Richard Houghton Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath: The Day I Was There is the story of the pioneers of heavy metal in the words of over 350 fans. From 1970 to 1975, Black Sabbath released six epoch-defining albums, including such songs as ‘war Pigs’, Iron Man’ and the hit single ‘Paranoid’. Their story has been told many times before, but never from the perspective of the front row. Until now. Starting with memories from their pre-Sabbath shows in the north west of England, when they were named Earth, the book charts Sabbath’s gigging history through the drug-fuelled seventies and a relentless touring schedule on the back of the first six Sabbath albums that cast the die for heavy metal with the classic line up of Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward. Encompassing numerous personnel changes since, including vocalists Ronnie James Dio, Tony Martin, Ray Gillen and Ian Gillan, this is a fan’s eye view of how Black Sabbath went on to become the greatest metal band of all time, selling over 70 million records worldwide.