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Black Sabbath

Certain Songs #65: Black Sabbath – “Megalomania”

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Album: Sabotage
Year: 1975

“Megalomania” is a weird beast, even for a Black Sabbath song.  It starts on the heels of the acoustic fade-out of “Symptom of the Universe” with a slow, doomy death march, where Ozzy is singing about – what else?? – insanity and wanting to be be left alone with his madness.

Why don’t you just get out of my life, yeah?
Why don’t you just get out of my life now?
Why doesn’t everybody leave me alone now?
Why doesn’t everybody leave me alone, yeah?

But after a few minutes of this, Iommi switches the song into an uptempo – if not one of his more memorable – riff, and driven by Bill Ward’s cowbell, the song kicks in for good. For the rest of the way, it alternates between that riff and a chorus that – musically, at least – is almost good-time rock ‘n’ roll.

The cool thing is that everytime they return to that not really memorable riff, they’ve overdubbed more guitars. And more guitars. And more guitars..

By the end of the song, they’ve actually overdubbed more guitar parts than there are guitars in the universe.

Fan-made lyric video for “Megalomania”

My Certain Songs Spotify Playlist:

Every “Certain Song” Ever

Certain Songs #63: Black Sabbath – “Symptom of the Universe”

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Album: Sabotage
Year: 1975

While Paranoid is generally considered the greatest Black Sabbath album, and Master of Reality is often cited as the most inflential, my favorite Sabbath album has long been their 6th album, the eternally underrated Sabotage.  And my favorite track on Sabotage – quite possibly my favorite Sabbath song ever – is “Symptom of the Universe.”

Anchored by maybe the last of the classic early Iommi riffs (filled to the brim by Geezer Butler’s bass, natch), “Symptom of the Universe” comes chugging out of the gate even faster than “Paranoid,” with plenty of space for Bill Ward to remind contemporaries like Ian Paice (and warn newbies like Neal Peart) that he knows his way around a drum fill. And Ozzy has never sounded better as he’s screaming “a symptom of the universe is written in your eyes!!”

Pure speed. Pure power. Pure Sabbath.  

But then, after one of those Iommi guitar solos that sounds like angry hornets suddenly attacking from out of the sunshine – the song suddenly changes into an acoustic guitar jam not unlike the one at the end of the Rolling Stones “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking.” Nary an electric guitar is heard again, instead, it’s 666 overdubbed acoustic Tony Iommis all playing off of each other

In no way, shape or form should this ending work after the proto thrash metal that started the song, and yet it does, working as a chill room for anybody overwhelmed by the first part of the song.

No speed. Hidden power. Pure Sabbath.

Video for “Symptom of the Universe”

My Certain Songs Spotify Playlist:

Every “Certain Song” Ever

Certain Songs #62: Black Sabbath – “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”

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Album: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Year: 1973

It’s weird: I’m discovering that my favorite Black Sabbath songs are so ingrained in me, I’m having trouble figuring out what to say about them. Like for example, “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.”  

Do I point out that’s one of their great multi-part songs? Do I walk you through how it starts with a typically doomy multi-part riff in the verses before dropping into an acoustic chorus? And that it features a relatively organic Iommi solo prior to becoming a completely different song?  And that at the end, it changes again, with a nearly-psychedelic storm of guitars, some of which might even be backwards?

Or do I point out that because it was their fifth album in a little under 4 years, the strain is definitely beginning to show, especially on Ozzy’s voice? So much so that you can practically see him straining to hit the notes he hears in his head when he sings “Whe-aaairrrr can you run to?”

Maybe I’ll just I point out that it doesn’t matter, because I simply love how Ozzy screams “You BASTARDS!!!!” just before Iommi’s solo? For sure should  point out that for nearly 40 years I’ve been playing this song just to hear Ozzy sing:

Sabbath, bloody sabbath
Nothing more to do
Living just for dying
Dying just for you
Yeah!!

… which is followed by one last amazing Iommi riff that would power an entire song by a lesser band before jumping into that nearly-psychedelic coda?

Video for “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”

My Certain Songs Spotify Playlist:

Every “Certain Song” Ever

Certain Songs #60: Black Sabbath – “War Pigs”

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Album: Paranoid
Year: 1970

At some point in the mid-1970s, I became friends with a guy who lived across the street from me. He was a few years older than me, already at Fresno State while I was just entering high school. And while he was a totally normal, short-haired accounting major who was incredibly athletic and never did drugs, he was also a total metal head. And by far and away, his favorite band was Black Sabbath.

And because of his influence, one of the earliest albums I ever purchased was the two-disc Sabbath compilation We Sold Our Soul for Rock ‘n’ Roll, which was a near-perfect (give or take a “Laguna Sunrise”) cherry-picking from their first six albums and still a helluva introduction one of the greatest and most influential bands of the 1970s,

And if I was forced to distill Black Sabbath down to a single song (which I wouldn’t recommend, of course), I would pick “War Pigs.”  Nearly everything that made them great is here: big doomy riffs chock full of Geezer Butler’s world-filling bass; Bill Ward jazzily barreling himself through tricky multiple parts; Tony Iommi’s guitar solos appearing from thin air; and of course, the eternally underrated Ozzy Osbourne, who somehow gets away with rhyming “masses” with “masses.”

Unlike their contemporaries and competitors in Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, who left plenty of room even the studio for improvisation, Black Sabbath’s best songs always felt well-thought out, with every note and beat in place, right down to the multiple overdubbed guitar solos.

“War Pigs” Performed Live at California Jam, 1974

My Certain Songs Spotify Playlist:

Every “Certain Song” Ever

Medialoper Bebop Episode 27: Brain Decline

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In their first podcast of 2012, Jim & Tim wonder if you’ve heard that new Van Halen song. Kirk could care less. But it does lead to a discussion about various band reunions as well as the various incarnations of Van Halen. (4:37 – 11:04)

Then, there is general worry at a British study that says brain decline starts in the mid-40s, not the early 60s. (11:05 – 19:55)

Also, speaking of decline, has any retailer had a swifter decline than Best Buy? Probably, but who can remember? Kirk traces it back to when they got into a public spat with the DuroSport Electronics Corporation. (19:56 – 29:18)

Finally, the latest inductee into the Medialoper Bebop Great Albums Hall of Fame, Horses by Patti Smith. Even though it’s Kirk’s choice, Jim is going to use this opportunity to link to his article about seeing Patti live in 1996, as well as Kassia’s article about her love for Patti Smith. (29:19 – 47:10)

All that, and the new Van Halen song! On Medialoper Bebop Episode 27: Brain Decline.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:21 — 74.7MB)

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25 Musical Moments To Die For

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The Who - Live at Leeds (I hope)You can talk about genres, artists, albums, or even songs, but sometimes what keeps us coming back to music is the discovery of the transcendent musical moment. For me, “the moment” is the part of the song that fully and utterly engages me; the reason that I keep coming back to it.

I’m not necessarily talking about hooks here, because the purpose of hooks is the draw you into a song. I’m really talking more about traps: the part of a song that that keeps you there.

Every single moment I’ve listed below kills me single every time I hear it.

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