Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath formed in Birmingham in 1968, with Tony Iommi on guitar, Bill Ward on drums, Geezer Butler on bass and Ozzy Osbourne on vocals. They began as the Polka Tulk Blues Band, then Earth, before settling on the name Black Sabbath in 1969. Down-tuned guitars and horror-tinged, occult-leaning lyrics set them apart, and their first three albums, Black Sabbath and Paranoid (both 1970) and Master of Reality (1971), are widely cited as pioneering heavy metal.

The 1970s brought more experimental, progressive leanings, until Osbourne's departure in 1979 and the arrival of Ronnie James Dio for Heaven and Hell (1980). Iommi then steered the band through many line-ups before the original four reunited and made their final studio album, 13 (2013). They said farewell in Birmingham on 5 July 2025, the stage on which it all began.