Black Sabbath is formed and metal is born

August 1969: Number 17 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of rock musicIf there's one single event that pinpoints the birth of heavy metal's satanic image, it would be when a Birmingham band called Earth renamed themselves Black Sabbath. Guitarist Tony Iommi had already developed a down-tuned way of playing, to cope with the loss of fingertips in an industrial injury, and the combination of his doomy riffing and that name gave us the first true metal band.Pop and rockBlack Sabbath...

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