Just six months after he welcomed back Ozzy Osbourne for their first chat in 22 years, HPR All Things Considered Host Dave Lawrence welcomes his partner in Black Sabbath, bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler, for a Road Stories two-part episode filled with stories from Geezer's new autobiography, Into The Void: From Birth to Black Sabbath and Beyond. Today we offer part two!
Black Sabbath are among the most influential rock acts of all time, pioneering an entirely new sound on their debut album, recorded in October 1969 and released in February 1970. Continuing over several subsequent releases, the band established an approach in many ways molded by their impoverished economic situation: the heaviest guitar tones to date, lyrics focused on a range of topics from the darkest sides of life, and imagery that no musical outfit had so far deployed to cement their unorthodox presentation.
Their sound, among the original alternatives in rock, would be credited with being the architectural framework of a new genre, 'heavy metal'; inspirational muscle of hard-core punk; roots of the Seattle scene, or grunge movement; and be among the first bands to tackle the taboo of mental health crises in lyrics from Paranoid to Solitude; that spoke of pollution destroying the earth in Into the Void; the threat of nuclear war in Electric Funeral; the horrors of the Vietnam conflict in War Pigs; and numerous other topics yet to be covered by other rock musicians.
Yesterday, Geezer walks us through Black Sabbath's humble roots, his early journey into vegetarianism, channeling depression into Sabbath's groundbreaking lyrics, how US soldiers encountered at a gig in Europe influenced two Sabbath epics, and fun stories about The Beatles and Elvis Presley.
Today, a... no pun intended... cornucopia of diversity in a wide range of Sabbath encounters that boggles the mind: from Chuck Berry to The Ramones; Bruce Springsteen to Bob Marley; Fleetwood Mac to Led Zeppelin; and perhaps the greatest romance story we've ever told on this show! It must be heard to be believed how Geezer met his wife Gloria!
Plus, we've shared below the complete hour long odyssey into the world of the guy who named, played bass, and wrote most of the lyrics for — Black Sabbath — and classic interviews with many of the other Sabbath luminaries, including three separate near one-hour chats with guitarist Tony Iommi with one a video interview from 2011, plus Dave's very first chat with Geezer from August 1992!
MORE:
Hear the complete one-hour interview with Geezer:
Hear Dave's complete December 2022 interview with Ozzy Osbourne:
See Dave's November 2011 interview with Tony Iommi:
Also hear interviews with Tony from 1992, 1995, 1999, and 2000; Ozzy Osbourne from 2000; and Geezer Butler and Ronnie James Dio from 1992. Hear a Dave interview with Sharon from 2000.
