Tony Iommi: Belief in the Music Kept Black Sabbath Going

The useful part

September 28, 2026 Katja Ogrin, Getty Images SHARE TWEET What kept Black Sabbath going through the years and made them one of the most influential bands in metal history? If you listen to Tony Iommi, he'll tell you it was their belief in the music. "It's lovely to hear that to me because what we've believed in and done, we'd done it because it was natural.

How it works

• It's Full Metal Jackie, and I am so honored to welcome a true legend to the show.
• So I was curious when the band came in on this, how much was in place before you found the players for this record?
• It's always good for a vocalist, I think, to write his own lyrics because they know how they're gonna present that word and that song.
• Can you speak about being in the rare position of what it was like to work unencumbered?
• I'd say to Mike Exeter, my engineer, he's worked with me for 30 years or whatever it is and he's a producer now as well.

What to take from it

If I ever needed him, I'd say, "Well, I've got this problem," he'd be there. We did it because we loved it," shared the guitarist. When we started playing more what we played and came up with the sort of music we did play, or we do play, was different.

Example or evidence

• Jackie also spoke with Tony Iommi about Sabbath's recently resurfaced Earth demos, the thing in his music history he was least prepared for and the rock world's response to Back to the Beginning.
• We are super excited to have new music in the form of the From the Dark album.
• First and foremost, when I started putting this idea together, it was gonna be an instrumental album.
• So I wrote three instrumentals and then I thought, I'll put them on the side.

Details worth keeping

"Not for any money and this and that and the other," he continued. So you had to physically go and play these places. It was word of mouth and it took a long time.

Related coverage

• Loudwire: Iommi recently revealed that a famous producer was "very keen" to do a new Black Sabbath LP with the original lineup in the early 2020s, but Iommi didn't want to. Continue reading…
• Nme: The iconic metal group released their final album '13' in 2013
• Loudersound: Black Sabbath's final set might not have happened if Tony Iommi had had his way
• Loudersound: Tony Iommi appears on the cover of the new issue of Classic Rock magazine – with a huge interview inside

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