This second blog entry examines the
music of Black Sabbath. How its bleakness might be a symptom of dissatisfaction
with socio-economic changes locally and with injustices being protested in the
wider world. Alternatively their music could be another, heavier, more extreme
manifestation of sex, drugs and rock and roll. The latter possibly providing reasons
why protest movements failed to gather wider support from potential
young activists.
The chilling opening to ‘Black Sabbath’ is created by three notes consisting of an octave leap that
drops down an augmented fourth, a tritone: Diabolus in Musica (Devil
music). Since medieval times this musical interval has often been maligned and
avoided. The title track was supposedly inspired by a 'vision' of a satanic
figure seen by 'Geezer' Butler. Being aspiring musicians, the band wanted to
sound heavier than their contemporaries, Jimi Hendrix and Cream. A long queue
outside a cinema, waiting to watch a horror film called Black Sabbath,
inspired the band name and gave them an idea of how to make money.[1] So they embraced the idea
of playing dark, heavy music, while hopefully cashing in on audiences eager to
pay for the excitement of being scared.
Black Sabbath's official website says
they were 'a product of the late sixties', when new hopeful visions became affected
by the grimmer realities of world politics, war, poverty and drugs.[2] Locally, the landscape of
Birmingham was changing with the continuing appearance of tower blocks and the construction
of the Gravelly Hill Interchange (Spaghetti Junction). Like some other young
people opposed to ‘the system', they may have been looking for alternative ways
to rebel. Perhaps the dark menace of the music was part of a subversive
counter-culture. Some hippies found
themselves looking for higher meanings, in mysticism and cosmic consciousness. The
'problem', as Camille Paglia puts it, was that 'the more the mind was opened to..."cosmic
consciousness", the less meaningful politics or social structure became,
melting into the void.'[3]
A part of escaping the mundanity of
urban life for Black Sabbath was pursuing the rewards of fame; that the bands
they admired enjoyed. After two years of success, the excess of sex and drugs
reached extreme levels of 'degenerate behaviour', described as 'worthy of
Caligula.'[4] Some fans wanted to
emulate their rock idols and some liked the music because it attended a
lifestyle choice. They may have also felt equally negative about the world
around them.
Political activism and protest was
certainly part of sixties youth culture. Music with its ability to release
youthful frustration and angst may have also played its part. If protest seemed
in decline, and dark music represented a form of subversion, it is easy to see
how that would have had an effect. Black Sabbath fans, however, might not share
this opinion. It might just be that heavy music is exciting and fun, and this
was a more general reason why young people did not always engage with politics
and protest, and why Black Sabbath continued to make money from ‘Devil Music’.
By Paul Wilson.
[1]
Neil Curry, ‘Godfathers of Metal Black Sabbath return to roots’, CNN, cnn.com
(10:56 GMT, 22 June, 2013) http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/22/showbiz/black-sabbath/
(accessed 21/10/2016).
[3] Camille Paglia, ‘Cults and
Cosmic Consciousness: Religious Vision in the American 1960s’, Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the
Classics, Third Series, Vol. 10, No. 3 (Winter,
2003), pp. 57-111 (p. 58). Jstor.org http://www.jstor.org/stable/20163901?seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents
(accessed 21/10/2016).
[4] Paul Lester, ‘Black
Sabbath: We used to have cocaine flown in by private plane’, theguardian.com (17:35
BST, 6 June 2013) https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jun/06/black-sabbath-cocaine-private-plane (accessed 22/10/2016).
