2010 – Ozzy Going Forward With Battle Over Black Sabbath (HeadbangerNYC.com) A Manhattan federal judge ruled Thursday (February 25) that Ozzy Osbourne can proceed with his lawsuit against guitarist Tony Iommi over use of the Black Sabbath name.

Ozzy filed a lawsuit against Iommi in May 2009, claiming that Iommi illegally took sole ownership of the band’s name in a filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Osbourne is suing Iommi for a 50 percent interest in the “Black Sabbath” trademark, along with a portion of Iommi’s profits from use of the name. The Manhattan federal court suit also charges that Osbourne’s “signature lead vocals” are largely responsible for the band’s “extraordinary success,” noting that its popularity plummeted during his absence from 1980 through 1996. [They seemed to do pretty well with Dio and continue to do so with him fronting Heaven and Hell]

2009 – BLACK SABBATH’s Tony Iommi Undergoing Stem Cell Treatment To Fix Injured Hand

BLACK SABBATH guitar legend Tony Iommi spoke with The Radcliffe & Maconie Show on BBC Radio 2 this week about his recent hand injury. “We’re just taking a break now,” Iommi says about the brief HEAVEN AND HELL hiatus – the band also featuring singer Ronnie James Dio, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Vinnie Appice.

“I’ve had this problem with my hand and I’m having stem cell treatment on it,” Iommi continues. “I have to wear a guard on my hand to prevent me from banging it. But it’s coming along good. The cartilage went out on the joints, so the joints were rubbing on the joints. It was bone on bone and it was getting a bit painful. I’ve had pain for about 18 months and have been taking anti-inflammatories and pain killers. But I wanted to stop doing it because it upsets your stomach. This is the latest thing, so we’ll see if it works.”

(Note: stem cell treatments are a type of cell therapy that introduce new cells into damaged tissue in order to treat a disease or injury)

Iommi also chats about the band’s vital OZZY OSBOURNE-era catalog reissues that are currently out in the UK. Iommi says that “everything will come out” as a deluxe edition at some point in time.

Regarding the 30th Anniversary of the Heaven & Hell album in 2010, Iommi promises more shows next year.

2006 – Blondie, The Sex Pistols, Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Miles Davis are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Blondie’s performance is marred when several old members of the band try to bumrush the stage.

2006 – Metallica inducts Black Sabbath into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Metallica also performs a short set of Sabbath songs during the event at New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Other inductees include Blondie, Miles Davis, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sex Pistols and A&M Records co-founders Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss.

2004 – Gold and silver Black Sabbath discs were stolen from the Kent home of Ozzy Osbourne’s former manager Patrick Meehan. Police recovered the discs a week later after they were offered for sale on the internet auction site eBay.

1999 – The Deftones, on the final stop of their tour opening for Black Sabbath, find that their truck has been stolen from the parking lot of the Holiday Inn in Dearborn, Mich. Taken are all of the band’s backline equipment and instruments, including several of Chi Chings’ Precision Fender Bass guitars, and Stephen Carpenter’s custom-made guitars and racks.

1998 – Black Sabbath, Foo Fighters, Korn, Pantera, Soulfly, Slayer, Fear Factory, Coal Chamber, Life of Agony, Limp Bizkit, Entombed, Human Waste Project, Neurosis, and Pitchshifter all appeared at Ozzfest, Milton Keynes Bowl, England.

1992 – Black Sabbath were honoured with a star at the Rock Walk in Hollywood.

1984 – Ian Gillan leaves Black Sabbath.

Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945 in Hounslow, London), is an English rock music vocalist best known as the lead singer for Deep Purple. During his career Gillan had a year-long stint as the vocalist for Black Sabbath and sang the role of Jesus Christ in the original recording of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. Gillan is considered to be one of the foremost rock vocalists, who introduced into rock music the vocal belting technique. In his prime he possessed a very wide vocal range, extending from E2 to C6[1]. His work with Deep Purple is particularly recognisable for its occasional high-pitched screams and falsettos.

1978 – Van Halen opens its first tour at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. The group’s contract specifies that M&Ms be provided to the group during the stint with the brown candies removed. Part of this first tour was to open up for Black Sabbath in several locations.

Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California in 1972. They enjoyed success from the release of their self titled debut album in 1978 until the late 1990s when various troubles overcame the band. As of 2007 Van Halen has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide and have had the most number one hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Van Halen is the 19th best selling band/artist of all time with sales of over 56 million albums in the USA and is one of five rock bands that have had two albums sell more than 10 million copies in the USA.

In addition to being recognized for quality and success, the band is known for the drama surrounding the exits of former members. The (multiple) exits of singers Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth were surrounded in controversy and mass press coverage with various contrasting press statements between them and the band. More recently, founding bassist Michael Anthony was kicked out of the band for controversial reasons. Following their 2004 concert tour the band was on a hiatus from the public until September 2006, new bassist Wolfgang Van Halen’s place was confirmed and Roth-reunion rumours began to re-surface coinciding with the band’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction on March 12, 2007. After years of speculation, Van Halen began a tour with Roth in late 2007 across North America, which has been extended into early 2008.

History

David Lee Roth era (1972–1985)
The Van Halen brothers first started playing music together when Alex took up the guitar and Eddie the drums. However, after some time with this set up, the two switched places. Their first band, started in 1971 was named the “Trojan Rubber Company.” In 1972 the Van Halen brothers formed a band called “Mammoth” which featured Eddie as lead vocalist/guitarist, Alex Van Halen on drums and Tim McNulty on bass. They initially rented a sound system from David Lee Roth but decided to save money by letting him join as lead vocalist even though he had previously auditioned unsuccessfully for this. By 1974 the band decided to replace Stone. Michael Anthony, bassist and lead vocalist from local band “Snake” was auditioned. Following an all night jam session he was hired for bass and backing vocals.

Mammoth discovered in 1974 that their name was already being used and changed to “Van Halen”. According to Roth, this was his idea. They played backyard parties and on a flatbed truck at Hamilton Park. Van Halen played clubs in Pasadena and Hollywood to growing audiences, increasing their popularity through self promotion: before each gig they would pass out fliers at local high schools. This soon built them a major following.

The band became a staple on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip during the mid-1970s, consistently playing at well known clubs like the Whisky a Go Go. In 1977 Gene Simmons, from Kiss, saw Van Halen and financed their first demo tape, flying the band to the Electric Lady Studios, New York City to record “House of Pain” and “Runnin’ With the Devil”. Eddie disliked the demo, because he was not using his own equipment and had to overdub guitar parts. Simmons wanted to change the band’s name to “Daddy Longlegs” and had designed cover art (a daddy longlegs wearing a top hat), but the band stuck with Van Halen. Simmons then opted out of further involvement.

In 1977, Mo Ostin and Ted Templeman of Warner Bros. Records saw Van Halen perform at the Starwood in Hollywood. Although the audience was small, the two were so impressed with Van Halen that within a week they offered them a recording contract. In October of that year, Van Halen recorded their eponymous first album at Sunset Sound Recorders studio. All of the tracks were laid down in about three weeks, with little over-dubbing or double tracking. Minor mistakes were purposely left on the record and a simple musical set-up was used to give the record a live feel. Despite its simple components, Van Halen proved innovative in musical technique, production, and arrangement.

On release, Van Halen reached #12 on the Billboard pop music charts, one of rock’s most commercially successful debuts. It is a highly regarded hard rock album. The album included songs now regarded as Van Halen classics, like “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” and the guitar solo “Eruption”, which showcased Eddie’s use of a playing technique known as ‘finger-tapping’. The band toured for nearly a year, opening for Black Sabbath and establishing a reputation for their performances. The band’s chemistry came out of a contrast between Eddie Van Halen’s technical guitar wizardry and David Lee Roth’s flamboyant antics, which later turned them into rivals. They returned to the studio in 1979 for Van Halen II, similar in style to their debut. This album yielded the band’s first hit single, “Dance The Night Away.”

Over the next few years, the band alternated album releases and touring to increasing commercial and critical acclaim and became one of the world’s most successful and influential bands. Their party-loving spirit and hard rocking anthem-like sound made them popular with teenagers. Women and Children First was released in 1980 and further cemented Van Halen’s status. But in 1981, during the recording of the Fair Warning album, tensions rose. Eddie’s desire for more serious and complex songs was at odds with Roth’s poppy style. Although Roth (and producer Templeman) acquiesced to Eddie’s wishes, Fair Warning was a sales disappointment, with no hits. In later interviews Eddie would reveal that he was struggling with alcoholism during the production of Fair Warning and this resulted in the album’s darker tone.

Diver Down performed better. The band then earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest-paid single appearance of a band: $1 million for a 90 minute set at the 1983 US Festival. Despite this return to form, Roth and Eddie’s differences continued, and this caused friction with other band members. According to bassist Billy Sheehan, after his band Talas completed a tour with Van Halen, he was approached by Eddie Van Halen to replace Michael Anthony. The reasons for this were never clear to Sheehan, because nothing came out of it

Van Halen’s next album, 1984 (released on January 9, 1984) was their commercial pinnacle. Recorded at Eddie Van Halen’s newly-built 5150 Studios, the album featured keyboards which had only been used sporadically on previous albums. The lead single, “Jump”, featured a synthesizer hook and anthemic lyrics, and became the band’s first and only #1 pop hit, garnering them a Grammy nomination.. Other hit singles included “Panama”, “I’ll Wait”, and “Hot for Teacher”. Many of the songs had popular music videos on MTV. 1984 was praised by critics and fans alike, peaking at #2 on the Billboard charts.

However, the album was also a breaking point. In the midst of the tour, the artistic and personal tensions among the musicians reached a fever pitch. Reasons for the breakup vary based on the band member interviewed, but were rooted in control of the band’s sound and image. Roth was upset about Eddie playing music outside of Van Halen without checking with the band and Eddie was sick of Roth’s flamboyant behavior and stage persona. On April 1, 1985, Roth left Van Halen.

1970 – Black Sabbath were at No.1 on the UK chart with their second album ‘Paranoid.’ The album is now regarded as one of the classic Heavy Metal albums. Ozzy Osbourne on the right.