Geezer Butler – Bass

I think it is actually possible that this was the first bass solo I ever learned (by ear; I couldn’t read the dots back then). I think I even bought a Cry Baby wah-pedal to get the right sound. Those were the days. Listening to it now, 45 years later, I long for the days when everything was new and fresh and you just wanted to hear everything and lacked the capacity to discriminate beyond ‘it is Heavy Rock’ as opposed to ‘it isn’t Heavy Rock’. I don’t think we called it Heavy Metal back then. That came later. I saw Sabbath at the Reading Rock Festival, I think with Ian Gillan on vocals (1983?). I was a Purple fan and had seen Gillan 100 times but this was the only time I saw Sabbath. I did see Ozzy with that Randy Rhodes/Rudy Sarzo line-up (Port Vale Football Ground with Cardis, Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush and Motorhead headlining – I went for the Marino gig but am glad I saw Randy Rhodes before he died).

Anyway, this is the opening bass solo on the track ‘N.I.B’ from the eponymous ‘Black Sabbath’ album (the title is reportedly a reference to Bill Ward’s beard at the time).