Black Sabbath (album)

Black Sabbath
Studio album by
Black Sabbath
Released13 February 1970 (1970-02-13)
Recorded16 October 1969
StudioRegent Sound (London)
Genre
Length38:08
LabelVertigo
ProducerRodger Bain
Black Sabbath chronology
Black Sabbath
(1970) 		Paranoid
(1970)
Singles from Black Sabbath
  1. "Evil Woman / Wicked World"
    Released: 9 January 1970

Black Sabbath is the debut studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released on 13 February 1970 by Vertigo Records in the United Kingdom and on 1 June 1970 by Warner Bros. Records in the United States.[3] The album is widely regarded as the first true heavy metal album,[4] and the opening title track, "Black Sabbath", was named the greatest heavy metal song of all time by Rolling Stone,[5] and has been referred to as the first doom metal song.[6]

Black Sabbath received generally negative reviews from critics upon its release but was a commercial success, reaching number eight on the UK Albums Charts and number 23 on the US Billboard Top LPs chart.[7] It has retrospectively garnered reappraisal as one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time. Black Sabbath is included in Robert Dimery's 2005 musical reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

  1. ^ "A Brief History of Metal – Heavy Metal 101". metal.mit.edu. Archived from the original on 1 February 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  2. ^ Wiederhorn, Jon. "52 Years Ago: Black Sabbath Release Their Debut Album + Invent Heavy Metal". loudwire.com. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  3. ^ Osbourne 2010, p. 74.
  4. ^ Wiederhorn, Jon. "52 Years Ago: Black Sabbath Release Debut Album + Invent Metal". Loudwire. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  5. ^ "The 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone.
  6. ^ William Irwin, Black Sabbath and Philosophy: Mastering Reality (Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), ISBN 978-1118397596
  7. ^ "Billboard 200 (Week of December 26, 1970)". Billboard. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved 3 May 2022.