Wakeman on keyboards, the proto-thrash attack with ‘Symptom of the Universe’, and Bill Ward taking lead vocals with its Beatle-sque composition on ‘It’s Alright’. And his nod to Buddy Rich, Ginger Baker, and John Bonham behind his drum improv on ‘Rat Salad’.
And their love of the Swing genre during the 1920s and early 30s which you can hear on ‘Behind the Wall of Sleep’ and ‘Wicked World’, followed by their Garage Rock sound which is featured of their take of the Crow’s ‘Evil Woman Don’t You Play Your Games with Me’ which Geezer himself almost pays homage to the Blues Magoos’ riff ‘(We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet’.
My experience in Junior College 20 years ago, made me open up to the world of jazz and more from the realms of the progressive rock genre. I was still working on my associate’s degree on Music in Performance at that time which took me nine years to complete. I stopped listening to the radio because they were playing the same top 10 and the same songs again and again. Sabbath was still in my heart, but the timing had to be right until I graduated in 2014.
This was the time where I discovered the symphonic metal genre, electronic music, doom metal, krautrock, post-punk, and jazz fusion. I also listened to older and new bands and artists that were under my radar and ones that were coming out like a bat out of hell; Porcupine Tree, The Mars Volta, Hawkwind, Van der Graaf Generator, Tangerine Dream, CAN, Steven Wilson, Opeth, Purson, Blood Ceremony, and Zeuhl warlords Magma.
Now in the year 2025, watching snippets of the Back to the Beginning festival on my XBOX, it was a homecoming. Going back and listening to those albums between Ozzy and the late Dio, it brought back memories for me. They weren’t just a classic rock band or a hard rock band, they were a band that influenced genres that will keep their legacy and the next generation to inspire others.
There were some incredible highlights from the festival one of which included Gojira who stole the show last year’s Summer Olympics in Paris with its explosive take of ‘Mea Culpa (Ah! Ca ira!)’ performing at the Concierge with pyrotechnics and soprano singer Marina Viotti in the realm. When they played it again, including other tracks such as ‘Stranded’, mind you I’m very new to Gojira’s music, and their take of Sabbath’s ‘Under the Sun’ they along with Rival Sons approach with ‘Electric Funeral’, it’s the real deal.
Once Papa V Perpetua (Tobias Ferge) of Ghost handles ‘Bark at the Moon’ from Ozzy’s solo work with Living Colour’s Vernon Reid, Nuno Bettencourt, and Quiet Riot/Ozzy alumni Rudy Sarzo, followed by Adam Wakeman’s keyboards, it was a celebration to explore while Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Rolling Stones Ronnie Wood tackle the mighty sounds of the Yardbirds’ ‘Train Kept a Rollin’, then tackling ‘Walk This Way’ and segueing into Zeppelin’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’.
There are others including Lamb of God’s powerful cover of ‘Children of the Grave’, Slayer coming out of retirement and getting audiences into a frenzy in the mosh pits with a fiery take of ‘Raining Blood’ and the ‘Angel of Death’, and ‘Wicked World’ followed by Metallica who opened for Ozzy during the time he was promoting The Ultimate Sin and the band for Master of Puppets in ’86.
As the main event which included Ozzy performing his solo hits with fellow comrade Zakk Wylde with ‘I Don’t Know’, ‘Crazy Train’, ‘Mr. Crowley’ ‘Suicide Solution’, and the sing-along ballad ‘Mama, I’m Coming Home’ which had audiences in tears, because they know they’ll never see the likes of it again. Once Sabbath comes onstage, it’s a treasured memory that’ll live inside us for a long, long time.
From the bell tolling, rain drops and storm hitting through, it changes into ‘War Pigs’ as Bill Ward, who had been the heart and soul of Sabbath with his drum playing. Yes, he’s aged, and has slowed down a bit, but he still carries that mighty punch in his drum kit.
Then, it’s Geezer’s time to shine as he goes into wah-wah bass improvisation on ‘N.I.B.’ he’s still got it and almost having that Hendrix-like sound before the rhythm section kicks it into overdrive with audiences singing along. Despite Ozzy’s condition and struggle, you can feel the spirit and love he has with the fans who had been with him and the band, forever.
For Iommi who leads the path with ‘Iron Man’ is the ultimate tour de force for his fingers as Ozzy sheers into that momentum glory. With the confetti and fireworks going off, it is the perfect send-off.
As I finish writing this down, playing games such as the BioShock series, Bendy and the Dark Revival, and Doom Eternal, I remember a quote whether its from Dr. Seuss who wrote his final book Oh, the Places You’ll Go in 1989, which was “Don’t cry because its over, smile because it happened”. I keep thinking about that quote a lot while watching the highlights from the festival on the 5th of July.
And what it means while we emphasize the positive aspects of the events that occurred in their hometown in Birmingham, it can be viewed the completion of this massive chapter that Sabbath had endured. Despite the line-up changes and different vocalists alongside Ozzy and Dio which includes Tony Martin, Ian Gillan, Glenn Hughes, and Ray Gillen, Sabbath were the band that were a part of our soundtracks.
To Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward, thank you. Thank you for this incredible journey from a struggling band that were one time known as Earth to inspiring others to pick up an instrument, and laying the groundwork on the metal genre. And Iron Man will live on again and again. Thank you.
