# New Black Sabbath album number 1 on the charts. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 2, 2013, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-black-sabbath-album-number-1-on-the-charts/665158 "2013-08-02T15:16:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2013, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-black-sabbath-album-number-1-on-the-charts/665158/1 "2013-08-02T15:16:01Z")
You better order the concert tickets early. šŸ™‚ Iā€™ll leave the concerts for the kids. I canā€™t risk any more hearing damage. The new album is worth checking out. [Ozzy Interview](http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/ozzy-osbourne-black-sabbath-hit-1-article-1.1414859) [Geezer Butler Interview](http://www.metro.us/newyork/entertainment/2013/07/31/geezer-butler-with-13-black-sabbath-never-say-die/) > [@](#): > > Ozzy Osbourne had what you might call a very Ozzy-esque response to the news that his first album with Black Sabbath in 35 years opened at No. 1 last month. > > ā€œWhat the fā€” is this?ā€ he recalls thinking. ā€œWho the fā€” gets their first number 1 album 45 years into their fā€”ing careers?ā€ > > The real question may be: Who deserves one? > > Most elder rock bands who reunite, after eons apart, earn only eyerolls (from critics) and ho-hum sales(from the last true believers). Witness Van Halen and Aerosmith, whose recent reunion discs drew appropriate yawns. > > But Sabbathā€™s new disc, ā€œ13,ā€ has excited loyalists and reviewers alike. The CD sends them on a swift trip back to the crypt. The music lumbers, meaningfully, through the kinds of monstrous riffs and doomy beats Sabbath first conjured back in 1970, giving music an entirely new tone and girth. > [@](#): > > **Black Sabbath lyrics have always dabbled in darker territory, but this time instead of fascination with the occult, it seems like thereā€™s a lot of grappling with your own mortality.** > > Yeah, especially after Ronnie died. [Ozzyā€™s replacement in 1979 was singer Ronnie James Dio, who had been singing again with the Sabbath members at the time of his death under the band name Heaven & Hell.] When Ronnie died of stomach cancer, it sort of brought the whole mortality thing home very much. You expect your parents to die and stuff like that, but when one of your workmates dies, itā€™s a totally different feeling. And then when Tony [Iommi, guitarist] was diagnosed with cancer, it was like ā€œWhat else is going to happen to us?ā€ So all of the lyrics were reflecting that. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Doom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dr\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-black-sabbath-album-number-1-on-the-charts/665158/2 "2013-08-02T16:21:11Z")
I bought concert tickets back in April for their show in Toronto in 2 weeks. I, too, am not much of a concert-goer anymore, but Iā€™m a big fan of the original lineup, and havenā€™t seen **Black Sabbath** live with **Ozzy** fronting them, so itā€™s kind of a bucket list show, for me. I listened to _God is Dead?_ quite a few times when it was pre-released, and I recently got around to grabbing the full album from iTunes, but have yet to find the time to give it a listen in its entirety more than twice. Iā€™m listening to it now, and my first impression is that it definitely _harkens_ to their genius '70s music, but I wouldnā€™t find it plausibly coming _right on the heels_ of _Sabotage_ for someone not familiar with them. Itā€™s good. Itā€™s got some familiar **Iommi** soloing, the drummer makes an effort to do some '70s-ish **Ward** percussion in a couple spots, and **Geezer** ā€™s lines are still not there just to provide beat and fatness, but also to render musical depth to the low register. **Ozzy** is fucking ageless. Thereā€™s actually one song on there that reminds me of **Primus** (!), so the sound is decidedly modern by times. Iā€™d recommend it to anyone, regardless their \*\*Black Sabbath \*\*familiarity or lack thereof. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-black-sabbath-album-number-1-on-the-charts/665158/3 "2013-08-02T16:33:29Z")
In fairness, theyā€™ve had two (three?) number one albums in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Doom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dr\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-black-sabbath-album-number-1-on-the-charts/665158/4 "2013-08-02T16:39:42Z")
Iā€™m looking at Wikipedia, and the **only** album to ever chart #1 **anywhere** , prior to _13_, was _Paranoid_. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2013, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-black-sabbath-album-number-1-on-the-charts/665158/5 "2013-08-02T18:49:55Z")
I picked up the album last week and it hasnā€™t left the CD player in my car yet. I love it - it reminds me a lot of the Master of Reality era. ā€œGod Is Dead?ā€ and ā€œZeitgeistā€ would have to be my favorite tracks. As for the tour, I bought my ticket to see them at the Gorge this month all the way back in May. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-black-sabbath-album-number-1-on-the-charts/665158/6 "2013-08-02T18:59:46Z")
> [@Dr\_Doom](#): > > Iā€™m looking at Wikipedia, and the **only** album to ever chart #1 **anywhere** , prior to _13_, was _Paranoid_. Huh. Youā€™re right. I thought Black Sabbath and probably Sabotage were #1, but most of their albums peaked in the middle of the top 10. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-black-sabbath-album-number-1-on-the-charts/665158/7 "2013-08-02T20:26:36Z")
They now have the record for the longest gap between Number One albums in the UK, 43 years! Itā€™s a fucking good album, and _far_ better than I thought Ozzy could do. I knew Iommi and Butler had it in them after the Heaven & Hell album with Dio, but Iā€™ve not liked anything with Ozzy for years. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-black-sabbath-album-number-1-on-the-charts/665158/8 "2013-08-02T21:06:48Z")
Wish I could make it to a show, but the tour only gets nearby on weekdays. ā˜¹