![\"Black](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Black-Sabbath-1976-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
(Credits: Far Out \/ Warner Bros. Records)<\/p>\n
Mon 8 December 2025 3:00, UK <\/p>\n
In the summer of 1976, Black Sabbath<\/a> were on the verge of rupturing.<\/p>\n Reality had been looking grim for heavy metal\u2019s forefathers for some time: they had just finished a legal battle with their former manager, its costs merging with tax bills that seemingly never ended, their unmatched desire for drug and booze-fueled chaos<\/a> was finally taking its toll, and their record sales dwindled to a modest point. Their then-latest album, 1975\u2019s Sabotage, became a cult-like fan favourite, boasting classics such as \u2018Hole in the Sky\u2019 and \u2018Symptom of the Universe\u2019, but was marred with misfortune. <\/p>\n The album peaked at number 20 on both the UK and US charts, the band\u2019s first not to reach platinum status in the latter country. Further, the touring in support of Sabotage was cut short after frontman Ozzy Osbourne suffered a motorcycle accident, rupturing a muscle in his back. Thus, Sabbath entered the studio the following year, battered and bruised, the once cathartic sense of impending doom becoming a bit too heavy to bear.<\/p>\n Camping out at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, Osbourne\u2019s investment in Sabbath began to lessen. The intensity between him and his bandmates \u2013 guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward \u2013 only worsened, and by the album\u2019s completion, he ended up in Stafford County Asylum in Britain. Osbourne emphasised the overwhelm in his 2009 autobiography, I Am Ozzy. \u201cI\u2019d had enough,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThere didn\u2019t seem to be any point any more. None of us was getting on,\u201d citing the ongoing legal issues, nonstop touring and the aftermath of drugs and alcohol. <\/p>\n The resulting album, Technical Ecstasy, reflected the strange realm in which Sabbath found themselves inhabiting, venturing into unfamiliar pop and soft rock territory. Debuting with even less success than its predecessor, Butler described<\/a> the album to Guitar World in 2001 as \u201cthe beginning of the end\u2026 And obviously, the music was suffering; you could just feel the whole thing falling apart\u201d.<\/p>\n The following year, in late 1977, when it came time for Sabbath to rehearse their follow-up and just before studio time was to begin, Osbourne decided he was done, abruptly walking out of a rehearsal one day and not returning.<\/p>\n Left to find someone who could fill Osbourne\u2019s shoes (or, at least, attempt to), Iommi<\/a> placed his faith in someone familiar, of whom he was a fan: Dave Walker. The vocalist had been a longtime friend of Sabbath\u2019s, and a seasoned musician in his own right, having been a member of The Redcaps in the 1960s and serving subsequent tenures in The Idle Race (previously fronted by Jeff Lynne), Fleetwood Mac and Savoy Brown. After receiving a call from Iommi telling him of Osbourne\u2019s departure, Walker left his then-band, Mistress, and flew from Birmingham to California to join Sabbath\u2019s writing sessions. <\/p>\n Sabbath\u2019s rehearsals commenced in an old mill near Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, California. \u201cRight away they let me hear the tracks they\u2019d been working on and told me they needed lyrics,\u201d Walker says, in conversation with Classic Rock in 2014. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t what I\u2019d call one complete song, just reels of tape with little ideas on them. I wrote a shitload of lyrics, but I had no idea that Geezer was their main lyricist.\u201d The sessions proved fruitful and, on January 8th, 1978, Walker made his live debut with Sabbath, when they appeared on the BBC West Midlands programme Look! Hear!, performing the intro to \u2018War Pigs\u2019<\/a> and a new song, \u2018Junior\u2019s Eyes\u2019.<\/p>\n Yet, the show would prove to be Walker\u2019s only with the band, who had not cut ties with their former frontman. Speaking to Classic Rock, Walker recounted a chance meeting he had with Osbourne at a pub, where the singer showed up dishevelled and shaking. \u201cI\u2019ve been around the block with drugs, but when I saw poor Ozzy I thought, \u2018God almighty,\u2019\u201d he recalls. While there was no clear discussion of Osbourne\u2019s return, Walker could feel the implications of the meeting. Worsening his stance in Sabbath was the fact that musically, they had not found their footing with the new frontman; to top it all off, Walker\u2019s and Bill Ward\u2019s wives did not get along.<\/p>\n Still, Walker\u2019s dismissal came as somewhat of a shock. \u201cOne day I turned up where they were rehearsing near Evesham, and they were having a meeting, after which Bill told me, \u2018We\u2019re in, you\u2019re out,\u201d he reveals. \u201cNo warning. I still don\u2019t even know if Ozzy had agreed to come back then.\u201d In just a few short months, Walker went from the helm of heavy metal\u2019s biggest band back to square one. Osbourne returned, as did Sabbath with Never Say Die!, which featured a reworked version of \u2018Junior\u2019s Eyes\u2019. Walker continued with his eponymous band and eventually reunited with Savoy Brown, looking back on his short time with Sabbath as \u201ckind of cool, but there was a lot left to be desired\u201d. <\/p>\n As for Sabbath, Walker\u2019s tenure was a footnote in a long, strange, heavy metal haze.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Warner Bros. 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<\/a>Ozzy Osbourne, biting a bat. (Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n