Black Sabbath didn’t emerge from nowhere. All four members had previously spent a few years kicking around the West Midlands scene in various bands – guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward in blues rockers Mythology, and bassist Geezer Butler and singer Ozzy Osbourne in The Rare Breed.
Both of those bands plied their trade in the pubs and clubs of Birmingham and further afield. And so did Sabbath when they formed in late July or early August of 1968 as The Polka Tulk Blues Band, later renaming themselves Polka Tulk, and later still Earth. Back then, they played such venues as The Crown pub in the centre of Birmingham and Mothers in the suburb of Erdington. But it would be a gig on August 1, 1969 at a blues club in Lichfield, when they were still called Earth, that would change music forever.
