Black Sabbath felt guided by unseen ‘fifth member’
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
Article content
Black Sabbath always suspected they were being “guided” by an other-worldly presence throughout their successful career.
Article content
The rockers – Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward – were often subjected to strange coincidences, and guitarist Tony said: “We always felt within the band that there was a fifth member.
“It sounds ridiculous now, but we always felt that there was somebody overlooking us and guiding us. We felt this presence when we were all together.”
He explained: “It was one of those things we’d refer to as being the over-self or the fifth member, looking out for us.
“We were so close as a band, we lived in each other’s pockets from the start, that we became as one. This fifth member seemed very real and there to us.”
Tony continued, “Things always seemed to happen to us that were quite weird. We’d be in the van, for example, and one of us would look out of the window and go, ‘Oh look, there’s a fish and chip shop over there’ and just as we’d say that, the lights would go out in the shop.
Article content
“There were just always strange things happening to us back then.”
Black Sabbath split in 2017 and 72-year-old Tony – who was diagnosed with cancer in 2012 – admitted he feels responsible for them going their separate ways because the group’s lifestyle was taking its toll on his health.
“Basically, it was probably my fault, he told MOJO magazine: “We were having late nights and flying all the time.
“I can’t complain about that because we had great hotels and the best of everything but it was making me tired and when I spoke to my cancer professor, he said, ‘You shouldn’t be doing this to this extent’.
He added: “I felt I had to draw the line somewhere because we couldn’t tour forever and then start writing a new album to tour again.
“We were getting to that age where it was just too much.”