Black Sabbath was formed in 1968 in England and remains one of the all-time most influential heavy metal bands in history. The original line up consisted of lead vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, Bill Ward on drums, Tony Iommi the legendary guitarist, and bass metal virtuoso Geezer Butler. The band would perform in concert all over the world appearing at one music festival after another despite the fact the bands heavy sound was far removed from what most audiences looked for in the 1970's. One unique trivia note about Black Sabbath was the band went on tour with KISS as an opening act giving the future super group amazing exposure. The band would go through many line up changes over the years when Ozzy left the band. Among the most successful of these incarnations was the one with Ronny James Dio in 1979. Eventually, Black Sabbath would only retain one original member, Iommi, and did briefly thrive in the MTV music video era of the 1980's when heavy metal became a fad.
