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“Back to the Beginning”
Black Sabbath's farewell, ungrateful and perfidious until the finish line.
In memory of Ronnie James Dio, who left his blood and his mark, and was not mentioned by the organizers or his pseudo-friends in Black Sabbath.
Víctor Bustamante
Rock farewells always sound like a commercial activity, a stage show, a disturbing situation of supremacy, since they are the bands that say goodbye not only with a broad and accepted catalog, but also with critically-proof success. I say this for the following reason: farewells in the case of the showbiz scene, where metal ultimately fell, are not an act of recognition but a party among themselves and for themselves, a useless act of promotion that will never conclude the demanding creative work or the direction of any rock band. An artist never says goodbye; in this case, Black Sabbath knows they will always be there as one of the great bands. A complete, impressive, and tacit artist never says goodbye; he dies with his boots on. ----- Only the weight of age, which saps vitality and takes over him, them, and with the conformity that triumph and success bring, extinguishes the burning flame of beginnings. Hard beginnings, beginnings with dreams, with rebellion, with tenacity. Farewells indicate that they themselves resolve to turn off the lights, lower the curtain, signal the end.
----- But let's return to this farewell, that is to say to this staging of a farewell, where representative bands were invited, where the cameras shine, where the stage gives a sort of religiosity, where the lights shine even more, and where the band, Black Sabbath, leaves all the darkness that was supposed to be counterculture to strive for the arrival of the same, to the consumer society, as one more product of the musical catalog, to get closer to the aroma that success gives and to say goodbye in public, with a large audience, as if announcing the definitive death, as if this farewell were its iniquitous funeral. For years now, when the family of their frontman, Ozzy Osborne, participated, for a few more dollars, in a continuous family show, it was impossible for the most silenced band in the media, the cursed band, to begin that path of adaptation. From then on, they stopped being a glow in the darkness, stopped being a black Saturday, to become permeable as the days went by. And so, that unruly singer at the beginning was already adapted and perfumed by Hollywood. And let's not forget that Hollywood only wants success on its Californian throne.
----- From then on, from that moment on, from that summer of Ozzy's partying, when he had to be evicted by his bandmates for partying with all kinds of toxic candies, and it was irresponsible to leave the band and be left without the lead singer and almost on the verge of disappearing. So they had to look for a replacement, despite the complexity of replacing the singer who becomes an icon, since his tone of voice is what makes a group different. It was then that Ozzy's wife entered the scene, but behind the scenes, and her guts to represent Ozzy's interests, which in an act of cowardice left the band without a voice, its voice. From there, a slow parade of singers began, keeping the group afloat in the commercial storm that rock would become. And of course, the brilliant Iommi and Butler were left alone, with their talent as guitarists and sometimes without the whims of Billy Ward.
----- Thus, in this chaos of not being able to have a representative voice for the initial lineup of Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Ozzy Osbourne, and Bill Ward, a journey would begin, and the band was on the verge of disappearing. To this end, other names would be added at various times, giving the impression of a perpetual parade: sometimes as accompanying musicians, sometimes as occasional ones, others for concerts, for recording sections, for a concert tour, to record an album—things like that that failed to change the identity of the band; Yes, from Black Sabbath, which was faltering. And that, of course, with a couple of albums that covered them with enormous disrepute like a spit of saliva on the guitar strings.
----- Thus begins a revolving door not only of musicians but of singers, left and right, as if the band were an employment office and not the most powerful metal band in any of its forms. For some undeniable reason, a pair of top-notch musicians created a sound unique to them: Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Ward. More than Tony, who, at one point, due to disagreements with his bandmates, came to represent the band as the sole original musician. I believe no band has ever had so many musicians and, despite them all being able to stay together no matter what, not lose their essence thanks to the tenacity of Iommi and Butler.
----- Although yes, the band, Black Sabbath, lost its essence once, with just one musician, which filled Ozzy, who believed himself irreplaceable, with hatred. The shock was felt by this dissolute frotman who left his bandmates in the middle of the highway with their guitars hanging and the drums sleepwalking. The singer who came to pull them out of the creative swamp was none other than Ronnie James Dio. Forgetful, Ozzy believed himself to be the sole voice of Black Sabbath, and jealously threatened Dio if he dared to sing his songs. That's when Ozzy's envy came out, plagued in a cloud of mercilessness with his sweet, melancholic voice because a frotman had arrived, who would never be a singer for a tour or a concert. No way! Dio would come to Black Sabbath with all the seriousness and commitment and would add his personal touch to them, in addition to being the most valuable voice in metal, in addition to his strong, hard, gloomy, and unspoken compositions more than anyone else in Black Sabbath. It seems as if Iommi and Butler had been waiting for years for the band to deliver a definitive blow to the other bands and thus establish themselves as the supreme metal band in the high heavens or in the hells of metal. Black Sabbat with Dio clouded the other bands, leaving them on the threshold and on crutches, as if they were only singing Christmas carols.
----- So Dio, with that strength, with that voice of thunder, pulled Black Sabbath out of the free fall it was in and gave it a new lease of life, a new rebirth, a powerful rebirth. Black Sabbat was never as big as it was with Dio.
----- This lackluster farewell, orchestrated by the dark side, the shadow of those who manage Ozzy, including his wife, thought only of him, of Ozzy, and overshadowed those two monsters, Iommi and Butler, and the silent Ward. Everything revolved around Ozzy's distant world.
----- In "Back to the Beginning," each invited band could play one of their own songs or a Black Sabbath or Ozzy solo song. It's unclear how the other three bandmates endured this snub. Of course, from here, from Medellín, we perceive it, and we also tell you something: Ozzy looked like a monarch in his final throes, yet never the defeated Prince of Darkness as is often seen in the flesh, and in his harsh and terrible illness. I think everyone's compassion prevailed, seeing him sitting in a chair, imprisoned on his throne toward immortality, which is so momentary and illusory.
----- Thus, like themselves, they failed to take into account, not even in a single mention, Dio, the greatest singer they've ever had. Nor did they allude to drummers Vinny Appice, Eric Singer, Terry Chimes, Cozy Powell, Bobby Rondinelli, Mike Bordin. Nor to other voices like Dave Walker, Ian Gillan, David Donato, Jeff Fenholt, Glenn Hughes, Ray Gillen, Tony Martin, Rob Halford, Gordon Copley. And even less would they invite these bassists: Dave Spitz, Bob Daisley, Jo Burt, Laurence Cottle, Neil Murray. And never these session and touring musicians, the drummers Bev Bevan and Tommy Clufetos, and the keyboardist Adam Wakeman.
----- None of them can be erased from the band's history.
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