Is Black Sabbath too old for newer generations of  music lovers or is it something you should introduce to younger people so that you expand their music tastes? Also, I've been noticing that newer bands out there don't have as much drumming skills (or just aren't showing them on songs) and its kind of hooked me on the older bands like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple again, just to hear some amazing drumming.Anyways, enough ranting about me, what do you think about this issue? If I've offended anyone with the above statement, get a thicker skin.  No, I'm j/k.

lol Paranoid was one of their best albums

Introduce?  What are you talking about?  Young people have already discovered Sabbath in spades.  Have you been to OzzFest?   OMG.  I went to Ozzfest 2004 a couple of weeks ago in Columbus, Ohio.  It was awesome.   I can't wait for next year.  I only wish we had gone earlier in the day, but we were primarily interested in seeing Halford with Judas Priest and Ozzy with Sabbath.  

Teens and twenty-somethings by the thousands were there to see Ozzy.  And he IS the main reason that they were there.  The audience was what made that event so awesome for me personally.  There were half a dozen guys in their 20's in front of us who sang every word to every song that Judas Priest and Black Sabbath did.  There was a whole family behind me.  Parents around 40, kids in their 20's.  There were two kids sitting next to me who I'd guess to have been 13.  They sat silent and emotionless through Slayer and Priest.  But when Ozzy hit the stage, they went NUTS.  

Need to introduce them???  

     

I do think some older bands can sound dated by todays standards.   For me often the vocalists and the thinner (even with heavy bands) guitar production that standout.  

That doesnt inherently degrade their quality mind you.  But it can be a turn off.   Some of my favorite bands are older, but I honestly sometimes cant listen to them because of the dated sound.  

As a older person (ish) I cant speak for todays young people, but I can speak for my thoughts as a young person.   I find that by reading about the people that influenced the current bands I like I can appreciate the older bands more.   Id hope young people today can take the same approach.

As for the drumming thing, sorry, I just dont even understand how someone can honestly think todays players are lacking skills.    There are just far too many talented drummers today to justify that.  

I don't know that Sabbath is "too old" necessarily.  Many 20-somethings I know worship at the Zeppelin altar.  Or the Doors or any number of '60s-'70s bands.  I know when I got into Sabbath in the mid-'80s all of my hesher buddies didn't wanna know.  If I were 20 I'd think there was nothing to Ozzy but "The Osbournes."  

I think Sabbath is just more obscure a band to go back and get into.
Outside of true metalheads I think few folks who are inclined to love Led Zeppelin know much about Sabbath's back catalog.  Sabbath doesn't get the classic rock radio spins that Zep gets and I think that has a lot to do with it.  If all you know are the three Sabbath songs Ozzy performs live then you are truly missing out on a great band with many great albums.  

Great replies!  

It still amazes me how the younger folks (20s) have gotten into the great rock bands of the late 60s and 70s.

Does that illustrate a lack of skill or an increase in taste?   Obviously it'll vary from one example to the next.     But I would certainly hesitate to call a shift from complex to simple a lack of skills.    

A great example is Gadds recent work with Eric Clapton.   I saw a number of drummers shocked at the simplicity of Gadds playing.   Some even annoyed.   But fact is, he illustrated that he has MAD skills with the less complex stuff as well.  Its not all that easy to pull off a truly great feeling back beat.

(And no need to apologise, there was no offense taken, and none intended on my part.   Its just a discussion )

Well basically what happened was Ozzy (who's real name is John) became addicted to drugs and alcohol and was basically forced out of the band by best friend Bill Ward, because he and Tommy Iommi weren't on the best of terms. I'm sure Tommy Iommi and the rest of the band were into the "sweet leaf" as well as other drugs but perhaps Ozzy was just getting to into them. Theres live footage of him smashed out of his mind performing Fairies Wear Boots and you can tell the rest of the band is just appalled... And yes Black Sabbath didn't just focus on heavy music. There were many soft songs that Black Sabbath did like *surprise* Black Sabbath, Planet Caravan, A Bit of Finger and one song on Vol 4. when Ozzys by himself playing the piano for his wife Sharon. well, thats enough ranting from me...

When you get into the mid-period sabbath stuff you get more of the complex music.  You can hear them getting there on Vol. 4 and you really get it on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage.  Lots of keyboards and somewhat prog song arrangements, great vocal melodies and harmonies...it's the sound of a band growing.  My favorite Sabbath album is "Never Say Die," the last album Ozzy did with them.  Lots of hooks, hard rock riffing and pretty good songwriting.  While Ozzy got better at blending the arcane and pop music together as a solo artist, really all he did was streamline the Sabbath formula through the '80s hard rock filter established by the New Wave of British Metal and the growing L.A. scene.  

I'd say sabbath has had its impact on my generation of bands.  I bet there are many copies of the first three sabbath albums lurking in the record collections of many a famous Seattle grunge rocker.  Metallica are avowed fans and certainly owe as much a debt to Sabbath as they did to Motorhead.  The guys in Joy Division were HUGE Sabbath fans and admit to this day that nearly every JD song is a blatant Black Sabbath rip-off.  

and there is me.  Bill Ward is one of my favorite drummers of all time and certainly one of my four earliest influences as a 12-year-old trying to learn drums (John Bonham, Mitch Mitchell and Neil Peart were the others.)  what I take from Bill Ward was the unabashed glory of nailing the energy of a take moreso than the perfect performance.  The first three albums is full of tempo rushes and sticks on rims during drum fills and that is still to this day very endearing to me.  Bill Ward doesn't get his due as one of rock's more original players.  

But, I must say, Sabbath is one of my favorite bands so that certainly colors my opinion.

That's not offensive by any means. But to me Sabbath's guitars were REALLY unique. The riffing going on with Iommi was out of this world. Pretty heavy stuff, pretty catchy stuff sometimes, some good ol' rock n roll here and there.

In fact, all Sabbath covers to me lack in the riffs. Nobody pulls the riffs off like Iommi. Zakk couldn't quite do it, Dave Mustaine couldn't quite do it either, etc.