The 50th anniversary of Black Sabbath's 'Vol. 4' album is being 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 Announce Tony Martin Era Box Set
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
Third Eye Blind Crash Emo Nite With Surprise Performance
Candlebox Expand A Little Longer Goodbye For Tour Edition
The Sisters Of Mercy Announce North American Tour with Blaqk Audio
Old 97's Rock CBS Saturday Morning
Frank Turner Shatters The World Record
Marillion Share Live Video For 'The Crow and the Nightingale'
Northbound Inspire Fans To Sing Along With 'North Star'
Root 66: New Riders of the Purple Sage- Gene Clark- More
Robert Plant, Yes and Willie Nelson Among Stars Coming to Ozarks Amphitheater
Live: Heart and Cheap Trick Rock Tampa
On the Blue: New Horizons Cruise Days 4 & 5: Starship Lands on the Pearl, Alan Parsons Takes It Home