Back To Earth

All four of the band were born and raised in Birmingham. Anthony Frank Iommi was born 19 February 1948, the son of Anthony Iommi and Maria Sylvia (nee Baciocchi, and always known as Sylvia). William Thomas Ward was born 5 May 1948, the son of William Ward and Beatrice (nee Lane). John Michael Osbourne was born 3 December 1948, the son of John Osbourne and Lilian (nee Unitt). Terence Michael Joseph Butler was born 17 July 1949, the son of James Butler and Mary (nee Fennell). Osbourne is always known as Ozzy and Butler as Geezer, so for consistency, this book will refer to Iommi and Ward by their forenames as well. Incidentally, Butler became known as Geezer during his primary school days when he used to call all males a 'geezer' (meaning a man). Eventually, friends started calling him Geezer and the name stuck!

The work backgrounds of their parents give an indication of the working class industrial demographic that the band members grew up in. The 1939 Register reveals that William Ward was a Corporation Ashman (Dustman) John Osbourne was a Tool-room Planing and Shaping Machinist, while his wife Lilian was an Automatic Feeding Machinist. James Butler was a Steel Tube Bundler. The one that doesn't quite fit is Frank Iommi, who was an ice-cream vendor.

Circa 1958, Tony's family moved to 67 Park Lane in Aston, where his mother ran a general stores, which later became something of an operational base for Earth/Black Sabbath. By day Tony was an apprentice sheet metal worker; by night, he gigged with local bands getting a reputation as a fine guitarist. His first electric guitar of note was a Watkins, which he played through a small tubed Watkins amplifier. The accident at work in 1965, which saw Tony lose the tips of two fingers, was something he was still trying to find a workable solution for when he left The Rockin' Chevrolets and joined The Rest in 1966/67. The drummer in The Rest was Bill, whose home address in the early years was at 15 Witton Lodge Road in the Erdington district.

The ambitious Tony left The Rest to join Mythology, who had a strong reputation in Cumbria, where they gigged a lot. Two months after joining Mythology, Tony got Bill in as their drummer. Mythology's progress was halted by a drug bust at their flat in Compton House, Carlisle, in 1968 which led to heavy fines. News of the bust was picked up by the Birmingham Evening Mail, whose midday edition of 8 July 1968 carried the story on their front page. Mythology split under the ensuing pressure, leaving Tony and Bill with no option but to return to Birmingham, where they set about starting a new band. A new band and a new name meant that the drug bust stigma could be avoided.

Better news in the meantime was that Tony had solved the problem of how to fret the guitar strings with two missing fingertips. He discovered that melting down a Fairy Liquid washing-up bottle to make prosthetic substitutes did the trick. Some leather glued on the tips stopped his fingers from slipping on the strings. A further far-reaching improvement would come by the time of the third Black Sabbath album.

Ozzy's home address is always stated as 14 Lodge Road in Aston, but his earliest years were spent elsewhere. He was born in Marston Green Maternity Hospital in Coleshill, while at the time, his parents were living at 5 Swains Grove in Kingstanding, Birmingham. They must have moved fairly soon to Aston because Ozzy never mentions living anywhere else other than Lodge Road.

In adulthood, he worked at Lucas's factory as a car horn tuner, and then in a slaughterhouse for eighteen months. On leaving there, he resorted to burglary as a means to get by, but it was a short-lived solution. He broke into a shop behind his home and got caught trying to pass the goods on (valued at £25, said his charge sheet). Unable to pay the £40 fine and unable to persuade his father to pay it, he was sentenced to 90 days in Birmingham's Winson Green Prison. He was inside for six weeks before being released on account of good behaviour. That good behaviour didn't last on the outside, where there was nearly a second spell in prison (claims Joel McIver in The Complete History Of Black Sabbath) after Ozzy got into a drunken fight at a local pub and punched a policeman in the face. This time the fine was paid and more jail time averted.

Taking stock in winter 1966, Ozzy's first thought was to join the army, which seemed to him to be the only option left, but they turned him down. What was left was music. He loved music, especially his beloved Beatles, and that pulled him through, especially the idea of being a singer. Why couldn't he be a singer?

To help him pursue a career in music, his dad bought him a £250 PA (amplifier and two speakers) from George Clay Music on Broad Street, Birmingham. Local band The Music Machine took him on as their singer, partly attracted by that astute PA purchase. Struggling to get gigs, they changed their name to The Approach, but found they were still faltering. A restless Ozzy then placed his legendary advert at Ringway Music in the Bull Ring, Birmingham City Centre - 'Ozzy Zig needs gig, got own PA'. The first response came from Geezer, who called to see Ozzy and offered him the job singing with his band Rare Breed.

Geezer was still at this time a rhythm guitarist, living with his parents at 88 Victoria Road in Aston. His possible first gig with Ozzy was at the Central Birmingham Fire Station Christmas party, playing to what Ozzy claims was two firemen, a bucket and a ladder! Rare Breed split in 1968. Geezer recalled to Rick Nicholson (for Bassplayer magazine in 2013) that, 'Ozzy and I wanted to do music full time, but the other guys in the band didn't'. The duo kept in touch while looking for another band, and Ozzy placed his advert again at Ringway Music. This time it was Tony and Bill who came calling. Tony was surprised to find it was the John Osbourne who he had had little time for at school, but despite reservations, decided to take a chance on him. Ozzy suggested Geezer for the band as well. 'I still had my Fender Telecaster', Geezer told Nicholson, 'but Tony said, 'I don't want to play with a rhythm guitarist - you'll have to switch to bass.' So Geezer switched to bass in what was a six-piece band, the foursome being accompanied by two other local musicians - Alan Clarke on saxophone and Jimmy Phillips (who had played with Ozzy before) on slide guitar.

At Ozzy's suggestion, they named themselves The Polka Tulk Blues Band, either after a brand of talcum powder used by Ozzy's mum, or after a local business. It was possibly a combination of the two - Polka talcum powder and P.R.H. Tulk building contractors in Birmingham. Also joining the entourage, at Geezer and Ozzy's suggestion, came former Rare Breed roadie/road manager Geoff 'Luke' Lucas.

The basement of Geezer's parents' house provided an ideal rehearsal space. It was free to use and did the job until the band found somewhere more suitable. Once they got round to playing live, it quickly became apparent that things were not working out. After their third gig, it was decided that Jimmy Phillips and Alan Clarke were surplus to requirements. The sax wasn't working in the mix and Tony's playing left little room for slide guitar. The classic four-piece line-up was now in place, and wisely they ditched the hopeless name for something better. This time it was Bill's suggestion, originally as the Earth Blues Band, but quickly and wisely abbreviated to just Earth on 1 September 1968. Even with these changes, things were still not quite right. Tony recalled in Iron Man that 'This band was not nearly as good as Mythology, but I said give it time and it will be alright. I could see that there was some potential.'

Geezer, meanwhile, was still adapting to the bass, telling Nicholson that:

I had never played bass before, so I started really listening to what Jack Bruce was doing. I couldn't afford a bass, so I'd tune my Telecaster down. Eventually, I bought a Top Twenty bass and played it through a Selmer amplifier. I borrowed a friend's Höfner 'Beatle' bass on the way to one of our gigs, which was the first time I had ever played bass on stage.

Geezer added that the reason he decided against using a pick to play with was because: 'I saw Jack Bruce (of Cream) play with his fingers, and I said that's the way you play bass. After we got the first gigs out of the way, I swapped my Telecaster for my first Fender Precision bass'.

The early years proved difficult financially. Ozzy recalls in I Am Ozzy that the band struggled to get by and were always broke. Had it not been for Tony's mum supporting them with bits and pieces from her shop, as well as petrol money from time to time, he feels they couldn't have kept going. One prudent purchase the band made was a decommissioned police van to take them and their gear to gigs.

All four of Earth were regular attendees at the Henry's Blues House nights, held in the upstairs room of the Crown pub on Station Street in Birmingham City Centre. One night Ozzy and Tony asked the club manager, Jim Simpson, if they could play a support gig there. Simpson got the band to audition for him, liked their potential, and offered them a slot supporting Ten Years After on 16 September. The band went down well and Simpson offered to take on their management via his Big...