I have determined that there is not enough respect for Black Sabbath.

Every time there is a "Greatest" thread Sabbath and it's musicians seem to be overlooked.

Please take a moment and give it up for Black Sabbath.

Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, Geezer Butler, Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie James Dio, Vinnie Appice, Ian Gillan, Cozy Powell, Geoff Nichols, Tony Martin and a host of other temps who have had the priveledge of flying under the Sabbath Flag.

I prefer Dio's voice to Ozzy's, but at the end of the day the Ozzy material was just "better" (and undeniably more prolific.)

Iommi is God, period. Don't come at me with your Jimmy Page and your Yngvie-VanHalen-Randy Rhodes hammering, pinch-harmonic overusing flashy homos. Some say Iommi is technically simple. I play a bit and I can vouch for that, but where he blows away the competition is in creativity and the *deliberate choice* to not overplay.

Bill Ward - Just listen to those fills, especially in the first five albums. He creates time where time shouldn't be and hits just as hard as Bonham when it's called for.

Geezer Butler - Has the flash that Tony takes a pass on, and this is the beauty of Sabbath. Bass is subtle, subharmonic you might say, and the flash that Geezer provides resides just outside of the range of something you'd audibly notice right away. It's what makes Sabbath.

Ozzy - Ozzy is accessible to anyone. He may not be the best singer, but what he delivers is emotion, and his range of expression is complete. The Rage of "The Writ" down to the haunted terror of "Black Sabbath" and the seduction of "NIB". His thoughts are ours, and he loves us all.

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Top Five Albums in Order:

Sabotage
Black Sabbath
Paranoid
Heaven and Hell
Volume 4

Top Five Songs in Order:

The Writ
Megalomania
Under the Sun
W.A.S.P./Basically/N.I.B.
Die Young

Thank you for your time and participation

-Greg B. (NLI)