Saturday 17 December 2016

All Songs, Best to Worst: Black Sabbath (Original Lineup)

   A legendary, grim, hulking mololith of power and doom which appears every so often when the planets align: this is the perfect way to describe the original line-up of Black Sabbath, the fathers of heavy metal music. People love to have the debate about who exactly invented the genre, with some attributing it to Led Zeppelin, others to bands such as Blue Cheer or Cream. While there were certainly many bands that produced hard rock, Black Sabbath was much different. They down-tune their guitars, they slightly eased the pace (sometimes), and most importantly they included dark and serious subject matter into their lyrics. With Tony Iommi's incredible riff-writing ability and Ozzy Osbourne's crazed energy, the band embodied a spirit of mystery, unorthodoxy, and raw power. The number of bands that wouldn't exist had it not been for Black Sabbath undoubtedly number in the thousands.
   For me, the original line-up of Black Sabbath is one of those bands whom I would genuinely feel excited about upon picking up one of their albums for the first time. I almost crapped myself when I heard that 3/4 of the original members were getting together to record a new album in 2013, during my lifetime! While I do enjoy the Ronnie James Dio era of Sabbath, their best years were the Ozzy years, no doubt. I'll listen to any one of those nine albums any time. So today, let's pay tribute to one of the all-time greats and rank all 72 of original Black Sabbath's songs. This list will include songs from their debut album (1970) all the way to Never Say Die! (1978), and will also include 2013's 13. Sorry, no live albums. Let's go!

1. “Iron Man”, Paranoid (1970)
2. “Black Sabbath”, Black Sabbath (1970)
3. “War Pigs”, Prnd
4. “Children of the Grave”, Master of Reality (1971)
5. “Paranoid”, Prnd
6. “Symptom of the Universe”, Sabotage (1975)
7. “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)
8. “Wasp/Behind the Wall of Sleep/Bassically/N.I.B.”, BS
9. “Electric Funeral”, Prnd
10. “End of the Beginning”, 13 (2013)
11. “Hand of Doom”, Prnd
12. “Snowblind”, Vol. 4 (1972)
13. “Supernaut”, V4
14. “A National Acrobat”, SBS
15. “Sweet Leaf”, MoR
16. “The Wizard”, BS
17. “The Thrill of it All”, Sbtg
18. “Lord of This World”, MoR
19. “Wicked World”, BS
20. “Cornucopia”, V4
21. “Planet Caravan”, Prnd
22. “A Bit of Finger/Sleeping Village/Warning”, BS
23. “Age of Reason”, 13
24. “Sabbra Cadabra”, SBS
25. “After Forever”, MoR
26. “Hard Road”, Never Say Die! (1978)
27. “Solitude”, MoR
28. “You Won't Change Me”, Technical Ecstasy (1976)
29. “Killing Yourself to Live”, SBS
30. “Rat Salad”, Prnd
31. “Megalomania”, Sbtg
32. “Loner”, 13
33. “Johnny Blade”, NSD
34. “Hole in the Sky”, Sbtg
35. “Live Forever”, 13
36. “Into the Void”, MoR
37. “Fairies Wear Boots”, Prnd
38. “Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes”, V4
39. “Supertzar”, Sbtg
40. “Looking For Today”, SBS
41. “Wheels of Confusion/The Straightener”, V4
42. “Tomorrow's Dreams”, V4
43. “Dirty Women”, TE
44. “Rock N' Roll Doctor”, TE
45. “Back Street Kids”, TE
46. “St. Vitus' Dance”, V4
47. “Over to You”, NSD
48. “Air Dance”, NSD
49. “The Writ”, Sbtg
50. “Dear Father”, 13
51. “Zeitgeist”, 13
52. “She's Gone”, TE
53. “Damaged Soul”, 13
54. “All Moving Parts (Stand Still)”, TE
55. “Never Say Die”, NSD
56. “Swinging the Chain”, NSD
57. “Spiral Architect”, SBS
58. “Embryo”, MoR
59. “Junior's Eyes”, NSD
60. “Breakout”, NSD
61. “Shock Wave”, NSD
62. “Fluff”, SBS
63. “Laguna Sunrise”, V4
64. “God Is Dead?”, 13
65. “Who Are You?”, Sbtg
66. “Gypsy”, TE
67. “Am I Going Insane? (Radio)”, Sbtg
68. “Don't Start (Too Late)”, Sbtg
69. “Orchid”, MoR
70. “FX”, V4
71. “It's Alright”, TE
72. “Changes”, V4

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