For myself my first album ever was Paranoid(1998/2004 sanctuary remaster). Can't go wrong with paranoid, you'll get hooked by the whole package. I would over play War Pigs, Iron Man and Hand of doom, it fed my active imagination as a kid. After Paranoid I was given 2 disc set "Best of Black Sabbath" (2004 sanctuary). A great collection there, this is where I found 2 Dio sabbath tracks, Turn up the Night and heaven and hell. For myself I enjoyed those 2 tracks the most off of the set. From there I discovered more Sabbath, Ozzy and Dio. I still listen to sabbath and Dio regularly, I don't listen to Ozzy's solo career much anymore, great musicians but I can't stand Ozzy's voice during his Solo career. I took to Tony Martin pretty quick, Headless Cross and Tyr are gems in the catalog. Tho I only accepted Cross Purposes and Forbidden last year haha, could not stand them for a long time... Now it's only 13 I can't stand (the production kills me). My consistent top 5 is heaven and hell, mob rules, headless Cross, Tyr and sabotage. Sabbath have remained my number one band, I collect everything sabbath. Where did Everyone else start? With sabbath you fans growing up to a different incarnation of the band. If anything wants to get into the band I recommend paranoid, MOR, or Vol 4
I borrowed this cassette from my local library in 1988. A solid introduction to all things Sabbath-y.
Strictly speaking, I started with "Paranoid", the song, which appeared on some Superstars Of The 70's box set we had. Some months later, I bought the music folio for Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, then later the album. "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" and "A National Acrobat" were the first two songs I learned on bass guitar. I went on from there to collect all the original Sabbath albums except for Technical Ecstasy, which I never encountered until years later for some reason. Never Say Die was released during the first flower of my Sabbath obsession and I was disappointed by it but I still think it has some great tracks. Heaven And Hell definitely reset my view of Sabbath - once again I was a bit bummed at the loss of the original sound but the new incarnation had its own spectacular aspects.
I started at about age 15 when I borrowed a Reel to Reel tape of Led Zeppelin 2 that also had Paranoid on it from a new friend. I copied the tape onto another reel with my dads machines. I was blown away by the sound of the guitars, and still am. Paranoid is not my favorite Sabbath album anymore but it will always be the one with the best sounding guitars. Paranoid is an amazing recording. Very shortly after I acquired the debut and Heaven and Hell. Black Sabbath was a word of mouth band, very popular but not played on the radio in the New York area from 77-80.
Started with Paranoid, then Master of Reality, then self-titled/debut, then Vol 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage, and so on. Paranoid is a great place to start out imo, although I do normally start from the beginning when I do a deep dive into an artist's discography.
M uncle gave me a tape with the first album. From there I went to Heaven & Hell, Mob Rules and The Headless Criss.
Backtrakkin, 21st Anniversary double cassette tape compilation- all songs from 70-75 (It had all of Paranoid on it bar Hand of Doom) It also coincided with discovering "the Sweet Leaf". I started saving and snapping up the discography right away- first proper album was Sabotage, I got it and Ozzy's No Rest For The Wicked on the same day
7 years old , inherited Paranoid and MOR. I was young enough that the end of Children of the Grave scared me.
Back in the summer of 76, a sixth grade classmate dropped by the house. He was going thru my comic collection and came upon a particular comic. "Have you ever heard the song Iron Man?" he asked. Soon after we went over to his house. Going thru his older brother's record collection, he pulled out "We Sold Our Souls..." and life was never the same.
The Triumph of Death https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the...of-death/d3d82b0b-9bf2-4082-ab04-66ed53196ccc
I bought the We Sold Our Soul For Rock ‘n’ Roll compilation in 2000. Good sound, as far as I can recall. It’s still the only CD (set) that I own by the band - I’ve found it to be enough. I’ve been tempted over the years to buy the debut and Vol. 4, though…
I started with the track "Paranoid", included on the Warner Brothers Loss Leader compilation, "Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies". I may have heard it on the radio around then, too. I then proceeded to "Masters of Reality" with the crazy spiral label, which I bought at an import records shop. Then I stopped. It was all fine and dandy, I just got all I felt they had to offer me by then.
Paranoid (album). Came home from school when I was about 11-12 to find a copy on top of our record player (my brother had borrowed it). Side 1 track 1 War Pigs- WWWHHHOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!- knocked to the back wall. Never been the same since.
My introduction was Greatest Hits borrowed from a school friend in '79. Over the next few years I acquired most of the early albums on the Nems label and eventually stopped at Mob Rules.
Started with Paranoid. Saw the cassette at my local library and though I knew nothing about Sabbath, I thought I'd give them a go. The rest is history: the self-titled debut, MOR, Volume Four, SBS and Sabotage all followed in quick succession. I loved Heaven and Hell, although that seemed almost a completely different band.
In the early 90s a friend loaned me a cassette of Masters Of Reality to listen to on a nighttime road trip from Houston to Austin. In the middle of the night, for 3 hours, with very thick fog surrounding my dad's truck, I listened to it alone and took in the spooky atmosphere. The following week I bought the 3 cd box set Black Sabbath: The Ozzy Years which had the first 5 albums. That also got me into stoner metal bands like Sleep and Kyuss. I didn't give the Dio stuff any attention until around the time he died. It took getting into metal (such as Iron Maiden) that wasn't stoner or thrash to appreciate Heaven and Hell.
My first band recruited a guitar playing friend of mine who suggested a few cover versions for us to play because he (roughly) knew the guitar parts. One of them was Paranoid. I got into the track and then the album and went on from there. Albums I had were Paranoid, Master Of Reality, Vol 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Heaven & Hell. Saw them live as well. This was late 70's/early 80's. A couple of years later I had all of my records stolen by some eejit, and as I was still discovering loads of other music I didn't get back into Sabbath until much later, indeed only quite recently really, which was kinda good as it was like discovering them all over again.
Paranoid was the only road for me. My next Sabbath purchase was Live at Last. That version of Wicked World is stellar. At the time, I had no idea that the ‘jams’ were actually segments of songs from their other records. I just thought Iommi was improvising all those killer riffs.
