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What is heavy metal? Some might say a type of highly amplified loud vigorous rock music with a strong fast beat. Others might say Black Sabbath. Black Sabbath was the first heavy metal band others will argue that Led Zepplin was the first but statistics show that Sabbath was the first.

In 1968 the rock blues band “The Polka Tulk Blues Company” later called “Earth” now better known as Black Sabbath were practicing when guitar player Toni Iommi noticed the theatre across the street, where people were paying their hard earned money to be scared. While writing their new song entitled “Black Sabbath” bassist Terrence “Geezer” Butler loved dark novels and had a dream of a hooded figure standing at the foot of his bed. After telling the band they purposely started to write darker music what we now call heavy metal. But before they were famous they all had day jobs, Iommi worked in a sheet metal factory and in a freak accident he cut off the tips of his middle and ring fingers, this made it very difficult to play the guitar. To ease the pain of fretting Iommi tuned his guitar from the standard E to a C# that gave the band the dark sound they were looking for.

By 1973 Black Sabbath was the number one heavy metal band in the world about the same time they released there third album the entire band was heavily addicted to drugs and lead singer Ozzy Osborune and drummer Bill Ward took LSD every day for two years. Six years later Osbourne was asked to formally leave the band. He was later replaced by Ronnie James Dio of Rainbow and would later create his third band Dio.This caused Ozzy to start his solo career.

Randy Rhodes was a young guitar star first discovered by Quiet Riot but later quit to join Ozzy. Rhodes short lived three years with Ozzy Osbourne was some of the best heavy metal ever created. Rhodes released two albums with Osbourne “Blizzard of Ozz” and “Diary of a Madman” with hits such as “Crazy Train” and “Over the...