Editing Black Sabbath (section)

==Musical style==
Black Sabbath are a [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]] band.<ref name="Elflein 2017">{{cite book |last=Elflein |first=Dietmar |year=2017 |chapter=Iron and Steel: Forging Heavy Metal's Song Structures or the Impact of Black Sabbath and Judas Priest on Metal's Musical Language |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EL_OCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA35 |editor1-last=Brown |editor1-first=Andy R. |editor2-last=Kahn-Harris |editor2-first=Keith |editor3-last=Scott |editor3-first=Niall |editor4-last=Spracklen |editor4-first=Karl |title=Global Metal Music and Culture: Current Directions in Metal Studies |location=London |publisher=[[Routledge]] |pages=35–42 |isbn=9781138062597}}</ref>  The band have also been cited as a key influence on genres including [[stoner rock]],<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/style/stoner-metal-ma0000011961 |title=Stoner Metal &#124; Significant Albums, Artists and Songs |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=18 January 2016}}</ref> [[grunge]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/style/grunge-ma0000002626 |title=Grunge &#124; Significant Albums, Artists and Songs |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=20 January 2017}}</ref> [[doom metal]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/style/doom-metal-ma0000004496 |title=Doom Metal &#124; Significant Albums, Artists and Songs |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=18 January 2016}}</ref> and [[sludge metal]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://applause.uterwincenter.com/black-sabbath-iron-men/ |title=Black Sabbath at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas July 27, 2013 |publisher=Applause.uterwincenter.com |date=17 June 2013 |access-date=18 January 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170613155455/https://applause.uterwincenter.com/black-sabbath-iron-men/ |archive-date=13 June 2017}}</ref> Early on, Black Sabbath were influenced by [[Cream (band)|Cream]], [[The Beatles]], [[Fleetwood Mac]], [[Jimi Hendrix]], [[John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers]], [[Blue Cheer]], [[Led Zeppelin]], [[Jethro Tull (band)|Jethro Tull]], and [[Iron Butterfly]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iommi.com/archive/the_holy_sabbath.htm|title=The Holy Sabbath: Ozzy and Tony talk drugs, the devil and how they invented heavy metal|website=Iommi.com|publisher=Rolling Stone|access-date=9 August 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101228025633/http://iommi.com/archive/the_holy_sabbath.htm|archive-date=28 December 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/black-sabbath-s-geezer-butler-talks-lyrical-inspiration-rock-band-iron-man-movies/|title=Black Sabbath's Geezer Butler talks lyrical inspiration, 'Rock Band', 'Iron Man' Movies|website=Blabbermouth.net|access-date=9 October 2015|date=29 June 2010}}</ref>

Although Black Sabbath went through many line-ups and stylistic changes, their core sound focuses on ominous lyrics and doomy music,<ref name="Black Sabbath's song review" /> often making use of the musical [[tritone]], also called the "devil's interval".{{sfn|Lewis|2001|p=72}} While their Ozzy-era albums such as ''[[Sabbath Bloody Sabbath]]'' (1973) had slight compositional similarities to the [[progressive rock]] genre that was growing in popularity at the time,<ref>{{cite web|author=Steve Huey |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/sabotage-mw0000652467 |title=Sabotage – Black Sabbath &#124; Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=18 January 2016}}</ref> standing in stark contrast to popular music of the early 1970s, Black Sabbath's dark sound was dismissed by rock critics of the era.<ref name="AMG Biography" /> Much like many of their early [[Traditional heavy metal|heavy metal]] contemporaries, the band received virtually no airplay on rock radio.{{sfn|Barnet|Burriss|2001|pp=87–88}}

As the band's primary songwriter, Tony Iommi wrote the majority of Black Sabbath's music, while Osbourne would write vocal melodies, and bassist Geezer Butler would write lyrics. The process was sometimes frustrating for Iommi, who often felt pressured to come up with new material: "If I didn't come up with anything, nobody would do anything."{{sfn|Rosen|1996|p=76}} On Iommi's influence, Osbourne later said:

{{blockquote|Black Sabbath never used to write a structured song. There'd be a long intro that would go into a jazz piece, then go all folky... and it worked. Tony Iommi—and I have said this a zillion times—should be up there with the greats. He can pick up a guitar, play a riff, and you say, "He's gotta be out now, he can't top that." Then you come back, and I bet you a billion dollars, he'd come up with a riff that'd knock your fucking socks off.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Sprague |first=David |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/blacksabbath/articles/story/9438157/rock_and_roll_hall_of_fame_2006_black_sabbath |title=Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2006: Black Sabbath |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=25 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080603174719/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/blacksabbath/articles/story/9438157/rock_and_roll_hall_of_fame_2006_black_sabbath |archive-date=3 June 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> }}

Beginning with their third album, ''[[Master of Reality]]'' (1971), Black Sabbath began to feature [[guitar tunings|tuned-down]] guitars.<ref name="AMG Biography"/> In 1965, before forming Black Sabbath, guitarist Tony Iommi suffered an accident while working in a [[sheet metal]] factory, losing the tips of two fingers on his right hand. Iommi almost gave up music, but was urged by the factory manager to listen to [[Django Reinhardt]], a [[jazz]] guitarist who lost the use of two fingers in a fire.{{sfn|Rosen|1996|p=135}} Inspired by Reinhardt, Iommi created two thimbles made of plastic and leather to cap off his missing fingertips. The guitarist began using lighter strings, and detuning his guitar, to better grip the strings with his [[prosthesis]]. Early in the band's history Iommi experimented with different [[dropped tuning]]s, including C{{music|sharp}} tuning, or 3 semitones down, before settling on E{{music|flat}}/D{{music|sharp}} tuning, or a half-step down from standard tuning.<ref name=inter>{{cite web|url=http://iommi.com/images/spread.jpg |title=Tony Iommi interview |access-date=1 March 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305020833/http://iommi.com/images/spread.jpg |archive-date=5 March 2009 }}</ref>