Week 34: 50 Albums That Changed Music

[Swish]

Here's another obvious choice for this list, and a very good one, and I doubt we'll have many detractors this week, at least from anyone who had a pulse when this was released. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath (1970)

A mere 30 minutes long, this was none the less the album where heavy metal was first forged. Its ponderous tempos, cod-satanic imagery (bassist Geezer Butler was a Roman Catholic and Dennis Wheatley fan), Tony Iommi's sledgehammer guitar riffs and Ozzy Osbourne's shrieking vocals all went on to define the genre and shaped most arena rock of the Seventies and Eighties. Without this...no Spinal Tap, no grunge or Kurt Cobain and, of course, no Osbournes.

While I agree with most of this, listing Spinal Tap was pretty weak when there were many real bands that were influenced by this record. How about AC/DC, Metallica, Judas Priest, Kiss ( I suppose they would be one of the 'arena rock' bands the author referred to), Iron Maiden, Motorhead....the list goes on and on. While I listened to this one a lot when I was a young lad, mostly because my friends thought it was the only record pressed that year, metal was never among my favorite genres, but to deny that this record "changed music" would probably be plain silly.

Swish

[Resident Loser]

...just gotten married. Our neighbors, who had told my then fiance about the vacancy in their building, played it on one of our first neighborly visits...Went out and bought it at Korvettes...Don't care so much about their legacy, but I loved it and on occasion I still slip it ( and Wheels Of Fire or Machine Head) onto the TT in my basement shop...

The band I was in at the time, did a few Sabbath covers. Influential? Maybe yeah...but it was really fun to do and it, like Cream, Tull and the like was well suited for our part-time "power trio"...

The owner of the club that was our main gig said, "...you're a little heavy for the room, but the crowd likes you..." The times they were a-changin'...

jimHJJ(..."What is this that stands before me..." Spooky, eh kids?...)

[kexodusc]

I was in my mother's womb the first time I was at a Sabbath concert...how wicked is that? Got the ticket stub too!

[Resident Loser]

I was in my mother's womb the first time I was at a Sabbath concert...how wicked is that? Got the ticket stub too!

...THAT would explain it...

jimHJJ( a lot of things actually...)

[nobody]

Just about impossible not to give Sabbath props. I personally feel the heavy metal road led to a whole slew of garbage, but these guys were first and still the best for me, although I do listen to Paranoid more than the debut.

[Mr MidFi]

If you aren't playing this one at near-distortion levels on an old-school Panasonic turntable, analog Sansui receiver and no-name speakers with 12" woofers...you're not doing it right. Preferably in a basement rec room with shag carpeting and cheap wood-grain paneling.(Good times, good times...)

[SlumpBuster]

If you aren't playing this one at near-distortion levels on an old-school Panasonic turntable, analog Sansui receiver and no-name speakers with 12" woofers...you're not doing it right. Preferably in a basement rec room with shag carpeting and cheap wood-grain paneling.(Good times, good times...)

Don't forget to have the bass and treble knobs cranked all the way to right.

This one is a no brainer. But the interesting thing is that I have never listened to it all the way through, same with Parnoid. I've got all the "AC/DC, Metallica, Judas Priest, Kiss, Iron Maiden, Motorhead" listed by Swish, and loads of other metal including all of Ozzy's solo stuff, but not a single Black Sabbath record. Perhaps that is the apex of influential. It is not that I listen to alot of Sabbath, but that I listen to a lot of bands influenced by Sabbath.

P.S. Am I the only one that noticed Spinal Tap's "Give me some money" is being used in a bank commercial?

[Dusty Chalk]

I endorse this choice. Whenever I am asked who the first really heavy band was, I always say Sabbath. And the first album is still setting trends.

[Troy]

P.S. Am I the only one that noticed Spinal Tap's "Give me some money" is being used in a bank commercial?

No, I picked up on that right away.

Sabbath- solid choice, tho not exactly my favorite kinda music. Great when you're 14 and pissed off at everyone and everything, but when you're in your mid-40s it's just kinda silly.

[ForeverAutumn]

Sabbath- solid choice, tho not exactly my favorite kinda music. Great when you're 14 and pissed off at everyone and everything, but when you're in your mid-40s it's just kinda silly.

Really? 'Cause your birth certificate may say that you're in your mid-40's, but your attitude still says pissed off at everyone and everything.

Actually, I kind of agree with you. It's been a long time since I've played any Sabbath. But I have great memories of Sabbath in my teenage years. They were the first really heavy metal band that I listened to. And the first band where I discovered the benefits of listening to music while under the influence.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

If you aren't playing this one at near-distortion levels on an old-school Panasonic turntable, analog Sansui receiver and no-name speakers with 12" woofers...you're not doing it right. Preferably in a basement rec room with shag carpeting and cheap wood-grain paneling.(Good times, good times...)

No Name Speakers? No way man. Cerwin Vega's are what was rockin' my world back then. A good frend of mine still has his "Cerwins" from circa '74. Sound pretty ****in' good too. The rest is exactly as you say, well except it was a Marantz receiver. Thems was the days.

[-Jar-]

Listening to old Sabbath (really, anything off the first 5 albums) has a very high comfort factor for me.. it just fits and feels like a warm blanket. If "War Pigs" or "The Wizard" ever comes on the radio, really listen to Bill Ward and Geezer Butler.. they were doing some pretty amazing stuff back then... Most people think of Sabbath as slow and plodding, and they were at times, but then they cranked up the tempo, they were doing some pretty heavy, in-the-pocket jams.

Credit where credit is due. Metal is still with us.. yes there has been a lot of crap over the years, but Metal won't die. Yes, we had to suffer through Slaughter and Poison and Warrant, but look.. now we have bands like Mastodon and Isis. Definately worth the wait.. And, we still have Slayer.

rock on.

-jar

[Troy]

Really? 'Cause your birth certificate may say that you're in your mid-40's, but your attitude still says pissed off at everyone and everything.

That's just the guy I play on TV.

[Resident Loser]

...Great when you're 14 and pissed off at everyone and everything, but when you're in your mid-40s it's just kinda silly.

...never really thought Sabbath was aimed at the "teen rage/angst" audience...

As I recall there was an undercurrent of Wicca, the supernatural and the Black Arts in certain quarters at that time...

jimHJJ(...not quite sure of it's intended purpose, but the Clearasil set?...)

[Troy]

...never really thought Sabbath was aimed at the "teen rage/angst" audience...

As I recall there was an undercurrent of Wicca, the supernatural and the Black Arts in certain quarters at that time...

And since when was all that silly "wooooo, scary" stuff not important to angsty teenagers? But really, it's the aggression and power in the music rather than the lyrics anyway.

[Dusty Chalk]

Sabbath- solid choice, tho not exactly my favorite kinda music. Great when you're 14 and pissed off at everyone and everything, but when you're in your mid-40s it's just kinda silly.

(looks around, changes out of his leather pants, wanders off)

[Resident Loser]

And since when was all that silly "wooooo, scary" stuff not important to angsty teenagers?...

...during the early Cold War into the mid 60s...angst was supplied by things like not having a date, a new pimple or not fitting in with your peer group...

Re: wooo, scary...first there was "duck and cover" and then the draft...

jimHJJ(...no need for make believe scary...except for Zacherle, he was cool...)

[Troy]

...during the early Cold War into the mid 60s...angst was supplied by things like not having a date, a new pimple or not fitting in with your peer group...

Re: wooo, scary...first there was "duck and cover" and then the draft...

...and then there was Aleister Crowley. (say, isn't that a Genesis album? maybe not . . .)

[Troy]

(looks around, changes out of his leather pants, wanders off)

Friends don't let their friends wear leather pants.

[3-LockBox]

I'd say Paranoid was the band's first big, and most influencial, album, but yeah, can'r argue against a Sabbath album...you really could read a book by its cover with these dudes...at a time when rock-n-roll was becoming more and more acceptable (people weren't calling rock-n-roll 'evil' as much anymore,) then here comes a band that conjured menace and supernatural aura and looked and performed like pure evil. Every goth and death metal band that exists today is a carbon copy of Sabbath.

[Swish]

No Name Speakers? No way man. Cerwin Vega's are what was rockin' my world back then. A good frend of mine still has his "Cerwins" from circa '74. Sound pretty ****in' good too. The rest is exactly as you say, well except it was a Marantz receiver. Thems was the days.

I had some really crappy Pioneers back in the day, but the best audio system I ever heard to that point belonged a a brother-in-law of a good friend. He was a Vietnam Vet and bought a few pieces overseas. All I remember was a Wollensak reel-to-reel and the dual Advents. He played "Backstabbers" by the O'Jays and it sounded fabulous to my ears. I would bet it would sound pretty good even by today's standards, but I can't say for sure. I wonder how Sabbath would have sounded thru that system?

Swish

[Gerall]

Absolutely my favorite all time album. I have the 8 track, cassette, vinyl and cd of this and still remember driving in my 69 Roadrunner with the 8track blasting away.