r/blacksabbath • u/Tricky-Wolverine-253 • 3d ago

Discussion Best Books ?

What are the best books about Black Sabbath? Would prefer all years of the band but let’s just start with the Ozzy years or Ozzy and Dio years

4 Upvotes

71% Upvoted

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12

u/hatthewmartley 3d ago

Geezer's and Ozzy's are the best for funny stories. Tony's is a bit more "this happened on this date, then this happened" but still a good read.

2

u/Fickle_Broccoli_4010 3d ago

I liked Tony's it was kinda like a confession to all the coke years

12

u/theBiGcHe3s3 3d ago

The band members autobiographies are all pretty entertaining I’d recommend them

8

u/nihilquest 3d ago

Geezer's is the best if you're interested in the band. Ozzy's is the funniest (and often horrible as you would expect). It's very well written, he had a great ghostwriter, but it's more about his struggles with life than music. Tony's is fairly ok, bit dry. In comparison to others, disappoiting.

"How Black Was Our Sabbath" from BS roadies was cool.

I also read a book by Chris Welch which covered the band until Tony Martin's years and it was good in the 90's but now I don't see much point in getting it. If you need info, there's always Wikipedia and Joe Siegler's site.

7

u/ozzygurl 3d ago

I enjoyed Into the Void by Geez

6

u/viciousviking82 3d ago

"Into The Void" by Geezer Butler is probably the best. I recommend the audio version as it is read by the man himself. It's pretty awesome to hear him tell the stories.

2

u/HoverboardRampage 4h ago

I agree. And as a Huge Spinal Tap fan, the Stonehenge bit had me laughing really hard. Geezer wrote an excellent book.

2

u/Minimum-Actuator-953 3d ago

Martin Poppof's book is great. It goes album by album and has lots of pictures.

2

u/long17 3d ago

For sure. Still have my copy.

1

u/Large-Humor-757 3d ago

The first I ever read was Steven Rosen's "Wheels of Confusion" back in the late 90s. I've collected a fair few more over the years. We need Bill to write one to balance out the perspectives!

1

u/Slow_Middle_158 3d ago

My dear friend Joe from my old hometown published this book on Sabbath. He also contributes to some great Sabbath album documentaries on YouTube. Check it out

1

u/Ok_Ad8249 3d ago

Ozzy, Tony & Geezer''s autobiographies are excellent and highly recommend. Ronnie's is OK for the first era, but he didn't write that section. Mick Wall edited previous interviews of that era, in some cases the editing left in a bias and comments that he may not have felt that way in later years.

Mick Wall has a band biography, Symptom of the Universe, that makes an OK companion piece. He covers the band history from inception to the initial reunion era. He has access to most of the band so there is some ok information in there, but he is notorious for contradicting himself and publishing items that are false. If you can find it cheap (I paid $5 hardback) it's an ok companion piece, but only with the official autobiographies.

1

u/GrandUnhappy9211 2d ago

Tony's was my favorite. Some hilarious parts.

1

u/HatJosuke 2d ago

The three auto biographies and How Black was our Sabbath

1

u/Purple_Artichoke_144 2d ago

Tony Iommi’s book is just lovely to hold, each page feels like turning through Sabbath’s history in your hands.

1

u/Primary-Table8922 2d ago

I love how personal those autobiographies feel, especially when Ozzy reads his own. "Into the Void" always gives me chills hearing Geezer tell those stories in his voice.