Definitive Poll: Black Sabbath - Heavy Metal or Not?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Erik Tracy, Jun 19, 2015.

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  1. Erik Tracy

    Erik Tracy Meet me at the Green Dragon for an ale Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Diego, CA, USA
    A SH definitive poll so that we have all the generals gathered in their masses to put this to a test of numbers.

    Is Black Sabbath considered Heavy Metal or Not?

    Yes or No.

    Black and White - no shades of grey, no maybes, no deconstruction to qualified exceptions.

    If you click on the thread you must vote - no abstentions, no hiding in the shadows.

    Quickly - gut reaction! No chin scratching pauses.

    Replies with lengthy dissertations and deconstructions will be met with derision and dismissal. :D

    You must vote without seeing the current results.
     
  2. ifihadafish

    ifihadafish Forum Resident

    Creators and masters of it.
     
    lc1995, xfilian, sddoug and 28 others like this.
  3. leeroy jenkins

    leeroy jenkins Forum Resident

    Location:
    The United States
    They can't be. I don't like heavy metal, but I love Black Sabbath.
     
    BDC, Joeinator97, ailgin and 11 others like this.
  4. Opeth

    Opeth Forum Resident

    Location:
    NH
    watch live in paris in 1970 and tell me? I love many acts from late sixties early 70's but sabbath rolled over everyone as far as aggression and heaviness in the early days.
     
  5. ifihadafish

    ifihadafish Forum Resident

    It's like Chinese Whispers - your referring to mucked up versions of Heavy Metal that others try and play
     
    Sathington Willoughby likes this.
  6. Agent of Fortune

    Agent of Fortune Däncing Barefoot

    Black Sabbath are without a doubt Heavy Metal. They always have been and they always will be.


    Indeed, they definitely pioneered & almost certainly invented the genre. (Them or Blue Cheer...or maybe The Kinks, but that's a post for another thread.)
     
    Dave Hoos, izgoblin and ifihadafish like this.
  7. Spiritual Architect

    Spiritual Architect Well-Known Member

    I am not sure. It is heavy, but where does the "metal" part come in? Deep Purple In Rock sounds much more metal than the first two Sab's, but Blackmore says it was influenced by Zep, not Sabbath. Since you requested a vote, I will say Yes, because they were "heavy" contributors.

    But they do not get credit for the cookie monsters. I used to think the Oz's singing sucked, until I heard the cookie monsters.
     
  8. ifihadafish

    ifihadafish Forum Resident

    Paranoid album - pretty much Heavy Metal
    MOR - Doom Metal
    Vol 4 to Sabotage - heading into Prog Metal
    H&H/Mob Rules - New Wave Heavy Metal
    Born Again - Total Metal
     
  9. leeroy jenkins

    leeroy jenkins Forum Resident

    Location:
    The United States
    haha - had to Goggle "Chinese Whispers" - It's called "Telephone" here in the States. You could be right - my idea of heavy metal is Metallica, Iron Maiden etc.. which have little to do with Sabbath to me.
     
    ifihadafish likes this.
  10. RonW

    RonW Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    Why ask if the answer is already yes?
     
  11. zen

    zen Senior Member

     
    BryanA-HTX likes this.
  12. sons of nothing

    sons of nothing Forum Resident

    Location:
    Illinois
    Sabbath invented multiple genres of metal, not just heavy. Doom, Stoner, Speed, even Ballads. All Sabbath, baby.
     
    Escalon, Drifter, Brudy and 3 others like this.
  13. Betamax001

    Betamax001 Member

    Location:
    Akron, OH
    If Black Sabbath isn't metal then everything I know is wrong.
     
  14. Chris from Chicago

    Chris from Chicago Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes

    This poll is missing a "Hell yeah" option.
     
    johnaltman, Dave, Drifter and 7 others like this.
  15. Holy Diver

    Holy Diver Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Yes. The beginning of heavy metal, to me.
     
  16. BryanA-HTX

    BryanA-HTX Crazy Doctor

    Location:
    Houston, TX
    Yes, they sort of started it. I'd actually even say Blue Cheer heavily influenced Sabbath's sound, which Tony Iommi himself has stated if I'm not mistaken. Typically though I'll refer to them as a rock 'n' roll band, that's what they referred to themselves as well. Judas Priest though perfected modern heavy metal.

    So yes, a "grey area" response bite me :D
     
    izgoblin and warewolf95 like this.
  17. Sathington Willoughby

    Sathington Willoughby Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Georgia, USA
    Yes. Easiest poll ever.
     
    Dave, Jeff Minn and warewolf95 like this.
  18. Kelan Wood

    Kelan Wood Forum Resident

    I would argue that there are shades of grey here. Their first album (with the exception of the title track) isn't quite metal yet, and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is a perfect example of them broadening their horizons (the last three tracks have a very modern jazz/prog rock influence) and while they excluded that kind of material from it's successor, the incredibly metallic Sabotage, they'd entirely abandon their roots on the last two albums of the Ozzy era, the Load and Reload of Sabbath's career if you will. That said they recorded plenty of metal music too and to me are still the first metal band. I can't add anything that hasn't already been said really so i'm just gonna vote yes and leave it at that.

    I don't think that's exactly fair as Sabbath have a lot of crossover appeal. They appeal to classic rock fans because they're contemporaries of Led Zeppelin and the like but that doesn't mean they're not metal.
     
  19. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Yes, they're heavy metal. They're the benchmark of heavy metal. All other heavy metal bands have to live up to them, whether they know this or not. They still can sound like the heaviest band in the universe.
     
    Bananas&blow, Dave Hoos, Dave and 9 others like this.
  20. old school

    old school Senior Member

    Yes, when I first heard Black Sabbath I'm sure it was on FM radio in April or May of 1970. I never heard anything like it before and ordered the first album as a import at my favorite record store. ( First album was not released in the States until June 1970. )
     
    acdc7369, Dave Hoos and Engelsstaub like this.
  21. dlokazip

    dlokazip Forum Transient

    Location:
    Austin, TX, USA
    I don't like country, but I love Johnny Cash.

    There can be exceptions.
     
  22. warewolf95

    warewolf95 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Greenville, SC
    Why the heck is this even a question? I mean, it's not one of those that could obviously go either way. It's blatant. Sabbath pretty much invented what we today know as metal.
     
    Daddy Harper, Dave, uzn007 and 8 others like this.
  23. warewolf95

    warewolf95 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Greenville, SC
    I think it's fair to say that Sabbath really created what we know as metal where as Judas Priest, as you said, later perfected that. :)
     
  24. stoneknuckle

    stoneknuckle Forum Resident

    Location:
    reading pa usa
    Filtered thru the eyes of an 11 year old in 1980...YES.

    However, in hindsight as an adult...Absolutely not.

    Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Saxon...YES.

    Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple... NO.

    Although their shadow and influence loom large IMO they (Sabbath) were far to diverse and melodic...and "down tempo" to be considered Heavy Metal in the traditional sense.

    Just my two cents.
     
    gpalz, BayouTiger, Wondering and 9 others like this.
  25. Kelan Wood

    Kelan Wood Forum Resident

    A lot of metal is down-tempo.
     
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