Not many bands can leave a lasting impression and legacy like Black Sabbath have done over the last 50 years. They have been flying the flag for heavy metal throughout their career to legions of fans around the world since their eponymous debut album, “Black Sabbath”, which was released on February 13, 1970. They went on to sell over 46 million albums, with 19 releases making them.

They are arguably one of the world’s biggest bands in the world and the Godfathers of Heavy Metal. Black Sabbath and its original members, including Ozzy Osbourne [vocals], Geezer Butler [bass], Tony Iommi [guitar], and Bill Ward [drums], are household names due to their hard work and perseverance. Together they catapulted Black Sabbath to stardom and became heavy metal legends.

Now Geezer Butler has released his career-spanning memoir, Into The Void: From Birth To Black Sabbath – And Beyond, which provides insights into the band’s tumultuous career with all the member changes. The book is a fascinating page-turner that chronicles his life growing up in Birmingham, England, forming Sabbath, penning the lyrics for their songs, and touring the world countless times over. He candidly shares the circumstances surrounding his departure in 1986 and what led to the band’s reunion with the four original members in 1997/1998.

Into The Void: From Birth To Black Sabbath – And Beyond is a must-read for Black Sabbath fans as it is written from a place of honesty and passion while done with integrity. The book is be available today (June 6th) in North America and will arrive in the United Kingdom on June 8th. Orders are available on Amazon.

Robert Cavuoto caught up with the legendary Geezer Butler, for a candid interview – in collaboration with our friends from Bravewords – about his life in and out of Black Sabbath. He gives us a deep dive into how they convinced Bill Ward to join the band in the late ’60s, how drugs initially fueled the band’s creativity only to hinder it later, insights into his most misunderstood song, “Black Sabbath,” and which songs from their 1980 release “Heaven and Hell” were initially written for Ozzy Osbourne. He provides the rationale for Ronnie James Dio‘s departure in 1982, why he sold the rights to the band’s name to Tony Iommi, and always remained friends with Bill Ward despite him not being part of the Sabbath‘s reunion tour. Listen to their conversation below – or read the transcript -, and remember that for more interviews and other daily content, make sure to follow Sonic Perspectives on Facebook, Flipboard and Twitter and  subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified about new content we publish on a daily basis.

Interview Transcript:

I enjoyed your biography and learned so much from it. Readers will need an organizational diagram or scorecard to track all the musicians who have come and gone in Black Sabbath’s storied career.

 I lost track myself [laughing].

That situation lends itself to the thought that every rock band is dysfunctional.

Yes! It must be when working with four completely different people, or however many were in and out of Sabbath. We all have our quirks, and we are all very different.

There are so many great stories in the book, and the one I found most intriguing was that drugs helped seal the deal for the four original members to unite and forge a friendship that catapulted the Sabbath to stardom. Without drugs, we may have never had Sabbath, which is hard to wrap my head around.

It certainly helped in the early days! As soon as we showed Bill Ward that we had hash, he was “all in” to joining us!

Sabbath forever changed the heavy metal landscape with their songs and riffs. The songs still hold up some 50 years later. Once the band was established, do you think the drugs enabled or hindered creativity?

Eventually, it hindered the process. It was boring in those days as there was no internet to look at on your laptop, there were only two TV channels, and both finished at 11:00 pm in the UK. You couldn’t phone home without it costing a fortune.  It was just something to do when you got together. We saw drinking booze and taking various drugs as a way to socialize.

Did the band do other things to occupy their time while on tour or between making albums outside of music?

Apart from the groupies which, you would get tired of them quickly. I would read as I brought a lot of books with me.

You wrote the lyrics to most of Sabbath’s songs. What’s so interesting is how misinterpreted they have been to being pro-Satanism.

Exactly; the first song I wrote, “Black Sabbath,” was a warning against Satanism and not to get involved in the occult. In England, many people were involved in black magic; the Stones had their album, Their Satanic Majesties Request, and Arthur Brown was singing about “I am the God of Hellfire.” It was a big underground satanic thing. People who were brainwashed by Christianity were looking for something to rebel against their parents. By rebelling, they were turning to the dark side. It was a fad that didn’t last very long, and the song “Black Sabbath” warned against it. It was totally misunderstood, particularly when we got to America.

Why is “Into the Void” the perfect title for this book, and how does it relate to your career with the band?

I came up with ten different titles for the book. The publishers liked After Forever and Into the Void. Eventually, after consensus, Into the Void won as the strongest. We were called Into the Void when we first started the band, and nobody gave us a chance in Hell of doing anything. Our parents figured let them do their thing for a year, and then they will come to their senses and get proper jobs. That summed it up best.

Being on tour is a hard and lonely life, as I can understand your parent’s perspective to let it run its course and get it out of your system.

It is a hard life being away from home, missing people, being in strange places, and not knowing anyone. The only people you know are the band.

You mentioned everyone in Sabbath had a predetermined role in Sabbath right from the beginning; Tony was the leader, Bill was the fall guy, and Ozzy was the joker and not held in the highest regard. What was your predetermined role?

I gave the band the direction in the type of music we played, from Blues to Cream, and eventually to adding Aynsley Dunbar‘s song “Retaliation” to the first Sabbath album. I also gave the band the name Black Sabbath.

<figure class="aligncenter"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">“Into The Void: From Birth To Black Sabbath – And Beyond”</figcaption></figure>

In the late 70s, when Ozzy Osbourne was still with Sabbath and on the verge of leaving, I found it odd to hear he pointed out Sabbath’s songs had too many keyboards. Considering he had Don Airey play keyboards on “Blizzard of Ozz” and backed up most of Randy Rhoad’s guitar playing.

 That’s typical Ozzy! I think he meant that we were doing more instrumental songs towards the end of the original line-up, so he felt left out. He didn’t want us going in that direction.

My introduction to Sabbath was the “Heaven and Hell” album. The songs on that album were light years ahead of what was happening musically at the time. Were those riffs or song ideas written for a potential album with Ozzy?

 They were! A couple of songs were written with him in mind, especially “Children of the Sea.” When we were writing that with Ozzy, he didn’t have much interest in it. There may have been two or three other riffs Tony had come up with that eventually came out on the “Heaven and Hell” album. I think Ozzy had lost interest in the songs by that time.

Did Ozzy have alternate lyrics to “Children of the Sea”?

I d