Just listened to all eighteen Black Sabbath albums for the umpteenth time, and although most of the songs are crackers; there are a few that are pretty dire. Now, this isn't a thread that aims to say how much better the Ozzy-era Sabbath was or whatever, because there's at least one stinker from that time too. In most cases, I love all the eras equally.
Here's a couple of some of the pretty terrible songs that come to mind:
First of all, here's a song from the Ozzy-era. It's called 'Who Are You' and it's off the 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' (1973) album. The bass parapedals make a crap song worse than it already is. The middle section is kind of interesting though:
Black Sabbath - Who Are You
YouTube - Black Sabbath - Who Are You?
So, all in all the Ozzy-era could be considered pretty flawless. Unless of course there's a song as bad or worse than 'Who Are You'? The same goes for the first Dio-era of Sabbath.
The Ian Gillan-era, however, is...oh, dear. The 'Born Again' (1983) album would be borderline acceptable if it weren't for one song. Enter 'Disturbing The Priest'. The verse is cool but the chorus is shocking: you hear Gillan squeal like a pig in boiling water. I don't want to be too critical but the song, as revealed by Tony Iommi on Planet Rock Radio, was actually about a vicar that they had been hassling whilst out camping. Sorry to get all technical here, but a vicar ISN'T a priest! It just made a crap song sound plain ignorant - in my opinion:
Black Sabbath - Disturbing The Priest
YouTube - Black Sabbath "Disturbing The Priest"
Roll on 1986 with 'Seventh Star' which was pretty much billed as a Tony Iommi album (after all, he was the only remaining original member from the band's inception) with Glenn Hughes on vocals. Personally, I love this album. Maybe you think otherwise.
The following year saw the release of 'Eternal Idol' which was not a bad offering, but once again proved Sabbath to be a revolving door for musicians, let alone vocalists. Ray Gillen had originally recorded vocals for the album, but was soon replaced by Tony 'The Cat' Martin, in what is one of my favourite eras of Black Sabbath. Name me a dud song from the 'Headless Cross' (1989) album, if you dare!
In retrospect, the eighties were considered an embarrassing episode in the Black Sabbath saga. What would the nineties bring? 'Tyr' (1990) was a weaker Tony Martin follow-up, with Sabbath entering the decade with a whimper rather than a bang, but 'Dehumanizer' (1992) got everyones attention with the return of Ronnie James Dio.
I know how much 'flaming' potential there is in the debate about Dio-era Sabbath, so I'll leave it to you good people to discuss the merits of 'Heaven And Hell' (1980), 'Mob Rules' (1981) and 'Dehumanizer', let alone Tony Martin's other efforts in 'Cross Purposes' (1994) and 'Forbidden' (1995)!