Photo Credit: Aisha Humphrey
All good things must come to an end at some point, right?
Black Sabbath closed out their farewell tour with one final show in their hometown of Birmingham (minus the original drummer, Bill Ward) last month, and while fans initially were in a bit of optimistic denial about the whole situation, it appears that the band is making it official.
This past Tuesday, the man, the myth, the bat-decapitator himself Ozzy Osbourne posted the band’s obituary with the hashtag #TheEnd.
Most fans are simply celebrating the band’s legacy, while some other’s remain positive that the band is pulling a “Death Grips” moment on everyone.
“The Rolling Stones have their final tour every 3 years,” one fan quipped.
Regardless of whether the band flip-flops, no one can take away their tremendous legacy that spans nearly half a century together and 19 studio albums. Their studio debut album, Paranoid, cemented the band as the founders of heavy-metal (you’ll never convince me otherwise) and laid the blueprint for the genre that is still going strong in 2017.
Any hard rock/heavy metal song or band you’ve enjoyed over the years, from Slipknot to Metallica, from Slayer to Iron Maiden, from Nirvana to Guns N’ Roses, will have taken at least some influence from the band’s pounding psychedelic sound. While the group is still often criminally overshadowed by contemporaries from the time (i.e., Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, The Beatles), “Iron Man” is still one of the first riffs every guitar player will master and “War Pigs” is one of the best rock songs of all time. It’s impossible to escape the band’s influence.
Back in the thick of their farewell tour, Osbourne told Billboard that he was “having a blast.” But like fans, he knew nostalgia would eventually creep in. “Right now I’m OK with it. I’m sure as it starts counting down to five shows left or something, it’s gonna be kind of emotional.” Seeing the group close out a remarkable legacy together becomes even more special after the scare Tony Iommi gave fans with a lump found in his throat.
If you’re feeling nostalgic, the band has a plethora of material for you to enjoy, and we’ll always have Mac Sabbath to fill the void.
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