There's bound to be some lovers and haters here but all that matters is that people know who they are to discuss them here.

Favourite songs, reasons you like/hate them, Favourite singer, favourite album, opinions on the other singers and eras after Ozzy.

To give you guys some idea I'll start off.

I'm a big Black Sabbath fan but the strangest thing is my least favourite era is the Ozzy Osbourne era. My favourite BS album is Heaven and Hell, the title song being my favourite Black Sabbath song. I think Ronnie James Dio tops the list for bringing the best out the band as a singer. But Ian Gillan, Glenn Hughes, and Tony Martin deserve their recognition as frontmen too.

Most people shun the post Ozzy era. But IMO Ozzy is over rated as a singer, it was Geezer Butler who wrote the lyrics and songs of that era anyway.

Ian Gillan's contribution was short lived and under rated but deserves some praise too, the album he did was called "Born Again" recorded after he had vocal surgery rooting to his careless yet awesome screaming in Deep Purple (Child In Time for example) but on the tour for this album he did the exact same thing that screwed his vocal chords.

Tony Martin was incredible, under rated and judged mostly because he sounds too similar to Dio. Headless Cross and Tyr are some excellent albums. Glenn Hughes's work on Seventh Star is very good too.

THink about this, how many of the Black Sabbath singers have worked with Ritchie Blackmore at some point? It's a strange coincidence IMO. Dio worked with him in Rainbow and joined Sabbath after he left because Blackmore wanted Rainbow to become a more commercial kind of band meaning an entire change of lyrical style, so he left. Ian Gillan (OBVIOUSLY) worked with Blackmore in Deep Purple MK II. Hughes was another one from Deep Purple. Bob Daisely one of the post-Geezer bassists was also in Rainbow (and Ozzy's solo band)


There's plenty to talk about with Black Sabbath, it goes well on after Ozzy got the boot. IMO Ozzy is the least talented of the singers in the band's history.

Now, your turn.
I'm not saying I don't like Ozzy's stuff btw. I just think the other stuff after him is better.

Ozzy and Dio are really the only good singers and had the best materal.

Maybe so but Tony Martin and Ray Gillen, Ian Gillan too, also need an applause for their work. Born Again, Seventh Star and Headless Cross, brilliant albums.

Ozzy is anything but overrated as a singer, on the contrary, Ozzy's voice is often being critized for being limited and thin.

It's not really that though. It's only limited and thin when compared to the powerhouses like Dio and Gillan. Gillan can scream in the same volume as he can sing which has a hell of a range. Dio's deep voice and growling effects can be heard over the guitars, loud or quiet. Ozzy had his days with War Pigs, The Wizard and Iron Man though.

One reason why Dio wins: "HEAVEN AND HELL!!!" (the song, especially live, several elements of the song "Catch The Rainbow" from his previous band Rainbow make way into this song when done live)

Gillan on the songs "Trashed" and "Disturbing The Priest", amazing performance.

Tony Martin deserves some power credit too for "Valhalla" from the album Tyr, "Headless Cross" and "When Death Calls" from The Headless Cross though. Ray Gillen did well on "seventh star" though.

I too love Black Sabbath (they're my favorite band, although I just started getting into them), and in my opinion the Ozzy years were the best. They're classics, c'mon... Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Dio, and Heaven and Hell was great, but to me Ozzy and Sabbath go hand-in-hand.

And does anyone know a song called "Superman?" It was listed in Limewire under Black Sabbath (and does sound like Sabbath), but it doesn't appear on any of Sabbath's records, as far as I know (I checked the official site and Wikipedia). I'm sorta new to Sabbath, like I said, so maybe my information is wrong, but I don't believe that song was ever released. Someone help me out here!

And hey! This is my first post.

The Ozzy years were the best. They're classics, c'mon... Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Dio, and Heaven and Hell was great, but to me Ozzy and Sabbath go hand-in-hand.

+1

My favorite Sabbath album was Black Sabbath. It was like the first truly satanic album. All the songs pretty much ruled, because they were blusey, but due to Iommi's constant downpicking, the songs had an evil vibe to them. Plus, on the vinyl, when you open the cover up, there's a gigantic inverted cross on the side with the credits. How much better is that? Granted, I know Sabbath was never meant to be a satanic band, but that's eventually what they eventually got labeled as (even though Ozzy's a Jesus freak).

Master of Reality was damn amazing too. I could never really like Paranoid as much as everybody else, though. The songs were too simple and catchy.

Master of Reality was damn amazing too. I could never really like Paranoid as much as everybody else, though. The songs were too simple and catchy.

I absolutely love the song "After Forever" from that album. Surprising lyrics, considering Sabbath was always labeled "Satanic," as you mentioned.

The Satanic/Evil albums that really shook me were Black Sabbath, Headless Cross and Dehumanizer.

I dunno why I don't favour Ozzy the most though. Probably because I was raised with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow and that probably affected it. Could be, I dunno.

Heaven And Hell is my favourite song. Especially Live. It goes on for ages getting darker and darker.