By Jack Rafferty
Since Sabbath just had their final show, it has caused me to reflect on when I was first introduced to them when I was young, and the impact it had on me. I remember being at my dad’s duplex, I can’t recall what I was doing at the time, but I was pretty young. It was a summer evening, and my dad was grilling some ribs while some robins eased their worries in the birdbath near the ash trees. My dad usually had his CDs playing in the background while he got drunk slowly on cheap beer and grilled into twilight. We would also listen to the radio at times, and it was usually some classic or hard rock station.
I don’t remember the songs playing before it, but at some point, “Iron Man” played. I have no idea what I was doing prior to hearing it, but I stopped whatever it was, as I was completely entranced by that song. That initial foreboding, steady drum, leading into that first deeply bent note, sent chills all over my body. I ran around the house for a week after hearing those leading notes that Tony Iommi bends so low, trying to mimic that sound with my voice. I was obsessed with it and had never heard anything like it. To this day, I haven’t heard much that has had such a power over me like those first few notes.
I went out a few days later to find a Black Sabbath CD. I had asked my dad who played that song, and he had told me, but he didn’t know which CD it was on, so I didn’t know which one to look for. I ended up combing through the CDs at the store, and getting the one that had the most frightening cover art, since it made sense to me that such a terrifying song would be on that record. It ended up being their debut. It wasn’t until much later that I was able to locate and listen to Paranoid.
When I got home, I hurried up the off-yellow carpet on the stairs to my room and closed the door. This was already becoming a routine in my life. Finding new music, hurrying to my room full of anticipation, and closing my door for privacy to listen without any distractions, like a sacred ritual. If I thought “Iron Man” was scary, I was not prepared for what the self-titled first track would make me feel. The ominous sound of rain, and a distant bell as though it were ringing over a sad cemetery. The deep rumbling thunder, and then those first immense, sinister notes. It felt like I was listening to something that I shouldn’t have been. As if this were something occult or evil and that I was going to awaken some ancient, malevolent creature if I kept going, but I was too immersed to stop. When the song gets to that first shriek of “oh noooo” from Ozzy Osbourne, I almost had to hide under my pillow. I couldn’t believe that there was music out there that was even more frightening yet exhilarating than AC/DC, which I had only recently discovered.
Over the years since those days, I’ve continually returned to Sabbath’s many records, with differing opinions and perspectives as I have grown older. They have since become and remained one of my favorite bands, and they expanded my perception of music. Sabbath shaped my musical taste in many ways, and they will always hold an immensely important place in my heart, as I know they do for so many others. I’m glad they were able to do a sendoff on their own terms. It is incredible to think back on all that they have influenced, and while I’m sad that I never did get to see them perform live, I’m very grateful to have their music in my life.
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