“With the success came all the trappings and we tried every one of them. The drugs, the travel, the women. Our lives were forever changed”: The chaotic story of Black Sabbath, the band who did more than anyone to invent heavy metal

Black Sabbath posing for a photograph in 1970.

This July, Ozzy Osbourne is set to reunite with his Black Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward one last time for an all-star farewell performance at Villa Park in Birmingham. But it’s far from the first time Sabbath have reunited over the course of their 55 year-plus career. In 2012, three quarters of the band’s original line-up were back together, with a series of shows and a Rick Rubin-produced comeback album in the pipeline. Hammer talked to Ozzy and Geezer about the band’s return and their staggering legacy.