Today marks the 50th anniversary of Sabotage, Black Sabbath’s fierce and frustrated sixth studio album — a record forged in the fire of betrayal.
The mid-1970s were anything but smooth for the heavy metal pioneers. Behind the scenes, the band found themselves entangled in legal battles and deception, discovering that those they trusted — their management and record label — were siphoning away their earnings. Instead of quietly absorbing the blow, Sabbath turned their rage into music.
Of all the records in their legendary discography, Sabotage might be the most emotionally charged. Ozzy Osbourne pushed his vocals to the absolute edge on tracks like “Hole in the Sky,” while Tony Iommi’s aggressive riffing on “Symptom of the Universe” would later lay the groundwork for thrash metal. This wasn’t just another Sabbath album — it was a scream into the void.
As bassist Geezer Butler told Guitar World, the chaos surrounding the sessions was relentless. “Around the time of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, we’d found out that we were being ripped off by our management and our record company,” he revealed. “We were literally in the studio, trying to record, and we’d be signing all these affidavits and everything. That’s why we called it Sabotage — because we felt that the whole process was just being totally sabotaged by all these people ripping us off.”
Half a century later, Sabotage stands not just as a metal milestone, but as a cathartic middle finger to the industry machine that tried to bleed the band dry.
