[AdamCalifornia]

Do you prefer original Black Sabbath with Ozzy Osbourne or Black Sabbath with Dio?

By the way, the founding members of Black Sabbath - Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne -
had an 'unwritten' (gentlemen's agreement):

Quote:

[size=large]If anyone of us is gone then there is no more Black Sabbath![/size]

(I've heard that on one of those Black Sabbath DVDs.)

Original Black Sabbath with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne.

So to millions of Black Sabbath fans all over the world , including myself,
"Black Sabbath" with Dio should not be called Black Sabbath any more!

Perhaps it should be called [size=large]Heaven And Hell[/size] (because of their first album featuring Dio, 1980)
Black Sabbath Revisited, Tony Iommi's project, etc.

However Black Sabbath's record label (in the US and/or in Britain?)
insisted on using Black Sabbath name when Dio replaced Ozzy.
Obviously this was done for commercial reasons.

[size=medium]Embedded Poll[/size]
Should Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward and Dio, as a band, be called Black Sabbath?

option #1. Definitely NO!
option #2. Yes.
option #3. How on earth should I know?



Quote:

Ronnie James Dio took the most diffucult job in the history of rock music - "to replace" Ozzy Osbourne as a frontman of Black Sabbath. I don't think that he succeded because, as far as I am concerned, there was no more Black Sabbath after Ozzy was fired in 1978. However they reunited on several occasions, most notably in 1997. There is one Ozzy, one Tony, one Geezer, one Bill and therefore [size=xx-large]only one Black Sabbath![/size]

(See here).

 

[Adab]

i thought they were called heaven and hell

 

[AdamCalifornia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adab /img/forum/go_quote.gif i thought they were called heaven and hell

They've been called Heaven and Hell since 2006 for legal reasons.
Because the members of original Black Sabbath reunited in 1997
Dio, Iommi, Butler, Appice couldn't use Black Sabbath name anymore!

[size=xx-large]Thanks be to God! Alleluia![/size]

By the way, I've added an interesting short text to my original post.

Faithfully yours

,

Adam

 

[Beyerfan70]

Ozzy no contest!
Nothing wrong with ronnie at all but black sabbath without the ozz just isn't sabbath!
SHARON!!!!!!

 

[roadtonowhere08]

Sabbath is not Sabbath without Ozzy in my eyes. It is not that Ozzy is that good as a singer, it is that everything I like from them is during his tenure. It is the song style and atmosphere I guess.

Sabbath is Tony's band, so he can do what he wants with it; however, I do not have to like what results from collaborations with Dio and the like. It is a shame that it cannot be called Black Sabbath right now for legal reasons, since he is the only one who stuck it out over the years, but it is what it is.

 

[AdamCalifornia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadtonowhere08 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sabbath is not Sabbath without Ozzy in my eyes. It is not that Ozzy is that good as a singer, it is that everything I like from them is during his tenure. It is the song style and atmosphere I guess. Sabbath is Tony's band, so he can do what he wants with it; however, I do not have to like what results from collaborations with Dio and the like. It is a shame that it cannot be called Black Sabbath right now for legal reasons, since he is the only one who stuck it out over the years, but it is what it is.

From the above:

It is a shame that it cannot be called Black Sabbath right now for legal reasons,
since he is the only one who stuck it out over the years, but it is what it is.


Hold on, not so fast!

Ozzy Sues Tony Iommi!

Quote:

Read Ozzy’s entire statement to Iommi below. It is with great regret that I had to resort to legal action against my long term partner, Tony Iommi, but after three years of trying to resolve this issue amicably, I feel I have no other recourse. ...

From here.


By the way, I've added two more photos to my op.

 

[Meliboeus]

This is an hard question...this afternoon i've just listened to my Headless Cross vinyl, i like them even with Tony Martin, a great, very underrated, singer.

By a small margin i prefer Ozzy era Sabbath...but surely not thanks to ozzy's voice, with Dio they simply went for a change in style, their sound had evolved from their early days to the 80's, and i prefer their 70's hard rock sound. Dio's voice, unlike Ozzy played an important role in H&H and Mob Rules albums...i'd say Ozzy songs sung by Dio are still decent, Dio songs sung by almost everyone else would sound ugly. Dio being one of the best metal vocalists around, no doubt.

However they are my favourite band, i have an almost complete discography, be it with Dio, Ozzy or Martin, as long as Tony writes the riffs, it's still Sabbath, it's still good music ( save for a couple of albums of course...

). So for the ebmedded poll i'd say #2, three out of the original founding members including the leader, and a living legend like Dio rightfully deserve to be still named Black Sabbath.

 

[Beyerfan70]

Hmmm i just dont know as to why many say ozz doesn't have that good a voice because i dont get that at all.
After all when ozzy sang with sabbath his vocal was perfect for that music.
Black sabbath,spiral architect,over to you,never say die etc being just a few examples.
As for his solo career i can name countless vocal performances that are absolutely staggering!
For me Waiting for darkness is sung with such power and range with tons of vibrato that it still gets me every time after all these years,and so tired was an awsome performance.
Plus on his last album black rain,he has never sounded better.
Miles better than dio who i must admit after hearing his recent work over the last few years is no longer that good a singer anymore,on the devil you know it sounds like his teeth are falling out,either that or he is completely plastered!
He certainly doesn't sound as good as he used to by quite a huge margin.
Ronnie was always suited to more hard rock than heavier stuff and for me that's what he should have stayed doing.

 

[Moontan13]

Iommi Butler and Ward are the core of sabbath. While the vocal work has been notably good, the rest of the band is notably excellent. Some songs work better for Dio than Ozzy.

 

[roadtonowhere08]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdamCalifornia /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hold on, not so fast! Ozzy Sues Tony Iommi! From here.

Sorry, AdamCalifornia, Tony Iommi bought out Ozzy's stake in Sabbath in the early 1980's. I love Ozzy to pieces as a person, but his wife is a complete ass (And that is being nice. I'd be banned if I really wrote what I thought). Yes, she saved his life and career, but she is also driving it into the ground as of the last decade or so. The band is Tony's whether Ozzy (Sharon, really) likes it or not. No amount of suing will bring that back.

Again, I only care about the first six Sabbath albums, but Tony can do what he wants with the band. I thought it was rather savvy of him to call the current lineup "Heaven and Hell" to prevent the tumultuous lawsuit from Sharon that would have resulted from calling it "Black Sabbath". Again, as much as I like Ozzy, Tony is in the right here.

Beyerfan70: I think Ozzy had a great voice in Sabbath's golden era. It is terrible now, but that is to be expected, as he was not formally trained, and he did the best he could decades ago to ruin his health. As much as I enjoy listening to Ozzy, when compared to people like Rowan London, Matthew Barlow, Geoff Tate, Anneke van Giersbergen, and Floor Jansen, he is not in the same league. Nothing wrong with that, but I have to be objective.

 

[DLeeWebb]

Black Sabbath without Ozzy Osborne is not Black Sabbath...

 

[West726]

This is blasphemy.

- Ozzy

 

[AdamCalifornia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DLeeWebb /img/forum/go_quote.gif Black Sabbath without Ozzy Osborne is not Black Sabbath...

There's only one Black Sabbath with Ozzy.

By the way, we also had Your favourite album of original Black Sabbath

 

[Redcarmoose]

I have friends who are really into all the Dio albums as they came out when they were 16 years old. Somehow the Dio stuff was popular and it was all they heard so they like it. My very own Brother loves Black Sabbath with Dio. He has this crazy story of going down to The Warehouse music store the day Dehumanizer came out. They had to go looking around the back room to find a copy. That story in itself is a perfect example, as the day of the release no one knew where the LPs were at. No one had asked before that time. This time has to be the low point in the Black Sabbath name. I guess Dehumanizer sold more records for them in the last 10 years prior to its release. Dehumanizer is my Brothers favorite album. Even though in 73 I gave him the early Black Sabbath LPs as gifts. He does state that getting those LPs got him into metal.

The Dio era in a big way is wrong. I own it all on cd or LP, just can not get into it at the level of early Ozzy-Sabbath. These people made music, people purchased it. They had fun at live shows. Life goes on. But somehow to me it all seems not real like a sell-out. I do kind of like the new Heaven and Hell. The trouble is nothing can come close to the vibe of that band in the early 70s. Ozzy made Black Sabbath complete because of the combo of his voice with everything else. He even states that he thinks his voice is not that great. I love his voice, It is perfect. Hearing Ozzy read from the telepromter every year as he sings Sabbath at Ozzfest is fine too. Life goes on. What is important is the experience. For the people who love Dio that is their experience. Maybe the Dio era belongs to another generation? A generation that has a set of values all their own? But still in my book, the cover of Dehumanizer looks cheesy. Maybe I am too old?

THIS IS MY BROTHERS FAVORITE BLACK SABBATH LP.

 

[jazznap]

Neither. I prefer Crack Sabbath.