Black Sabbath is an English heavy metal band. The band was founded in 1966 with members Ozzy Osbourne (vocalist), Geezer Butler (bass), Tony Iommi (guitar) and Bill Ward (drums), originally touting the name Polka Tulk Band. Eventually the band changed its name to Earth, and then Black Sabbath. Since the band formed, the only constant member has been Iommi.

By reshaping the blues-rock which was practiced by bands like Cream, Vanilla Fudge and themselves (while under the name Earth), through a more aggressive instrumental layout and soturnal themes, both in lyrics and arrangements, Black Sabbath is widely considered as the first heavy metal band and, as such, is one of the most influential in its genre.

Sabbath has so far provided three tracks for the Guitar Hero series; "Iron Man" to Guitar Hero, "War Pigs" to Guitar Hero II, and "Paranoid" to Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, all of them from their second album, Paranoid, released in 1970.

Currently, the band tours and is recording as Heaven and Hell, with the formation under which they toured the eponymous 1980 album (see Band members section below).

Discography

(studio albums only)

• Black Sabbath (1970)
• Paranoid (1970)
• Master of Reality (1971)
• Vol.4 (1972)
• Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)
• Sabotage (1975)
• Technical Ecstasy (1976)
• Never Say Die! (1978)
• Heaven and Hell (1980)
• The Mob Rules (1981)
• Born Again (1982)
• Seventh Star (1986)
• Eternal Idol (1987)
• Headless Cross (1989)
• Tyr (1990)
• Dehumanizer (1992)
• Cross Purposes (1994)
• Forbidden (1995)

Band Members

(as Heaven and Hell)

• Ronnie James Dio: vocals (1979-1982, 1991-1992, 2006-present)
• Tony Iommi: guitar (1968-present)
• Geezer Butler: bass (1968-1985, 1991-present)
• Vinny Appice: drums (1980-1982, 1991-1992, 1998, 2006-present)

Notable past members

• Ozzy Osbourne: vocals (1968-1979, 1997-present*)
• Bill Ward: drums (1968-1980, 1982-1983, 1997-1998, 1999-present*)
• Geoff Nicholls: keyboards (1979-1985 as a session musician; 1985-1991 and 1992-1997 as an effective member)
• Ian Gillan (from Deep Purple): vocals (1982-1984)
• Glenn Hughes: vocals (1985-1986)
• Cozy Powell: drums (1988-1991, 1994-1995)
• Eric Singer (currently on KISS): drums (1985-1986)
• Tony Martin: vocals (1987-1991)
• Dave Spitz (not to be confused with former Anthrax lead guitarist Dan Spitz, who is his younger brother): bass (1985-1986)
• Bob Daisley (formerly from Ozzy Osbourne's solo band): bass (1986)

*Officially, Black Sabbath per se, with the original formation, has not disbanded, in spite of the Heaven and Hell project and Ozzy's solo career.

Trivia

• Sabbath's vocalist, Ozzy Osbourne, is the only person who, counting the upcoming Guitar Hero World Tour has appeared seven times in the series (only losing to Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, with nine appearances - guest drummer in Queens of the Stone Age's "No One Knows" and regular drummer in Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box", "Breed" and "About a Girl", aside from Foo Fighters' own songs "Monkey Wrench", "All My Life", "The Pretender", "This is a Call" and "Everlong"); as the vocalist for "Iron Man", "War Pigs" and "Paranoid", and as a solo vocalist for "Bark at the Moon", "I Don't Wanna Stop", "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley".
• Along with Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath is the only band which contributed to the series with three songs (not counting downloadable content, in which they are beaten by Foo Fighters and My Chemical Romance, with four songs each).
• As a result of frequent line-up changes, vocalists from two other GH bands have come up to the plate to join Black Sabbath. The most notable of these is Ronnie James Dio (who was represented by "Holy Diver" in Rocks the 80s), who originally came from Rainbow to sing for the band to fill the empty spot Ozzy had left in 1979 (bringing about the popular albums Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules). After quitting the band in 1982 to persue a solo career, he re-joined Sabbath in 1992 for the album Dehumanizer. He is currently touring with the Heaven and Hell line-up under the name Heaven and Hell. Ian Gillan of Deep Purple fame (whose songs "Smoke on the Water" and "Hush" were featured in the first game and the Xbox 360 version of the second game, respectively) also sang for Black Sabbath for the album Born Again in 1983. Incidentally, he had joined to fill Dio's spot in the band.
• Stands as the only band to have contributed songs for all 3 numbered games of the series.