Cranked & Ranked: Black Sabbath - part 1

[@tommandeno4571]

I could listen to analyses of Black Sabbath all day and you guys do it eloquently and intelligently with the bonus of being bloody funny😀. Thanks again!

[@OldHead]

Thanks for listening!

[@jsnow72]

Thanks for doing this, Old Head. Sabbath is the greatest band to this old man. Just fantastic. Keep up the great work!

[@jimmycampbell78]

I am always interested in new Black Sabbath rankings, so don’t worry about being another channel doing it. They are a very difficult band to rank. Different singers, different distinct eras. A classic period and line up, and an underrated later set of albums. Its difficult to put them in an order as the discography is fairly consistent with a few exceptions, and so many great, seminal albums.

[@superjoint3419]

OMG !!! Awesome !! This and the Maiden ranking are the 2 videos I was looking forward to the most (except for one that I had in my mind for a while and never dared to ask, it's kinda a request for Eddie : how about a Top 10 "Stripper Riffs" of the '80s ?). You guys ROCK and Sabbath RULES !!!

[@EddieSparxx]

Stripper Riffs are my specialty! ;)

[@Eccentricjuices]

Yes, the greatest Metal band to have ever exist.

[@mariokazinski8299]

Good show, looking forward to part 2.

[@kalebdivney8393]

Something I've been waiting for. Thank you guys.

[@mr.immortal1614]

The video I’ve been anticipating

[@seanwechsler6783]

Love these videos guys. Keep em coming. 🤘🏻

[@MorbidAngel31775]

I'm really looking forward to seeing where use a gonna put the dio albums!

[@ericdunn7596]

Finally..some understanding and appreciation for forbidden. I like forbidden, I think it's a cool album, and I enjoy it.

[@Paul07791]

I'm a big Sabbath fan and as such ranking their albums would be hard. The three I listen to least probably Seventh Star, Forbidden and Tech Ecstasy... but that's it. Another must listen, thanks guys

[@CatCaregiver-ie1ej]

To answer your question: YES - Yes, you guys absolutely do bring something new to the discussion of bands that have already been talked about a lot - In the same way that Cranked and Ranked is just all around better than any other album ranking show/discussion ever. You go all the way in to the catalog. You listen and decide carefully. You are honest and don't go with the dogma opinions, and yet are never contrarian for the sake of it. You and Eddie have perfect chemistry, the age and geographic difference totally works in your favor, and you are both naturals at the long form podcast format. I like how you balance, famous and not famous, big and small discographies, and different types of music. Yes, absolutely, always do the famous bands. If you just do stuff like King's X all the time, you will never build an audience. Keep doing what you are doing, you are excellent at it.

[@OldHead]

I sincerely appreciate all of that. Thanks for being here with us!

[@CatCaregiver-ie1ej]

I kind of "discovered" Sabbath the same way you did, old man (I'm....old too). It was a band you were just going to eventually hear about if you get into metal. The thing that was different, I grew up in New Orleans, and around 89/90 when I was getting into metal, no one my age ever really talked about Sabbath. Weird. For some reason, Zeppelin was THE legacy band everyone knew. Everyone listened to their uncle's zeppelin albums, or had a shirt, or read one of the unauthorized biographies, and a lot of metalheads had every Zep cassette. There were even a few kids into Kiss, but no one I knew really cared about Sabbath. I decided to buy the first album on cassette and kind of discover where it all started. First, I was blown away and creeped out by the opening track so much, I would sometimes fast forward past it. Even after getting into death metal a few years later, the song Black Sabbath still kind of "scared" me, although eventually, less and less...but like a horror movie where you are also drawn to it. I was also surprised how old it was. I always grew up kind of passively thinking metal just magically started exactly when the 80s did...kind of an OCD thing, I think. Then I eventually learned Van Halen came out in 78, so I figured Sabbath might be 77 or so. When I saw "copyright 1970" it blew my mind. To think, this dark, twisted, evil music came out 6 months after woodstock - daaaamn! I went to a local store that sold current metal t shirts...before Hot Topic...I forgot what it was called. They had a ton of Led Zeppelin shirts, but no Black Sabbath...that baffled me. I ended up getting all of the Ozzy and Dio cassetes in the bargain bin at Traxx, meanwhile Led Zeppelin's stuff (on cassette and CD) was more expensive than the new bands...so I guess it kind of worked out for me. For those four of five years that I got really into Sabbath but before the Nativity in Black tribute album and more gen X ers started acknowledging them, the music felt extra special. Let the cool kids have Zeppelin. Sabbath was my little hidden treasure (which is still weird to think, because they were so fucking famous and sold millions of albums). Now pretty much everyone into metal gives credit due to Sabbath and that's how it should be. I disagree a little about what it means to be a Sabbath fan. Yes, I eventually dove into their whole discography like you guys did, but not everyone has to. It's safe to say that if you only know the Paranoid album, you aren't a fan. Also, I agree that people can go deeper than "We sold our soul for rock n roll"....it is a good starter album before the days of playlists. Compilation albums are generally a dumb thing, but they did an almost perfect job with that one. I think the bare minimum would be to listen to the entire first six albums. Yes, I like a lot more than that, but 70-75 is really when they made their mark as far as influence and innovation.

[@kene666]

PBP - another great show was worried at first ! Think I’m with team Eddie at the moment because of headless cross but we’ll see! I am interested to see where the Dio album lie with you two (especially the first two) are so influential. I’ve only been to Austin once but I saw some excellent (non doom metal) metal bands there at a bar called ‘the lost well’ but maybe I was just lucky . To me most music from the eighties sounded eighties that’s why I liked hardcore and early death metal so much because it didn’t ! Anyway another enjoyable listen 🎧

[@willhargreaveshf]

You'll find that my ranking is vaguely grouped by vocalist, and part of that is because I think Ozzy is by far their best ever singer, but also I have ranked them according to how I feel about the songwriting and sound in general, it just so happens that for once I prefer the older stuff. Not that I have to justify shit: 19. Born Again 18. Seventh Star 17. The Eternal Idol 16. Tyr 15. Headless Cross 14. Cross Purposes 13. Forbidden

[@diarmuidmcnally1300]

Surely Spinal Tap deserve the Cranked & Ranked Treatment. Can you make that episode one louder! Shark ‘Shit’ Sandwich and the None More ‘Black’ album would be my favourites...

[@porkins74]

Great show! When you get to Maiden, please do a 3-parter as well. Looking forward to part 2.

[@thomashubner697]

What? Wait. Not all Ozzy albums on top and not all Tony Martin albums at the bottom? In other words: You rule guys! Can't wait for the next episode.

[@5noo5]

I knew it!

[@mattw4461]

19) Forbidden 18) Seventh Star 17) 13 16) Cross Purposes 15) Tyr 14) Eternal Idol 13) Never Say Die

[@simplebutnotsolongname6642]

You guys big on Pentagram (US)? Maybe enough to do a Cranked and Ranked on them?

[@8ballbowler]

Are you only diving into ozzy era sabbath? I remember finding a sabbath album called “forbidden” when I was a kid and I was hoping you’d talk about that one.

[@OldHead]

We cover all the Sabbath albums.

[@simplebutnotsolongname6642]

Uriah Heep Were also around the same time as Sabbath (debut released the same year as theirs too), and their Early Stuff I'd Consider to Be Metal and just Heavy as Sabbath's Stuff (not as Dark). In Fact, I would go as far to say They were probably the Earliest Progenitor of what we now know as Power Metal (Heavy Riffs, Fantasy themes, Mystical Atmosphere, Operatic Singing, etc.).

[@TheUnshackled]

I agree with Eddies list mostly although I do think Eternal Idol should be ranked much higher, it is my favourite album of theirs, the songs are all killers, and i love the treble on it giving it a typical hair metal vibe

[@sargentd995]

Aww hellyeah fuck going outside and being productive I've got cranked and ranked to watch

[@moondawwg]

Rick Rubin is a creative person but I've never understood his status as a producer.

[@rodgm5]

Totally agree on group think. Forbidden is a good album. There was a time it was cool to hate GunsnRoses and Kiss (early nineties). Almost everybody bought in. Then that fell off and it was ok again as classic acts. “People don’t hear it for what it is”: spot on.

[@JCardoso-j9l]

13 should at least be in the top 6 because it is very modern BS sound with 3 of their original members. The first 4 are almost untouchable

[@OldHead]

Hard no.

[@JCardoso-j9l]

@@OldHead no ways dude I’ve listen to it a few times and it much better than many of the other sucky 80s

[@dwaynestjohn5324]

I actually liked born again but I do agree the production isn't that great and I agree with never say die the title track is really good but the rest of the album isn't that great.

[@daljev]

I think Zeppelin in the 80's would become more globally conscious and have a U2 vibe.

[@jimmycampbell78]

I guess it would sound a lot like Plant solo/The Firm/Page-Outrider. I would also add that Page Plant “Walking into Clarksdale” from the 1990s could be the great lost Zeppelin album.

[@CatCaregiver-ie1ej]

I agree. I'm not sure if this is where you were going, but I'll just say this is my opinion: Zep would have been like U2 except even more pompous. I like some of their songs, but the vibe of that band seems off putting to me.

[@daljev]

@@CatCaregiver-ie1ej More pompous than U2! Damn, that'd be some Kanye level crazy .

[@CatCaregiver-ie1ej]

@@daljev haha yeah. But at least Kanye is so (unintentionally) funny at times that it makes it more bearable. I actually like some of his songs too.

[@HARS-]

I love never say die but 13 I've never wanted to listen this album..

[@peterock4210]

Not sure how “Forbidden “isn’t dead last. Its an abomination.

[@EddieSparxx]

To each their own, I don't get the hate to be honest