Black Sabbath Albums Ranked From Worst to Best
27,934
Published 2021-02-09
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Black Sabbath were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music. The band helped define the genre with releases such as Black Sabbath (1970), Paranoid (1970), and Master of Reality (1971). The band had multiple line-up changes following Osbourne's departure in 1979, with Iommi being the only constant member throughout its history.
After previous iterations of the group called the Polka Tulk Blues Band and Earth, the band settled on the name Black Sabbath in 1969. They distinguished themselves through occult themes with horror-inspired lyrics and tuned-down guitars. Signing to Philips Records in November 1969, they released their first single, "Evil Woman" in January 1970. Their debut album, Black Sabbath, was released the following month. Though it received a negative critical response, the album was a commercial success, leading to a follow-up record, Paranoid, later in 1970. The band's popularity grew, and by 1973's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, critics were starting to respond favourably.
Osbourne's excessive substance abuse led to his firing in 1979. He was replaced by former Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio. Following two albums with Dio, Black Sabbath endured many personnel changes in the 1980s and 1990s that included vocalists Ian Gillan, Glenn Hughes, Ray Gillen and Tony Martin, as well as several drummers and bassists. Martin, who replaced Gillen in 1987, was the second longest serving vocalist and recorded three albums with Black Sabbath before his dismissal in 1991. That same year, Iommi and Butler were rejoined by Dio and drummer Vinny Appice to record Dehumanizer (1992). After two more studio albums with Martin, who replaced Dio in 1993, the band's original line-up reunited in 1997 and released a live album Reunion the following year; they continued to tour occasionally until 2005. Other than various back catalogue reissues and compilation albums, as well as the Mob Rules-era lineup reunited as Heaven & Hell, there was no further activity under the Black Sabbath name for six years. They reunited in 2011 and released their final studio album and nineteenth overall, 13 (2013), which features all of the original members except Ward. During their farewell tour, the band played their final concert in their home city of Birmingham on 4 February 2017.
Black Sabbath have sold over 70 million records worldwide as of 2013, making them one of the most commercially successful heavy metal bands. They were ranked by MTV as the "Greatest Metal Band" of all time, and placed second in VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" list. Rolling Stone magazine ranked them number 85 on their "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". Black Sabbath were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. They have also won two Grammy Awards for Best Metal Performance, and in 2019 the band were presented a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
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Let us know how you rank them down in the comments. Thanks for watching!
Stock footage provided by Videvo, downloaded from www.videvo.net/
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All Comments (21)
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This may be my favourite one that you guys have done. Its quite obvious that you enjoyed the hell out of it
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My fav album by Black Sabbath is Vol 4.
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Joe + Jason, just for infomation - Rick Wakeman only plays on one track in Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (Sabra Cadabra). The keyboards and synthesizers on the other tracks are played by Iommi and Butler, Iommi also plays the flute on Looking for Today. Even Ozzy fiddles with a synthesizer on a track.
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I am that subset of fan. Born Again is just a face melter.
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Honestly, I don't think the criticism that Mob Rules is some sort of carbon copy of Heaven and Hell holds much water even though you hear it a lot.
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Last week, you guys covered a band where I was familiar with the entire catalog and have listened to all 15 albums ad nauseam. This week, you covered a group of which I am familiar with ZERO of their albums, and the video was just as entertaining. I think I only know three Sabbath songs (Paranoid, Iron Man, Sweet Leaf), but if this video's goal was to get me excited to go check out those first nine or ten albums, it succeeded.
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I've been absent here a little while, but seeing this list. Sabbath are my all time everything. I can't wait to watch this....when I wake up in 3 hours or so.
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This was really a great discussion. I'm not sure I could pick the members of Black Sabbath out of lineup, but I still enjoyed the video. I'm even gonna check them out.
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My favourite band of all time; 1: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath 2: Sabotage 3: Masters of Reality 4: Vol 4 5: Paranoid 6: Black Sabbath 7: Heaven and Hell 8: Technical Ecstasy 9 : Mob Rules 10; Never Say Die All great albums - I also love Born Again and Dehumaniser. Eternal Idol is my favourite of the Martin stuff.
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I haven't heard all of Black Sabbath's albums yet, but yes the 11 most successful ones. Paranoid will always be in my top for personal reasons, it was also the first hard rock album I heard.
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"You Won't Change Me" - Ward and Ozzy killing it on that one. Classic deep cut. People will look back in a 100 years and say "that guy Ozzy who was supposed to be such a crazy man - dude could really sing." "Junior's Eyes" another one - incredible vocals. Pure feeling.
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I just want to say I've been a Sabbath fan for decades but I never listened to Technical Ecstasy - and I fully agree with Jason. This is a really good album. I don't understand why it's panned. I would never have thought to look it up had it not been for this video. Thanks!!!
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Wow! Although being a 70yo Brit (so lived/loved 60s and 70s) Sabbath have never been on my radar. But your infectious reviews have got me VERY excited. Will start listening. Keep up the great insightful articulate reviews.
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You guys do a really good job with these reviews! Keep it up! Master of Reality #1
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Awesome video guys. Keep up the great work. I love all types of music so this is the perfect album ranking show that's right in my wheelhouse. I would easily give Sabbath Bloody Sabbath 5 stars along with Sabotage. I also love the Tony Martin stuff as well. I just recently discovered it and in my opinion Tony Martin is an extremely underrated singer. I was never a huge Dio fan when I first started listening to Sabbath around the early to mid 90's but recently I went back to Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I really enjoyed those albums as well. They're great and nearly flawless. That being said I still prefer the Ozzy stuff over any other. Anyway thanks for putting these very informative and interesting videos together. They're all great and I look forward to seeing more in the future. I'll have to go back and check out more albums and bands Dio was a part of because when I was younger I overlooked his work for whatever reason and after hearing what he did in Sabbath I would say I probably missed out on a lot of great music.
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Great show you guys. With the exception of Paranoid and Master Of Reality, I'm unfamiliar with Sabbath so you've provided a road map of sorts. And yes Joe, not enough drugs in today's music
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Wow! Sorry to say that I don't really know their catalogue but watching you enthuse so much about so many of their albums, I'm gonna race off and listen to them. Good work guys. You've inspired me to listen.
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These vids are getting better and better in quality, keep it up guys!
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You’re putting the release year! Thanks! Dunno why I needed that so badly.
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Can't say how much i love your channel. Finnaly someone talks about Sabbath.
