Tony Iommi has revealed that he turned down the opportunity to record a final Black Sabbath album with the band's original lineup.
In an exclusive interview in the new issue of Classic Rock, Iommi reveals that Andrew Watt, who produced Ozzy Osbourne's final two albums, 2020's Ordinary Man and 2022's Patient Number 9, had approached him in the early 2020s about making a Sabbath album with the original lineup.
“I’d met Andrew Watt when he was producing Ozzy,” says Iommi. “He was very keen and a bit too excited. He also didn’t know what it was like working with the original Sabbath, working with Bill [drummer Bill Ward]. Also, we’d done 13, and I didn’t like the idea of: ‘Now here’s another album.’”
"I said to Ozzy: ‘I don’t think we should do it.'"
Tony Iommi
Iommi has also admitted that he had doubts about Black Sabbath performing at last year's historic Back To The Beginning show at Villa Park in Birmingham. The metal legend reveals he was initially dubious when Sabbath were asked to reunite for the show, which saw Metallica, Pantera, Guns N’ Roses and Tool among those lining up to play a tribute to Sabbath, with proceeds going to several charities.
“I said to Ozzy: ‘I don’t think we should do it.’ I said: ‘We should just let the other bands play our stuff, and us come out at the end and say thank you.' But it was for a good charitable cause, and eventually we said okay.”
Iommi had last seen Ozzy when the two of them performed Paranoid at the closing ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The singer had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2003, but only made his condition public in 2020 when his symptons worsened.
"I hadn’t seen Ozzy for a bit, and it was difficult seeing him like that,: Iommi says. “Fucking hell…” He adds that he didn’t want Ozzy to play a solo set before Sabbath’s closing performance, either: “I was concerned he was going to blow himself out, and by the time we came on he’d be struggling.” Read more from Iommi - including the inside scoop on his new solo album - in the new issue of Classic Rock, on sale now. Iommi’s forthcoming album, From The Dark, is due for release on October 23 via BMG.
