Today is a celebration, it's a veneration and an ascension. Most of all it is an acknowledgement of the effect that four working class kids from Birmingham had on millions of lives. Without Black Sabbath there is no heavy metal. Yes, rock was getting heavier in the late sixties and both Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin were experimenting with monolithic riffs but it was the opening track of the self-titled first Black Sabbath that solidified the genre and gave it material form. Without it, it is arguable that none of the bands or artists here today would have existed.

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