Black Sabbath In The Studio For Vol. 4's 50th Anniversary was a top 22 story from November 2022: The 50th anniversary of Black Sabbath's 'Vol. 4' album was celebrated by the syndicated radio show In The Studio With Redbeard: The Stories Behind History's Greatest Rock Bands.
Redbeard had this to say, "By Autumn 1972 the world into which the Birmingham England band Black Sabbath had quickly risen to popularity with their second album, Paranoid, felt increasingly like a dangerous place when Vol. 4 was released. It seemed that time was marked and policy formulated by a seemingly endless stream of violent acts including assassinations, bombings, race riots, the slaughter of college students on campus, and the decade-long Viet Nam war. And all of this violence was set against the pernicious incessant white noise of the nuclear arms race between the U.S. and Soviet Union in a thermonuclear game of 'chicken'. Black Sabbath's sound and subjects, which would be lampooned decades later as cartoonish, were forged as much by these deadly concerns as by Animal House debauchery.
"While music critics were not hesitant to slag off every Black Sabbath release, 1972's Vol 4 included, nevertheless it became the band's fourth consecutive album to sell over a million copies in the U.S. , reaching #13 on Billboard and #8 sales in the UK. Yet many detractors who had watched Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and Lon Chaney in such classic scary movies as Dracula and Frankenstein, nevertheless felt that Black Sabbath's fantasy deadpan doomsday warnings in such songs as 'Tomorrow's Dream', 'Children of the Grave', 'Snowblind', 'Changes', and 'Supernaut' were somehow a threat. Black Sabbath co-founder and original lead singer Ozzy Osbourne joins me In the Studio for what is widely regarded as the last classic album from the Godfathers of Heavy Metal." Stream the episode here.
Black Sabbath Mashed Up With Neil Young By Slumbering Sun
Black Sabbath Classic 'Paranoid' Joins Spotify Billions Club
Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin Won Grammys On This Day In Rock 2014
Black Sabbath's Geezer Butler Reacts To Ozzy Osbourne's Criticism - 2023 In Review
On the Blue: New Horizons Cruise Day 1: Marbin Gets the Fun Started
Hot In The City: Prog Band Tu-Ner Coming to Phoenix
Sites and Sounds: Daytona Beach Ready to Rumble with Welcome to Rockville
Watch The Beach Boys Official Documentary Trailer
Ringo & His All Starr Band Announce Fall Tour
The Night Flight Orchestra Inks Deal With Napalm Records
Little Feat 'Can't Be Satisfied' With New Video
The Melvins Stream 'The Making of Tarantula Heart' Mini-Documentary
Watch Babylon A.D.'s 'Wrecking Machine' Video
The Exies Reveal Never Before Seen Footage With 'For What It's Worth' Video
The Allman Brothers Band Legend Dickey Betts Dead At 80