The Business Side Of Black Sabbath And How It Affects The Fans... Sabbath Sunday.
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- Опубликовано: 24 фев 2023
- Darin and John go on a bit of rant discussing the way Black Sabbath handles the business side of their legacy.
Into the Void: A Black Sabbath Podcast, click link below or stream on Spotify and Apple: intothevoidablacksabbathpodca...
Sabbath Sunday is my favorite.Looking forward to the next Into The Void.
Sabbath are absolutely in need of a curator, someone to manage the catalogue and the legacy in conjunction with the merch. They seem to be on top of the latter, but no-one is at the controls in terms of what counts -- the music. I have always had the impression that all the original members of the band were happy to be hands-off, to make music and tour and be rock gods. I think this was a source of Ronnie's frustrations too, the lack of professional commitment at the expense of personal indulgences. In the end we, the fans, got the final tour with Ozzy (but not Bill, FFS) and we got a proper send off for the Dio era with Heaven And Hell. But damn you guys hit the nail on the head -- as fans, we deserve to see the catalogue curated and the legacy revered both professionally as well as creatively.
Even 20 to 30 years ago, I thought they were missing the boat in that, There's so many live show DVD's they've could have released and didn't (Kirschner, Black & Blue, Cal Jam, Brussels '70 etc.).
This edition of Sabbath Sunday was especially satisfying. You guys articulate the frustration of being a Sabbath fan, at least as far as the bizness stuff is concerned. Another example of Sabbath Inc. dysfunction is the fact they couldn't reach a deal with Bill Ward to play on 13. That one still burns me.
Thanks and yeah, we didn’t even get into the Bill Ward mess.
15:00 I interpret Geezer’s ‘disconnect’ from the album title and song choices as it basically being a Tony Iommi/band management decision he didn’t agree with. He’s avoiding saying that so as not to rock the boat or ruffle feathers, he’s beyond that at this stage.
I think Sabbath were basically introverts that avoided conflict at all costs. So they avoided issues until the issues resolved themselves. And the outcomes ended up much worse than just dealing with the initial problems.
It's almost March, where is the Tony Martin box set and Born Again remix?
My favorite bootleg is Providence 1975.
The worst aspect of how fans are affected by the business side of Black Sabbath is the sidelining of the "The Devil You Know" album under the band name, Heaven & Hell. This album ABSOLUTELY should be included in the Black Sabbath discography and on people's album ranking lists. But it's now just left aside and largely forgotten. It was a business dispute between Ozzy & Sharon vs Tony & Geezer over the ownership of the brand and the legality of them touring with Ronnie under the Sabbath monicker - but their 2009 dispute should not affect how fans perceive the band's history.
The difference between Steve Harris/Maiden vs Tony Iommi/Sabbath is that Steve wasn't fucked up on booze and cocaine. He liked to drink a beer, but he never lost his shit and never lost control. He always maintained his focus. Maiden was always very switched on in terms of quality control and how the band presented themselves.
Off the topic but didn’t know where else to place this Black Sabbath news update. The BBC News and Louder (I think it’s a magazine or just a news app) report a new venture for Tony Iommi. Are you ready for Black Sabbath - The Ballet. Currently the Birmingham Royal Ballet is rehearsing shows scheduled for September which they are using 8 Sabbath tracks arranged for an orchestra. The songs are Black Sabbath, War Pigs, Iron Man, Paranoid, Solitude, Orchid, Laguna Sunrise and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Tony Iommi thinks it’s a fabulous idea and has been working with the director of the ballet to help arrange the songs for the orchestra to play. Who would have imagined a Black Sabbath ballet. News story was posted late April 2023.
Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osborne are 50/50 co-owners of the Black Sabbath name settled out of court and it takes 3 members to participate in the project to be released under the Black Sabbath name. Geezer Butler,Adam Wakeman and Tommy Clufetos were all paid employees for Black Sabbath during the 13 album tours. Geezer Butler sold his share of the Black Sabbath name to Tony Iommi in 1985 and Tony Iommi was sole owner until 2010 when he and Ozzy Osborne settled out of court on being co- owners of the Black Sabbath name Sharon Osborne doesn't own any part of Black Sabbath's name but was in charge of marketing Sabbath memorabilia during the Ozzfest shows and Reunion tours.
Who owns the rights to all these bootleg soundboard recordings and how much money are they asking to purchase them officially by Black Sabbath more to it than the average Sabbath fans know !
BS box sets are very expensive compared to some of the other bands.
The business side of Sabbath aka the witch, who does not have the fans best interests at heart. Maybe when ozz kicks the bucket and she can't drain any more money out of his corpse she might focus on Sabbath again and start cashing in on the potential there.
Realistically it will take Sharon to be gone before this fan unfriendly business model is undone. But lots of older Sabbath will be in the boneyard too.
I am hoping the Born again box set comes out at some point. I wonder if Tony has any video footage of the early shows from the tour where they had the evil baby running around, that would be epic!.. I would bet that at least 50% of the delays are due to the involvement of the greedy, evil reptilian that makes all decisions for Ozzy. The fact that Sabbath was part of any earlier generation is very valid, the business of things wasn't yet a focus of the artists. The amount of substance abuse the band partook in was certainly a factor (and probably encouraged by their handlers) If your attention is on your next fix, and you are allowing that to control your life, then how can you be clear headed enough to focus on the business of your band. Tough to compare to Maiden as Smallwood is one of the smartest managers in history, and Steve has always had a vision for every minutia of the band. Ghost? They are a marketing band from day one.
They should've stuck with Jim Simpson. Patrick Meehan, David Arden etc just saw them as a cash cow to be milked.
Yeah. Maybe they should've given him a shot.
By most accounts I've always read that Sharon's daddy Don was a mobster. Probably not the best way to start a bands career, being managed by a greedy thug and all. Add to that the power they gave away to others because they were to doped up to make sound business decisions on their own and you get all the silly things happening that you guys mentioned. Yeah it sucks because this band is in my top 3 all time favorites and it hurts to see the brand underestimated and mismanaged. The art, if not the men, deserve better.
They are working class blokes in their 70s, from a poor part of Birmingham and give this impression of being full of the fatalistic stoicism that I've come across from people their age and from that area. I suspect that at this stage in their lives and career they don't see the point.
True and good point.
I hate to say it but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Tony Martin era box set never materializes. Far more likely I think would be individual reissues of that era with some bonus tracks. It all boils down to who would buy the rights to that era. Maybe a smaller label that would appeal to the Sabbath die hard fanbase. The average casual Sabbath fan is not going to care about the Martin era. I’ve met people who never even knew Born Again existed let alone the Martin era.
I've met Sabbath fans who never knew about the Dio years.