Music Writing by Carson Arnold
Music Writing by Carson Arnold
YOU WERE BORN TO ROCK YOU'LL NEVER BE AN OPERA STAR
If it's between The Sex Pistols and Black Sabbath, there's no question of it, I'm taking Black Sabbath. Any day, all day, today. Sorry, that's just the way it is, they rock. I've always looked at icons like Johnny Rotten and crew as fashionable anarchists, trendy anger, male models with pimples. How cool. For the sake of argument, let's rock all night, party all day, and sell out big, real big. Cuz' god, would music critics have a job if it wasn't otherwise? Big deal, I'm thirty years too late, you're always thirty years too late. Too late from being too early.
I've been kicking around looking for a used copy of Black Sabbath's Never Say Die for well over a year, and the other day,oh yeah, I finally found it. It stood sandwiched between two other Sabbath regulars, the two masked fighter pilots on the classic of classic rock covers looked up guilty, like frozen animals caught in the wild shade at the end of the forest. It ain't the best Sabbath record compared to the primitive bones of volume during the early seventies, but it's surely the most confident and professional. By 1978, Tony Iommi's guitars were calling for broader borders in the studio while Ozzy was easily digesting drugs and booze quicker than the streets could push over. The results are Never Say Die, a thick to-the-point statement of rock without rolling, the prelude to the soon eighties heavy-metal stink, and the always uncontrollable charged rhythm of youth that never does seem to die. A record like this resurrects a savage flame of young certainty that has rarely come to light dusty hearts since. A glittering dusk of joy that understands that any and all adolescence lives awaiting for that moment of impeccable chorus and harmony, that weightless spirit of no limits, that timeless energy of absolute rock. That one beat that takes us all away, off to Never Never Land, from it all.
Few understand this besides the ones that are in the middle of doing it. And the ones that are doing it, don't understand why some aren't. And the ones who aren't, can't understand why some do. It's a vicious circle of tribal behavior, love and hate, but every once in awhile we must learn to exhale that bliss of ultimate freedom to the point of no question of returning. Listen up and rock.
Uh, yeah Carson, that's nice, but Black Sabbath was basically a group of drunken drug hogs, producing their albums on the basis of after hour party life of womanizing. What you're saying is obvious and pleasant, but lets talk facts.
Frank Sinatra was a hot headed jerk (but, I love his music), almost any given jazz legend was cranked up on dope, and frankly, any person carrying that ticket of sweet fame signed by superiority is a freak of existence to begin with. What are these facts you talk of?
Though Ozzy Osbourne would've been better off if he had died during the turn of the eighties, the importance of Black Sabbath is still crucial. They're the autograph of the new world to which nobody honestly understood except the burning days of youth. Just as important as Beethoven, Coltrane, or Hank Williams. They're the shadow casted when the sixties took position backing down. Any kid already and always has Sabbath blood streaming through their veins, ready to rock, they need not be instructed how. They know that the attached wall of commercialism is an imaginary fad, built just as much by the ones who have backed down as by the ones who have given in, for every brick is seen on both sides. Why do you think rock is so alive, vital, and simplistic? It realizes this. Exposes the secret, becomes a threat.
I've played the only three Black Sabbath records I own (Paranoid, Masters Of Reality, Never Say Die) in a consistent loop since this morning. Still going, it's nearing midnight, and I don't want to sleep. They've showed life more richer than what I thought only yesterday, how can all this experience be traded in for dreams? Just one more record! All right, Never Say Die one more time. Rock of eternity. Drive on driver.
Carson Arnold- November 17, 2002
copyright 2002 Carson Arnold
H(ear) is an online music column consisting of interviews, articles, and investigations written by Carson Arnold. As a freelance writer for various magazines and liner notes, living in the woods of Vermont with his family, Carson widely encourages one to submit their art, writing or any interesting piece of material that you would like to share. H(ear) is accepting both promos and demos for review or any other valuable music-related subjects. If you wish to make a comment or would like to receive H(ear) weekly by email please contact Carson at [email protected]
Thanks and enjoy!
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