When it comes to metal, it doesn’t really get any more massive than 1970’s Black Sabbath. The band that almost singlehandedly invented the genre with their 1970 self-titled debut album would see its original lineup collapse under the weight of heavy drug use and artistic stagnation by the end of the decade. But in 1973, at the time they released their fifth album, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, the band was firing on all cylinders.

Here, with the title track of that monumental release, are Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, Geezer Butler, and Ozzy Osbourne, the original Black Sabbath.

When I was growing up in rural Indiana in the early 80″²s, there was very limited access to heavy music. These were the days before MTV blew up with the whole hair metal, Headbangers Ball phenomenon. But on Sunday nights, there was a two-hour radio show that came from WOXY, the radio station of Miami University of Ohio, just across the state line in Oxford, Ohio. It was called Massive Metal for the Masses and I would wait all week for it to air. It was through this show that I was introduced to bands like Venom, Bathory, WASP, Michael Schenker Group, Slayer, and countless others. This Monday weekly column is my tip of the hat to that show. I call it Massive Metal Monday. Every week, I will pay tribute to defining moments by the artists that laid the groundwork for heavy metal to become the worldwide cultural bond for all of us metal heads.

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