Looking back, 1980 was a very big year for me. I was eleven, and in that year I began playing Dungeons & Dragons, read The Hobbit for the first time, and discovered the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, by first reading "Rats In the Walls." It was also the year I began listening to Black Sabbath, having acquired an eight-track tape of their self-titled first album from my uncle!
I can't stress enough how influential this album was on my young imagination. To me, D&D, Lovecraft, Tolkien and Black Sabbath will forever be hardwired into the nostalgia-space of my psyche.
In future "Music Mondays" posts I doubt I will link to entire albums, but this is a special case. Black Sabbath is, in my opinion, a perfect album and it would be a crime to not include all of it's songs in this post.
12 comments:
That's my favorite Sabbath album, too, though I didn't discover it until a few years later. In 1980, my 7 year-old self was still forced to listen to my parents taste in popular music.
Yes! :) :) :)
you are correct sir.
This is surely their best album (not that I dislike any of them, at least through the Dio era)
Bought this on vinyl when I was about 9 or 10. The record store clerk at the mall said, "you know, this is pretty heavy" and my brother & I were like "yes". He'd gotten a tape of Paranoid a few months earlier for his birthday.
Wow, that is one hell of a year! There's a line in The Life Aquatic:
Jane: In twelve years he'll be eleven and a half.
Steve: That was my favorite age.
I think the same can be said for a lot of folks, myself included. I think it's the first year we start our journeys to who we'll become as adults, so the things we're exposed to have an exaggerated impact.
But enough armchair philosophizing; SABBATH!!
N.I.B. 'nuff said.
Basically all the Ozzy-era stuff is fantastic to my ears, and I've always been much more of a punk than metal kind of guy.
Glad to see you posting again, amigo. Sharing music is a great way to get back on the horse. I know - I've done it more than once myself :)
Yesss...I can remember the first time I heard Iron Man when I was 11 or 12 and I had to turn off the radio as that beginning thump was so menacing. These days I love Sabbath (the original four) more than Zeppelin, and supplement my doses of electric doom with a number of stoner rock bands, High on Fire, Black Pyramid, Celestial Season, Kyuss, Sleep and VYGR are all favorites. Thanks for the post, makes me wonder how much adventure inspiration can be mined directly from Black Sabbath and cosmic doom in general.
My favourite Black Sabbath song is the title track from the 1981 album, Mob Rules. I always used to listen to it while I was reading D&D books and I still envision an orc horde ravaging and pillaging when I listen to it.
@Trey - by and large, I too pretty much listened to what my parents listened to. Luckily, I had an uncle who help corrupt me over the years!
@James - I thought you would approve!
@mikemonaco - Those were the days! I bought the vinyl version of the album about a year later when my eight-track borked out on me.
@sirlarkins - 1980 was a good year, and 11 was my favorite age.
@the venomous pao - there is a certain magic to be found in the Ozzy era of Sabbath, especially their first six albums.
@mkotschi - I am a big doom-head, and it would be hard for me to list all of the bands I have listened to over the years. Lately, it has been Sabbath, Saint Vitus, Serpent Throne, Blood Ceremony and Jex Thoth mostly.
@Sean - Mob Rules is an amazing album, and I love the Dio era of Sabbath. His lyrics have a heavy D&D feel to them, which is always good to listen too when preparing for a game.
Can't seem to let this one go. Love the logo font as well. As a matter or fact it would be interesting to take some of the graphic design elements from this album and put them to use for an OSR product. Kinda like Zak did with Volume 4 and Vornheim.
That might be my favorite album period. Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath on Black Sabbath is the root cause of my current campaign setting.
\m/ Wizard is such an inspirational track lyrically :) I knew many Evil Women during my drunken 20s ;)
I recently posted my Appendix M for Crypts & Things
http://sorcererundermountain.d101games.co.uk/2011/07/02/appendix-m/
@Newt - I have spun many a record by all of those bands. Celtic Frost and Motorhead are the only ones that remain on my "most played" list.
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