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BLACK SABBATH Guitarist Wasn't Aiming To Summon The Devil With Early Material
- Apr. 28, 2006
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BBC News has published an article on the so-called Devil's Interval, a musical phenomenon suppressed by the Church in the Middle Ages. On the surface there might appear to be no link between BLACK SABBATH, Wagner's "Gotterdammerung", "West Side Story" and the theme tune to the "Simpsons". But all of them rely heavily on tritones, a musical interval that spans three whole tones, like the diminished fifth or augmented fourth. This interval, the gap between two notes played in succession or simultaneously, was branded Diabolus in Musica or the Devil's Interval by medieval musicians. In the newly-released documentary "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey", bassist Alex Webster of death metal act CANNIBAL CORPSE pays tribute to the effect of the forbidden "Devil's note" on heavy metal. And rock producer Bob Ezrin pronounces: "It apparently was the sound used to call up the beast. There is something very sexual about the tritone. "In the Middle Ages when people were ignorant and scared, when they heard something like that and felt that reaction in their body they thought 'uh oh, here come the Devil'." A more modern advocate of the tritone is BLACK SABBATH — the rock outfit led by Ozzy Osbourne — particularly in their signature song, "Black Sabbath", a milestone in the genesis of heavy metal. But this link between heavy metal and musical conjuring of the Devil in the Middle Ages comes as a bit of a surprise to the band's guitarist, Tony Iommi. "When I started writing SABBATH stuff it was just something that sounded right. I didn't think I was going to make it Devil music," Iommi says. He says he was aiming for "something that sounded really evil and very doomy" but admits he may have been unconsciously influenced by other music and was certainly not aiming to summon the Devil. "Beforehand [we were doing] jazzy blues. It certainly wasn't something I thought about — I didn't read music. I had no terms for anything "I like all sorts of classical stuff — various sorts of music, jazz, blues, to classical played a big part in my writing." Read the entire article at this location. (Thanks: Slayerules)
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COMMENT | :S
posted by : lowspec42
4/28/2006 2:35:19 PM
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the film seems to be showing in one cinema in london and that's about it :|
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COMMENT | SABBETH RULES
posted by :
4/28/2006 2:35:43 PM
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YA DUDE
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COMMENT |
posted by : scusemewhileIwhipthisout
4/28/2006 2:35:52 PM
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what is a tritone - is that dubbong two, or three guitars on the same notes?
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COMMENT | ALONE
posted by : Resplendent Glancings
4/28/2006 2:37:44 PM
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Am I the only metal lover in the world that is not into these guys?
I give them props of course, but I had a second row seat when the original four played Ozzfest '99, and I was bored. I've really tried my damndest to like them.
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COMMENT | the forbidden "Devil's note"
posted by : Pink Tank Top And Orange Juice
4/28/2006 2:45:49 PM
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I'm scared...
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COMMENT | METAL!!!!!!!
posted by :
4/28/2006 2:46:48 PM
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God bless the tritone!!!!!
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COMMENT | Common Knowledge
posted by :
4/28/2006 2:48:44 PM
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Of course he wasn't...because the devil summoned him to do his bidding.
The devil called up Gibson and said, "give him an SG." Then he called up Laney and said, "make his with tubes that glow red with blood." It was all downhill from there.
Blessed Tea(bag)
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COMMENT | do they mean
posted by : blackfarted
4/28/2006 2:50:55 PM
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playing a G note followed by a C#?
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COMMENT | I summoned Satan once...
posted by :
4/28/2006 2:51:18 PM
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I was taking a nice, smelly, messy dump a few hours after eating at Taco Bell, and one of my "pre-dump" farts contained the dreaded, infernal tritone, and Satan promptly showed up. Fortunately for me, my shit smelled so bad that he promptly fled back to Hell to quote, unquote "clear out his sinuses."
True story.
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COMMENT |
posted by :
4/28/2006 3:34:55 PM
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The Brown note, LoL.
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COMMENT |
posted by : TheClansman?!
4/28/2006 3:38:48 PM
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Jesus was a homosexual and had sexual relations with children. FACT.
HAHAHAHA, HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL?
http://ummo.cc/
http://ummo.cc/data_page.html
http://ummo.cc/Resurrection_of_Christ.html
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COMMENT | SABBATH Guitarist Wasn't Aiming To Summon The Devil
posted by :
4/28/2006 3:47:19 PM
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Damn.......and all this time
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COMMENT |
posted by :
4/28/2006 3:47:28 PM
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Iommi: "Beforehand [we were doing] jazzy blues."
Spinal Tap:
David: Jazz-blues festival, where was that?
Nigel: Blues-jazz really.
1983's "Born Again" tour by Sabbath featured a Stonehenge monument so huge, it was in danger of not fitting in to most halls where they played
1984's "Smell the Glove" tour by Spinal Tap featured a Stonehenge monument so small, it was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf.
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COMMENT | bon halford
posted by :
4/28/2006 3:59:14 PM
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1984's "Smell the Glove" tour by Spinal Tap featured a Stonehenge monument so small, it was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf.
1981 Vocals on Mob Rules recorded by a dwarf.
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COMMENT | JBodak
posted by :
4/28/2006 3:59:30 PM
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LOL! Too funny...
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COMMENT |
posted by : cradleofme
4/28/2006 3:59:37 PM
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JBodak, that was priceless!! I needed a good laugh today...funny stuff...
Resplendent Glancings...dude im right there with you..give me Maiden or Priest etc
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COMMENT | Tritone
posted by : cradleofme
4/28/2006 4:00:19 PM
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The tritone, as its name implies, is a musical interval that spans three whole tones or six semitones. The two most basic types of tritone are the augmented fourth and the diminished fifth. Two tritones add up to 6 whole tones - or 12 semitones - usually a perfect octave. A common symbol for tritone is TT.
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COMMENT | more on tritone
posted by : cradleofme
4/28/2006 4:01:55 PM
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The tritone retains its "Devil in Music" character in popular music, specifically heavy metal. The opening of Black Sabbath's signature song Black Sabbath makes heavy use of the tritone. Other metal songs with prominent tritones in their main riffs are Diamond Head's Am I Evil?, Metallica's For Whom the Bell Tolls and Enter Sandman and Dream Theater's As I Am. Though not a metal band, Rush famously used the tritone to create the distinctive opening riff for the song YYZ. Perhaps the single guitarist to have made the most extensive use of the tritone is Robert Fripp of King Crimson, who used it repeatedly in King Crimson albums like Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Starless and Bible Black, and Red. Other examples are the beginning of Liszt's Dante Sonata, Sibelius's Fourth Symphony and Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze. The tritone is also used throughout Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, as an ironic "point of reference" despite the tone's inherent instability, thereby offering subtle commentary on the nature of war itself. Slayer has traditionally used the tritone extensively, and their 1998 album titled "Diabolus in Musica" reflects that fact.
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COMMENT | not just a clever Slayer album title after all...
posted by : \m/...Baron Von Wasteland...\m/
4/28/2006 4:04:40 PM
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I always wondered what that meant but never cared enough to look it up. Someone fluent in music tell me, was that album full of tritones? I'll have to give it a fresh listen now.
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COMMENT | Love them or bored by them
posted by :
4/28/2006 4:05:19 PM
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I think whether you love Sabbath or are bored by them depends partly on your age. I'm in my 40's. I remember when some of their early albums were just released. There was absolutely nothing else out there like them. It was original and different and exactly what I had been looking for.
Nowadays there are hundreds of options. And imitators. And yes, seeing Ozzy stumle out and croak through War pigs for the 9,000,000th time can be boring as all hell. But us old folks still get excited when we hear them because it brings us back to the old days when Sabbath was the entire heavy metal genre all by itself.
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COMMENT | ummmmmmmmmmm
posted by : tgard32
4/28/2006 4:07:39 PM
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has anybody actually listened to the lyrics to after forever? pretty sure it's all about jesus...look into it...
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COMMENT | cradleofme
posted by : \m/...Baron Von Wasteland...\m/
4/28/2006 4:07:51 PM
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looks like you answered my question. did you wtrite that paragraph or was that from another article elsewhere?
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COMMENT | I wrote \m/...Baron Von Wasteland...\m/
posted by : cradleofme
4/28/2006 4:22:59 PM
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it for a web-site.
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COMMENT | \m/...Baron Von Wasteland...\m/
posted by : cradleofme
4/28/2006 4:36:50 PM
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Guess Im a geek when it comes to stuff like that? I have my (A.D.) Artist Diploma, (M.M.) Master of Music Degree and (B.M.E.) Bachelor of Music Education degree
years and years of studying music etc etc
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COMMENT | cradleofme
posted by :
4/28/2006 4:41:02 PM
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You're obviously too smart for Blabbermouth. I'm going to have to ask you to leave.
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COMMENT | fleckr
posted by : cradleofme
4/28/2006 4:58:52 PM
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Come on now!! I have to have my daily dose of Blabbermouth, its what I live for..hahahaaaaa
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COMMENT | No, he wasn't trying to summon the devil -
posted by : Itwalksamongus
4/28/2006 6:29:00 PM
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He was, however, trying to summon the wrath of fans by putting out progressively crappier albums by progressively crappier line-ups and still calling it Black Sabbath.
To the guy who was bored in '99 - they may very well have been boring, but if you saw their first few tours like I did - well, they were fucking incredible.
Morbius76 - when I was in music school we'd call our classmetes and leave a tritone on their answering machine. They'd go nuts until they could find and instrument and resolve it.
Sabbath Fucking Sabbath
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COMMENT |
posted by : packinheat
4/28/2006 6:54:33 PM
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Will there ever be a more haunting song than Black Sabbath?
Enough said.
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COMMENT | I dunno
posted by :
4/28/2006 7:43:48 PM
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Side two of Paraniod w/ Electric Funeral, Hand Of Doom, and Planet Caravan is pretty "haunting" too.
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COMMENT | AND...
posted by :
4/28/2006 7:48:34 PM
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"Johnny Blade" and "Juniors Eyes" scared the shit outta me when I was a kid.
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COMMENT | to who ever
posted by : themaskedpinapple
4/28/2006 8:59:57 PM
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so when i listen to sabbath satan is being summened by the evil forces that surround the me and my home....................................Wow, i really dont care. titlywinks too all
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COMMENT | MASTER OF THE RIFF
posted by : RiotAct666
4/28/2006 10:27:36 PM
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Iommi is God
Black Sabbath = The greatest metal band of all time.
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COMMENT | cradleofme
posted by : NASCARBill
4/28/2006 11:37:36 PM
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So cradleof me, are you a musician and musical historian, or did you just stay at a Holiday Inn last night? ;)
No really that is all quite interesting.
Sabbath is one of the great bands in my eyes, right up there with Zep, Floyd and Rush.
For those who could never get into Sabbath but have tried, it helps if you are really, really, out of your mind fucked up. Fairies Wear Boots might give you some ideas.
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COMMENT | FUCK
posted by : 4givininhell
4/29/2006 4:07:40 AM
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The devil, AND his "Tritones".
And FUCK YOU.
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COMMENT |
posted by :
4/29/2006 4:24:49 AM
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My first tritone (flat-5th, whatever) experience was "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Hooked ever since. It's what makes metal sound metal. Well... maybe not first. "Immigrant Song" had them at the end.
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COMMENT |
posted by :
4/29/2006 4:28:33 AM
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"No, that was Jimmy Page."
"Black Sabbath" was released before anything Led Zeppelin did.
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COMMENT | Nameendingwith666
posted by : packinheat
4/29/2006 8:03:15 AM
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First zep album came out a year earlier than Black Sabbath
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COMMENT | TheClansman?!
posted by : Kyuss
4/29/2006 10:06:35 AM
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You don't believe that shit do you? I don't think it was christ that rotted on the cross either. But c'mon, this crack pot is saying it was a guy named Simon? Methinks he's watched too much American Idol. For the record, I think it was Judas that died on the cross. Jesus removed the body three days later and *BOOM* He is Risen.
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COMMENT |
posted by : burns1059
4/29/2006 7:26:23 PM
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Iommi is lying
Now Playing: Dehumanizer
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COMMENT |
posted by :
5/1/2006 7:10:01 PM
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COMMENT | ALONE
posted by : Resplendent Glancings
4/28/2006 2:37:44 PM
Am I the only metal lover in the world that is not into these guys?
I give them props of course, but I had a second row seat when the original four played Ozzfest '99, and I was bored. I've really tried my damndest to like them. probley u should like them because they where the ones that made the heavey meytal genra
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COMMENT | so
posted by :
5/1/2006 7:11:54 PM
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black sabbath about him meeting satan nib a bout the devil falling in love with some one on earth if thoes arnt about the devil then i dont know what is
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COMMENT | So stupid...
posted by :
5/4/2006 2:19:49 AM
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Tri tones sound so good.
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COMMENT | NeverMoreRules92
posted by :
1/5/2007 10:32:45 AM
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"nib a bout the devil falling in love with some one on earth"
N.I.B, was a joke about Tony's beard, it looked like a pen nib, hence the title of the song "NIB", the fact Ozzy mentions Lucifer was to get people thinking they were Satanists
"black sabbath about him meeting satan"
Black Sabbath was a song which was about dabbling in dark arts,as Ozzy handed a book to Tony, who read it, woke up later to find a figure at the end of the bed, and in the morning the book was gone. So Black Sabbath - Anti Satanist song
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