Growing up, I was a pretty good kid, so I was never really mommy’s little Satanist.

Yes, I was an Alice Cooper fan at a young age, and by the time I was in my teens, David Bowie was my next favorite, but Black Sabbath didn’t speak my language back then. It me years, if not decades, to fully come around and appreciate what Ozzy and the boys had accomplished with their early albums.

“Master of Reality” was their third album, and also their darkest (to date). The sludgy sound, brought on mostly by seriously detuned guitar and bass, left me feeling mystified back then. I wanted music that rocked, and Black Sabbath did not fit my admittedly narrow definition at the time. In retrospect, I suppose I was a bit of a twerp who let the whole thing go over my head, while I pretended that it was beneath me.

Eventually, the world went topsy-turvy on me, and I understood Black Sabbath as the ingenious innovators that they no doubt are, but it did take me some time.

Featured tracks include:

Sweet Leaf

After Forever

Embryo

Children of the Grave

Orchid

Lord of This World

Solitude

Into the Void

July 1971 - Billboard Charted #8