Hello!
Right off the bat, I need to tell you that the bulk of this issue – with its extra-cool cover illustration by artist Graham Humphreys – is a celebration of Black Sabbath’s historic Back to the Beginning event, which takes place July 5 in good ol' Birmingham, England, Black Sabbath's hometown.
If you don't know about Back to the Beginning, you really should! It's a once-in-a-generation event that’s destined to be one of the biggest single-day shows in the history of hard rock and heavy metal. In fact, think Live Aid (which also included a Black Sabbath reunion).
But speaking of history, I thought I’d hit you with some Sabbath-centric history of our own:
+ June 1990: Ozzy Osbourne makes his first Guitar World cover appearance. He’s standing next to his loyal guitarist, Zakk Wylde, who made his first cover appearance exactly one year earlier.
+ August 1992: Tony Iommi makes his first GW cover appearance, sharing precious real estate with Metallica’s James Hetfield.
+ June 1997: Ozzy and Iommi appear on their first GW cover together, a fancy-pants foldout job that also features Marilyn Manson, Korn and Dimebag Darrell.
+ August 1998: Ozzy appears on the cover alone, meaning he got his first “solo” cover before Iommi did. That’s a little odd, but it does sort of explain how Sabbath were perceived in the '90s, the era of Tyr, Dehumanizer, Cross Purposes and Forbidden.
+ July 2001: Just in time for one of many reunions, the OG version of Black Sabbath – Ozzy, Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward – finally snag the GW cover.
+ September 2004: With Ozzfest in the air, we got only Ozzy and Iommi (another first) together against a nifty red background.
+ May 2007: Iommi shares a “living legends” cover with Angus Young and Jimmy Page.
+ Holiday 2008: Can you believe it took this long for Iommi to get his own cover?
On that semi-awkward note, let's dive in!
