BLACK SABBATH: Then, Now, & Why
Black Sabbath were near the end of the first third of an unusual U S.-to Britain-to U.S. tour.
I was having tea with Ronnie James Dio (singer/lyricist) and Paul Clark (road manager/famous Australian disco dancer) at a very pleasant cafe in Indianapolis. Black Sabbath were near the end of the first third of an unusual U S.-to Britain-to U.S. tour. Mob Rules has been released three or four weeks earlier. Mercury was not quite visible in the morning sky.
Dio (and new drummer Vinnie Appice) are as American as you and I. whereas Sabbath mainstays Tony Iommi (six strings) and Geezer Butler (four) are limeys. I felt an instinctive friendliness towards Dio for two reasons: one, I’d noticed he always graciously invites people to precede him onto escalators; two, we’d both been watching the same football game on TV in completely different hotel rooms and both wanted the Giants to win. Feeling I could trust my short fellow citizen, I invited him to explain why he thought Americans were so enamoured with heavy metal.
