Starting with Sabbath's eponymous 1970 debut album, the menacing and masterful music made by Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward - youthful friends from Northern England - laid the blueprint for, and ultimately defined, heavy metal. Throughout the '70s, this stellar original lineup - whose signature sound fused crushing minor key intensity, indelible riffs, and a blues rock foundation - delivered eight landmark albums. At the decade's end, Ozzy departed for astronomical solo fame, but his lead vocals on this astounding octet set the standard for every head banger to come.
