The Sabbath Books

[Billy Underdog]

So i got these books for christmas; Iommi's Iron Man, I Am Ozzy, Sharpe-Young's SBS & Popoff's FAQ (Doom Let Loose i already had).
I read them all in a week, and now i've read Iron Man for the second time.

Some thoughts: I found both Iron Man and I Am Ozzy quite amusing, and it's kinda funny how they remember so many things slightly different, like the insident with the cops in Bel Air when they had to flush all their coke, the painting of Bill Ward, the attempt of stabbing Tony Iommi and the blood-cross on the backstage-door/hotel-room door, and the Happy Birthday-witches. But with all the coke & booze around at that time it's no wonder their memory is a bit fuzzy.

Another remarkable thing; Iommy: "Blimey". Ozzy: "Mind you".

With Sharpe-Young's book i found it really interresting how he went trough all the different members of Ozzy's band and post-Ozzy Sabbath (even though i'm no longer into the music, the history-nerd in me is still into the story). But i had a feeling of not knowing how credible some of it was, as early in the book he manages to call Sabbath's first single Wicked Woman, and also claims that the song Rick Wakeman had a guest-appearance was Changes.

Popoff's FAQ. Now that is truely a nerds book. Lot's of interesting facts, some cool interviews, really liked the chapter about Black Widow and Coven, but a bit much "my opinion"-things like reviews on albums and album-covers. Kinda like a music-critic gone overboard. But, as said, really a book for the true Sabbath-nerd.

So i was wondering; what other books are "essensial"? I'm thinking How Black Was Our Sabbath. Anything else?

Edit: Btw, i'm looking forward to Geezers book which there has been some rumors about, and i really hope Bill will write one too...

[mythology]

The best book is Rat Salad. Very well written and informative not only about the music, but about the social environment in which was created.

The only criticism is that it is maybe a bit too detailed regarding the individual song construction at times.

Having said that it at least feels like a properly written book.

Don't really to want to be too controversial, but Iron Man is very poorly written. It's interesting in parts (i.e. he has obviously had an interesting life), but there is not really any new insight into what it was like being in the band, the writing process, how he felt, etc. Ozzy's is much better and genuinely hilarious in parts. The part where him and Geezer bump into Robert Plant in Birmingham particularly.

[Billy Underdog]

The only criticism is that it is maybe a bit too detailed regarding the individual song construction at times.

That for me is just a positive thing, i'm both a history-nerd and a musician. I read a (sadly only Norwegian) book about Beatles, about EVERY single recording they did, the circumstances in which the songs were written, why the lyrics were written the way they were, every single fact about every song, and i loved it. I'm really into that kind of stuff. Popoff's Doom Let Loose is somewhat the same thing, only to a lot less extend.

As for Iommi's book, yeah maybe not that well written, and not really too much new information (exept his childhood and first bands), but i thought it was nice to hear things from his point of view.

But i'll check out Rat Salad, thanx.

[Monster Boy]

The only criticism is that it is maybe a bit too detailed regarding the individual song construction at times.

I am a fan of music analysis myself, so you can never get too detailed about such things for me. Having started to read Rat Salad, however, I found that the details were oftentimes wrong (Like saying that the key of Iron man is B minor for instance) so I put it down. The cause is noble, the execution not so much it seemed.

[Relic]

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and How Black Was Our Sabbath are probably the books I've liked best. Black Sabbath, Doom Let Loose and Wheels of Confusion were okay. Still, some of these book have so many mistakes (getting names, dates, etc. wrong) you basically need a lot of previous knowledge on the subject to be able to make sense of them.

Personally I found Rat Salad one of the more disappointing ones. It doesn't really contain new information about anything, it basically just references earlier sources with the some of the writers own (and often unrelated) ramblings added as padding.

Ozzy's book contained some good stuff, but not much on Sabbath that hadn't already been covered elsewhere. I have yet to read Tony's book, but the reviews haven't been too encouraging.

[Blackguard]

One Sabbath book I can recomend whole heartedly is Tony Iommi's own. I just finished it, and it is a great read.

[Die Young]

Oh how i wish i could atleast get my hands on one of those books but living in a backwater border town in south east europe doesent help at all.However on a trip to the big city while looking in a store,in the book section I stumbled upon "Light in the Black" and a book about KISS.Unfortionetly due to my wealth i could only afford the DIO book so i took it.Now when i think about it i was short with about 10 bucks for the kiss book,why didnt I borrow from my friends?

Oh well I hope one day to stumble upon one of the sabbath books but sadly that chance is small due to certain financial and geographical reasons.

And before you think of saying no - i do not trust buying stuff online.

[Billy Underdog]

This makes me so sad i almost want to come down and lend you my books. If i could afford it. If i'm ever going to bulgaria, i'll let you know.
But is it local online-shops you don't trust, or the internationals (like amazon)? I don't think there's much reason to not trust the big ones, the worst thing that could happen is that the things you've ordered come some weeks/months too late. As long as you keep your email-receipt, noone can trick your money away from you.

[Die Young]

Well local mercants will try to scam you as much as they can esp. if they know they can scam you they will, but Amazon hmm... I guess it seems to alien for me how my specific order will travel trough out the world and arrive at my dorstep, plus it involves a bank account wich I, an unworking still one month and a half till im not a minor, dont have. I guess I could bother the old folks about it but im used to the same old $ song :/

[wizard]

Just read Sabbath Bloody Sabbath ny Joel McIver, and thought it was a bit disappointing. It probably is a good book to start with if you don't know that much about Sabbath, but otherwise it doesn't come with much new information. Some of the facts presented in the book are wrong (Number of the Beast is not Maiden's second album, to my knowledge it was on Sabbra Cadabra that Rick Wakeman played, not Who Are You, to mention a few) and the book chapters are a bit messy in general. Also too much focus on Ozzy's solo career.
So, a good book to begin with but not recommended when you know something about Black Sabbath already.

[Mikel]

I just ordered Popoff´s "FAQ-book", hope it´ll be interesting! I have Doom Let Loose and Iommi´s Iron Man; they were pretty good. How Black Was Our Sabbath was really good!!! havet read Wheels Of Confusion or Rad Salad...yet.

[WDIV]

Just finished reading Iommi - Iron Man, and before that I Am Ozzy. I'd recommend both for any BS fans. The Ozzy book was a better read than Iommi's. The Iommi book was interesting, but was somewhat fragmented & mechanical, as it didn't really dig in to deep on any particular topics.

[chudbeagle]

Stay FAR, FAR away from McIver's book "Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath". It is a joke, as are all of his sloppily, poorly researched books. It is so fucking bad it's insulting. I knew I was in trouble when he said that the band wrote "Evil Woman". There are so many mistakes and typos, it's a joke. Plus, we get the "author's" USELESS personal feelings about what is good and bad as far as Sabbath recordings. Don't care pal-you're not supposed to put yourself in a book like this-Journalism 101.
Also, timelines are wrong, chart information is wrong-I can go on, but I won't. Don't even spend an Arby's coupon on it!
The Sharpe-Young books are good, but get way too heavy into useless info, and some facts are wrong, but he really tried to get everyone's viewpoints. Popoff's book is fun and worthy.
As for Tony's book-it's weird. It's written almost childlike at times and gets repetitive. However, there are aspects of it I do enjoy. very strange how there are tons of "chapters" that are 2 or 3 pages. Why break it up like that?

[Billy Underdog]

Plus, we get the "author's" USELESS personal feelings about what is good and bad as far as Sabbath recordings. Don't care pal-you're not supposed to put yourself in a book like this-Journalism 101.
Popoff's book is fun and worthy.

You don't think Popoff is putting too much of his personal feelings in the books? He's got whole chapters based only on how he rates the album-cover, f.ex...

[sabbathcollector]

As a life long Sabbath fan, I have read but 1 book, and thet was Tony's. Just finished it in fact. Was so into collecting for so long, I never delved into the available literature. Which is a bit strange as I am an avid reader (especially non-fiction), and sometimes writer. Anyway, I thought the stories were pretty good, though it could have been written alot better. The beginning was really interesting as I didn't know much about Tony's early life. The details in those chapters were what hooked me. The stuff on the early recordings was OK, but not big news (like I said I am a collector). After that it seemed to be a generalization of each segment of the Sabbath history and what he learned from it. I found the "Born Again" section quite entertaining, especially the part about Bill sinking Ian's boat! I'll have a look at Ozzy's book since the reviews above seem positive. At the moment, I have "Lord's of Chaos- The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground" to contend with. I bought it the same day I bought Tony's book. Took me a little over 24 hours to get through Tony's book (with sleep in there somewhere) so this one shouldn't take long. I'll hit amazon tonight and get Ozzy's book ordered.

Long as I'm here I may as well say an official hello (I didn't see an introduction section), real name is Rich, been collecting Sabbath recordings since I was just a kid (i'm 43). Not big into the forums as I used to be, but thought this one worthy. Howdy folks!

[Damian]

Long as I'm here I may as well say an official hello (I didn't see an introduction section), real name is Rich, been collecting Sabbath recordings since I was just a kid (i'm 43). Not big into the forums as I used to be, but thought this one worthy. Howdy folks!

Welcome to the family, Rich! Ozzy's book is great, hope you enjoy it.

[Billy Underdog]

At the moment, I have "Lord's of Chaos- The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground" to contend with.

Hi dude, welcome.
LoC is a nice book, if you're into fiction. A big part of the Norwegian BM-scene has complained about the book, especially it's use of made-up interviews and quotes.

[clockwork]

Sharpe-Young's SBS

Thinking of getting it

[chudbeagle]

You don't think Popoff is putting too much of his personal feelings in the books? He's got whole chapters based only on how he rates the album-cover, f.ex...

Oh, absolutely I do. But, his books from the get-go are like that. I agree it shouldn't be that way, but when it comes to a biography (and Martin usually states that his books aren't really written that way), a hack like McIver should not be telling em what songs and albums are good or bad.
For something like a FAQ book, I don't mind so much Popoff putting himself in there, although I don't need his ratings-that should be on a website not in a book of facts.

[Billy Underdog]

I know i've mentioned this somewhere else sometime, but; I wish Geezer and Bill would write their books. I'm really interested in the period when Bill lived as a homeless in L.A.
Did that for a while myself (well, friends couches most of the time, but there's been a few nights in bushes and hedges too in the summer-time. I live in Norway, remember.)

Also it would've been cool to hear a bit about their up-bringing. I knew Ozzy was dirt poor and at one point worked at a slaughter-house (like me) before i read his book, and after reading Tony's book, i know his up-bringing.

But the only thing i know about Geezers is that he was a trainee accountant, and with Bill, he've said his parrents had a huge Swing-Jazz-collection. And that's it...

Someone should make them write their autobiography. I know there's been rumors Geezer's writing his...

---------- Post added at 10:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:00 AM ----------

Oh, absolutely I do. But, his books from the get-go are like that. I agree it shouldn't be that way, but when it comes to a biography (and Martin usually states that his books aren't really written that way), a hack like McIver should not be telling em what songs and albums are good or bad.
For something like a FAQ book, I don't mind so much Popoff putting himself in there, although I don't need his ratings-that should be on a website not in a book of facts.

And yeah, i pretty much agree with you on this one.

Haven't read McIver's SBS, but i've read Sharpe-Youngs SBS, and although it's got some historical errors (like saying Sabs first single was Wicked Woman, and saying the tune Rick Wakeman was playing on was changes), i find it a very good, informative book..

(But considering the errors made that early in the book, i always had that in the back of my mind...)

[Billy Underdog]

The dog just took a shit on my Ozzy-book (it was lying around on the floor, and the dog has had a bad stomach lately).
But what is it with Ozzy and dogs shitting?

[-E5150 StarWanderer-]

The dog just took a shit on my Ozzy-book (it was lying around on the floor, and the dog has had a bad stomach lately).
But what is it with Ozzy and dogs shitting?

Haha, priceless My cousin told that their dog once shat into the sound hole of his acoustic while it was lying on the floor

And to answer your guestion about Ozzy and dogs (and their excretes in particular), I believe it's a strong, mutual love/hate relationship:

[Billy Underdog]

And to answer your guestion about Ozzy and dogs (and their excretes in particular), I believe it's a strong, mutual love/hate relationship:

Yeah, it looked a bit like that.

Guess it was nice playing that guitar afterwards...

[A Sabbath Historian]

Interesting thread. Personally, I don't care for autobiographies myself. I'd rather read commentary and criticism of the subject simply because I get bored hearing about their childhood and family life! Sure, everybody has a story, but I prefer they start the story with how they met their future bandmates. Frankly, that's the only "beginning" I really care to read about as far as a musician's life goes. Also, most autobiographies just rehash the SAME stories we fans already know about, albeit with the author's twist. And usually, that means putting his and/or her best foot forward, even if their credibility is questionable. So that's why I prefer books written from a critical perspective, Popoff's books being some of the better ones out there in my view. Great topic. Also an avid reader as well! Thanks BSO!