Black Sabbath called it a career Saturday night in the place where it all began 50 years earlier. Ozzy Osbourne and crew put on their final show for fans in Birmingham, England, concluding a legendary run with the band's first hit, "Paranoid," reports the BBC. "Thank you, good night, thank you so much," Osbourne said as they exited. He formed the band in 1968 with guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, and drummer Bill Ward, though Ward sat out the farewell tour in a financial dispute. "I remember playing the Crown pub in Birmingham and thinking, 'This'll be good for a couple of years—drink a few beers and have a jam,'" Osbourne said in a pre-show interview.
AFP adds a nugget of rock trivia: Iommi lost the tips of two middle fingers as a 17-year-old sheet metal worker, then fashioned replacement tips out of melted plastic bottle tops. Out of necessity, he had to change his playing technique to make things easier, and that involved tuning his guitar lower. The resulting "menacing" music went a long way toward creating the heavy metal sound of the 1970s. Osbourne swears the band is done for good, and he's currently working on solo projects. (More Black Sabbath stories.)
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