BLACK SABBATH guitarist TONY IOMMI spoke to CNN about the band's new eight-disc box set, Black Box: The Complete Original Black Sabbath (1970-1978), out today through Rhino Records. Here are some excerpts from the Q&A interview:
CNN: Did you have any idea how influential the band was going to be when you were making the eight albums collected on Black Box?
Tony Iommi: "Not a clue. No. We just ... we knew it was something new when we first started playing the songs -- they sounded different from anything anyone else was doing at that time. But we never had any idea where we were going with it. We sort of played [the songs] the way we did because we liked the way we sounded. We enjoyed it. When we first got together we were playing sort of bluesy jazzy stuff and it just seemed to evolve into this ... sound. It seemed to come together more after I left the band to join JETHRO TULL. I told the other (Sabbath) guys Tull were interested in me ... and they said "Why don't you have a go" and I thought, Oh, that's great, they're trying to get rid of me. I went to London and it was an audition. I thought, sod this ... I'm going home. But they said hang about ... and I got the job. I told the other guys and I felt really bad about it. After a few days of rehearsals, I didn't feel comfortable, and told (Tull's frontman) Ian Anderson ... but they asked me to stay to do the Rolling Stones movie Rock 'n' Roll Circus and I did. So that's how that happened. After coming back from them, I'd learned the way (Tull) worked. It was like "Right, we rehearse at 9 in the morning," and we'd never heard of 9 in the morning."
CNN: I guess for most people, what defines the early Black Sabbath sound is your guitar and OZZY OSBOURNE's vocals. Over 30 years, you have some ups and downs. How are things now ... do you and Ozzy still speak?
Iommi: "Oh yes. We get on fine. But we've had our ups and downs. Actually, we had them at school -- 'cause he went to the same school as me. We went to Birchfield Road School and he was a year younger than me. And I couldn't stand him. He used to mix with these other kids and he was a real pain ... Every time you saw him you used to give him clip 'round the ear. It was ironic how we ended up in the same band."
CNN: Ozzy has become a mainstream celebrity, mainly because of the success of The Osbournes. Do you think he doesn't get the credit he deserves as a singer because of ... his antics?
Iommi: "Absolutely. He doesn't. And it's worse now because of the show. I don't know how he does it. He's had people living in his house for four years. It's funny though ... finally people are seeing what we have for 35 years. Now they know what we've been moaning about."
CNN: You must be proud of this set. If someone wanted to know what the early days of Black Sabbath were all about, are you happy that this does the job? Is this the one they should go out and get?
Iommi: "I think they should buy my car. No really, without a doubt. This is it. For those years. If you want to hear what Black Sabbath was about with Ozzy ... this is it."
(Thanks to Bravewords.com)
CNN: Did you have any idea how influential the band was going to be when you were making the eight albums collected on Black Box?
Tony Iommi: "Not a clue. No. We just ... we knew it was something new when we first started playing the songs -- they sounded different from anything anyone else was doing at that time. But we never had any idea where we were going with it. We sort of played [the songs] the way we did because we liked the way we sounded. We enjoyed it. When we first got together we were playing sort of bluesy jazzy stuff and it just seemed to evolve into this ... sound. It seemed to come together more after I left the band to join JETHRO TULL. I told the other (Sabbath) guys Tull were interested in me ... and they said "Why don't you have a go" and I thought, Oh, that's great, they're trying to get rid of me. I went to London and it was an audition. I thought, sod this ... I'm going home. But they said hang about ... and I got the job. I told the other guys and I felt really bad about it. After a few days of rehearsals, I didn't feel comfortable, and told (Tull's frontman) Ian Anderson ... but they asked me to stay to do the Rolling Stones movie Rock 'n' Roll Circus and I did. So that's how that happened. After coming back from them, I'd learned the way (Tull) worked. It was like "Right, we rehearse at 9 in the morning," and we'd never heard of 9 in the morning."
CNN: I guess for most people, what defines the early Black Sabbath sound is your guitar and OZZY OSBOURNE's vocals. Over 30 years, you have some ups and downs. How are things now ... do you and Ozzy still speak?
Iommi: "Oh yes. We get on fine. But we've had our ups and downs. Actually, we had them at school -- 'cause he went to the same school as me. We went to Birchfield Road School and he was a year younger than me. And I couldn't stand him. He used to mix with these other kids and he was a real pain ... Every time you saw him you used to give him clip 'round the ear. It was ironic how we ended up in the same band."
CNN: Ozzy has become a mainstream celebrity, mainly because of the success of The Osbournes. Do you think he doesn't get the credit he deserves as a singer because of ... his antics?
Iommi: "Absolutely. He doesn't. And it's worse now because of the show. I don't know how he does it. He's had people living in his house for four years. It's funny though ... finally people are seeing what we have for 35 years. Now they know what we've been moaning about."
CNN: You must be proud of this set. If someone wanted to know what the early days of Black Sabbath were all about, are you happy that this does the job? Is this the one they should go out and get?
Iommi: "I think they should buy my car. No really, without a doubt. This is it. For those years. If you want to hear what Black Sabbath was about with Ozzy ... this is it."
(Thanks to Bravewords.com)